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Published: August 28th 2007
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A Day in the City Day two was a rainy one. I got up bright and early for a trip to a nearby gorge but it was cancelled due to heavy rain. So... I stuffed around at the hostel for a little while before heading out to explore the city. At least it wasn't hot. Before I left I chatted to an American guy who'd just been to Mongolia for three weeks. He gave me 1120 togrog that he had left over and told me to remember that you can't exchange them outside Mongolia. So I've got a bit of Mongolian cash to start me off. It's about $10 worth.
I started in Tiananmen square, as everyone does, I suppose. It was big and flat and full of umbrellas. I wandered across it (it's a bit boring, really) with the Umbrella song by Rianna (sic) in my head. Didn't get rid of it all day.
The good thing about Tiananmen Square is that it leads directly into the Forbidden City which was as good as everything I'd heard about it. It's huge and is made up of a warren of halls and palaces and walled avenues. I tried
to visit as many as I could but I know I missed some out and saw others more than once. At the far end of the city was the most beautiful rock garden with little pagodas and temples and crazy trees as well as a huge collection of exotic rocks. It was very beautiful. Like I'd always imagined Imperial China to be.
From the palace I went across the road to a park and climbed one of the few hills in the city to the White Pagoda. There were views out over the city but because of the rain and the smog I didn't get any noteworthy photos. I had a nice walk in the park though, which wasn't as big as I'd thought it would be by looking at the map.
I got back to the hostel at about 4.30 and signed up for a trip to the Beijing Opera. I am pretty sure it wasn't really very authentic. It contained a lot of acrobatics and extended fancy weaponry and stage fighting and not so much singing. I also think the singers weren't exactly top notch. It really did sound like a couple of cats fighting. I've
heard some Chinese Opera that sounded beautiful. But still... I saw it.
Did you know, China has only one time zone. So strange for a big country. When i first heard I thought 'how strange, they dont follow the laws of time' but then I thought 'well, the telling of time is just a human invention after all. Who cares what time the sun rises?' It rises at about 4.30am in Beijing, by the way.
Beijing is not an easy city to live in. The pollution is similar to smoking 76 cigarettes a day and you really feel it. I woke up on the second day with a smokers cough and black snot and my lungs haven't felt fantastic since. The pollution is visible and thick. There are a lot of underpriveledged people and people living in obvious poverty in Beijing. People with deformities or injuries that have gone bad can't work and so they beg. I saw one old man in the walkway under one of the busier roads who was as thin as a rake, no teeth and dressed only in a filthy pair of boxers and a black rubbish sack. It's hard to see, even
if it's not as bad as a lot of places.
Long Qing Xia The weather was good this time so our trip left as planned. I was with two couples; one from the Netherlands and one from Denmark. Couples are harder to talk to than solo travellers but in the end it was sociable enough.
I had my first real taste of Beijing traffic and it is madness. Everyone drives wherever the hell they like and no one treats stop lights as a rule, just an optional guideline. I have yet to see a crash though, so I suppose it works ok. I think it's because they're all going SO slowly all the time. It takes ages to get anywhere above ground. There are also bicycles everywhere. They are allowed on any road, including the motorway and I haven't seen a single helmet yet, on either bikes or mopeds. What I did see was a mental old man with an old lady on the back riding the WRONG way down the motorway, in the middle lane. They seemed quite happy about it.
When we got to the gorge we hopped on a little boat and meandered
down the river for a while. It was very pretty, similar to photos I've seen of Guilin in the south. They have these huge characters carved into some of the cliffs and painted red. I couldn't find anyone who spoke English to tell me what they said, though.
We were let off further down the gorge and had a couple of hours to kill before catching a boat back to the start. I walked up to a dodgy looking bungee site with the Dutch couple but then left them to themselves. I picked a path at random and it led me up the side of the gorge, almost to the top.. it was very steep and very hot. But it had lovely views. I only had 20 yuan left so didn't go on any of the extra things like the gondola. They had a louge ride that looked fun. We ended up getting back a bit early and went for a wander along the river bank. Three chinese men kept offering us a horse ride. They were persistant but we didn't have time. It was only 3 yuan, too (about 60c). They were very taken with my watch which
tells the time in China on one face and home on the other.
In the evening I went out for dinner with some people from the hostel and tried Peking Duck. It was foul. Utterly, utterly foul. I won't be going near it again. It may not have helped that I was sitting next to a mad Brit who was noshing on a chickens head and talking about how he'd tried dog in Vietnam and was going out to dinner with friends the next night to a restaurant specialising in various animal penises.... Apart from his eating habits he was ok. He'd just finished the Mongol Rally which is a charity race from London to Ulaanbaatar in cars that have to have engines under 1litre.
The Secret Wall Today was the best day so far, by far. The hostel I'm staying in offers a special day trip to an unrestored part of the great wall with a four hour hike along the top of it followed by a lunch at a village eating house, all for the princely sum of $25.
On the way to the start of our walk we drove quite close past Badaling,
a popular tourist part of the wall that's been restored. Even at 8am the tourists were shoulder to shoulder hiking up the steps to be harangued by the endless touts that line the top.
Our bit of the wall was untouched and so it was a far more powerful experience. It was crumbly in places and the top of the mountain was a long slog but once we got to the wall itself the views were amazing. In the direction facing away from Beijing they even went on for miles! There was only one tout at the very top and he wasn't pushy at all. I bought and iced tea and a crappy little plaque commemorating my climb for 48 yuan, just because he carries 40kg of cold drinks and souveniers 2 hours up a bloody steep hill every morning. I bought a second iced tea because I was thirsty and hot.
But the best thing was that we didn't see another soul. There were 20 of us and our guide and that was it for miles.
Another accomplishment for today is that I have successfully transfered all my photos so far to my ipod, without mishap
and all by myself. Very clever.
I leave for Mongolia early tomorrow morning. Yay!
Until next time.
xx
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Krista
non-member comment
wow wow wow!
Your photos and stories are so vivid, thanks for the morning inspiration Em. We found it hard to talk to single people as a couple in Africa, even though we were dying to talk to someone other than each other after a few weeks, argh! Better go to work, enjoy the first part of Mongolia. I look forward to the next installment X