Beijing, We’re Ready for Ya!

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We’ve been looking for a little break from the routine and frustrations of teaching in Korea for some time, especially when once we had this little trip planned about three months ago. We have a four day weekend, courtesy of Buddha’s birthday and Children’s day, so we thought we’d take advantage of it… that we did. As soon as we touched down, and passed the pig flu infrared heat sensors in the Beijing airport, we hit the ground running.

Our airport pickup arrived almost on time and before we knew it, we got to practice our awful attempts at ‘Nihao’ and ‘Shey-Shey’s’ (hello and thank you) with the nice man, Dominic. We then took a turn down one of the smallest, cutest little alleys that you can imagine and pulled up to our hostel. It is located in one of the famous Beijing neighborhoods called ‘hutongs.’ They are small traditional brick buildings restored and rejuvenated into neighborhoods with the most character you can imagine, and we were staying right in the heart of them. Apparently they step from long ago when Beijing was being created, these neighborhoods were built in certain sections of the city for the ‘commoners.’

As for the hostel itself, it is always a bit of a gamble reserving a place like this on the internet, we couldn’t have found a greater place. The receptionist, her name is Apple, is wonderful, it is clean, cozy, Chinese, and just what we were looking for. If anyone out there is looking for a cheap, quality spot to tourist around Beijing, the ‘Downtown Backpackers Hostel’ is awesome, check it out.

One of the great things about traveling is seeing the sights, eating the foods, immersing yourself in the culture and people, but also, what we’ve discovered as invaluable, are all the intangibles that inevitably spring up when you travel. Cass and I have found those things which happen ‘out of plan’ or without us seeing them are the most memorable. We have learned to, for example, walk places and possibly get lost rather than using a taxi, sometimes even do less planning, other than the essentials, to foster these situations. It’s part of the experience, making it all the more rich.

That being said, armed with a sketched street map of the neighborhood supplied by the hostel, we began walking the streets of Beijing in search of, the relatively close by, Forbidden City. The city is wonderful to navigate, they have bike lanes everywhere and before we knew it we were standing in line to buy tickets outside of a huge red wall with a monstrous gate; the Forbidden City, right?? No.

Apparently we stumbled on a beautiful park with some shrines atop a hill, but fortunately for us, it overlooked the Forbidden City and gave us a great perspective on it. The size was staggering, a complete city, and the sheer number of roofs within the walls was incredible. Just as incredible as the sight of it, was the amount of people; the reason we were able to come here is also the reason the whole lot of Beijing is able to visit, let’s say, the Forbidden City. We were in pretty much the most populated country in the world; we have to expect people, so onward we went.

We followed the sea of people through the official gates to the Forbidden City. We were instantly smitten with how beautiful the foliage was, the buildings, the colors everywhere. It was an entirely different world; we had entered the Imperial Garden. The people packed pathways wove through and around magnificent rock arches and formations with lush plants everywhere. It was peaceful, or we could imagine as being peaceful without the people.

We managed to find our way through the maze of buildings and we stepped through a doorway to the Forbidden City iconic postcard picture. The vast stone grounds with a large staircase leading to a raised tower, surrounded by never ending golden rooftops reflecting the sun- it was awesome. We found out that we were actually going through the City backwards- imagine that, us doing something backwards- and this wasn’t even the ‘real’ Forbidden City yet, this is just what we recognized as the location for the Today Show’s Olympic broadcasting. It was behind this building where another huge stone grounds and building stood- but, not so fast- it was behind that in which the main Hall of Supreme Harmony stood, the ultimate and most picturesque part of the entire City. The size of this alone was crazy, and to think there were three similar to it was unbelievable. I’m sure everyone will recognize our pictures if not from being famous in its own right, the image appeared quite often during the recent Olympics.

Ok, side trip through a park and touring the Forbidden City backwards weren’t enough- we still had time to check out Tian’anmen Square. I was particularly excited about seeing this monstrosity of a plaza. I faintly remember the protests that happened here which propelled this particular area of the city into the world’s eye. I was too young to remember exactly what was going on, or why, and still I need to claim I haven’t looked much into it since then (my bad), but I do remember the red walls, the tanks, the tragedies… and for some reason I remember watching it through a snowy t.v. broadcast- was it that long ago that we didn’t have a good t.v.- rabbit ears or something? In any event, We stood underneath Mao Zedong’s obnoxiously large portrait, perhaps the most photographed or recognizable Chinese place throughout the world. We bummed around the square and took in its ridiculous amount of red flags, we tried counting the confederate soldiers marching and patrolling the square, looking quazi important, but lost count after a gazillion and twelve, then started heading back. It was crazy being in a place so far away that you see so often on television and in textbooks- so real and surreal at the same time.

Remember what I said earlier? About the intangibles are what really makes traveling all the more worthwhile? Good, because on our way back from the Square, we headed down a hutong that took us in the most peculiar little maze of back alleys and turns. We literally had no idea where we were, or sense of direction. All the while of not knowing where we were or where we were going, in never seemed to bother us, we were more interested in the neighborhood. The small brick buildings were nearly all busy with renovation and brick workers. It was a real intimate environment and an interesting sight of Beijing. We dealt with being lost once we popped out onto a major road, and it was far more easier that we thought getting home from that point.

We were recommended a restaurant from the hostel and wandered into it. There is no real effort to speak English here so we were pretty much lost, luckily I bought an ‘Instant Chinese’ book before we left, so we could point a few phrases in their native tounge and point to some dishes on other tables. Reminiscent of our beginning days in Korea!

We grabbed a beer at a hutong bar on our way back to the hostel for the night. Tomorrow, we would be attacking 10 kilometers of the Great Wall. All in all, day one in China was great, Beijing is becoming a great city in our eyes with lots of character and plenty to see. Our whirlwind tour here has only just begun…

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Comments

[An]

one question for living.
Hi, I'll be the guide for a US girl to go around Beijing. I'm wondering where to live. Can you tell me where exactly where ‘Downtown Backpackers Hostel’ is? And what's the expense? Thanks.