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Published: January 22nd 2008
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Beijing
Hellooo there after a very long delayed flight, where many films were viewed, we finally arrived in Beijing at 8am. We were picked by our drivers who laughed at Ross because he was wearing a t-shirt considering it was -8 and snowing. Ming Shi, Dads friend, then met up with us and wisped us off to the markets to buy some coats for Muc, Huntz and Caz. This was one of the best experiences I have had yet; bartering was soo fun although apparently i am rubbish but the little woman on the wallet stall told me "you very was clever". They were very hard to barter with as Rick found when one hit him with her calculater and Ross when he was man handled. Was very funny to watch though.
We then drove off in the scooby mobile which was another crazy but great experience. We were saying if a Chinese man was told to drive around in Manchester he wouldnt last very long. There is no such thing as indication or stopping at crossings. They peep and if you dont get out the way tuff luck. Our driver Stu is a ledgend though, he weaves
in and out drives on pavements just to pick us up. There is also Simon, he is good at English and really funny. Today he fell off the tobogan on the way down the Great Wall and got straight back up.
On the first day we went on a tour with Jesse (Chinese friend) who took us to Tiananmen Square and Old road. The size of the city struck me first; at night it comes alive with flashing lights on skyscrapers and peasents cooking food on the side of streets. We had a 3 year girl run up to us and beg to us and she followed us for 10 mins. We were told City peasents pay countryside peasents to adopt their cute children as beggers for the City as Westerners are more likely to pay them. We didnt. We also noticed many Chinese like to stare at us we couldnt stop laughing on the subway when this one just stared at me for 15 minutes constantly. Found out why everyone stares at Ross' shoes; apparently he wears shoes that resemble kickboxing/ meditation shoes, so its like you in the street with your slippers on.
James took us
out for a proper Chinese on the first night where we ate duck feet ( taste like dead skin) but we also had duck pancakes which were very tasty.
On Friday we visited Behar Park which involved lots of climbing beautiful temples and Caz got to ring the bell on top. We also went on an ice ring in a sledge and played bumper cars I knocked Ross off lol.In the evening we met up with a Danish girl called Anna , who took us out for a Korean meal This was sooo good, lots of meat and a BBQ on our table, so we cooked and drank for a few hours. We then went to the Westen Bars where we met up with some guys from London and Manchester and had a few Tsingtan beers. We were also introduced to a young female news reader for the main TV station.
Today as I said was great fun. The Great Wall was soo much fun: the views, the history and being with our mixed group of friends and Chinese guys. We had a race from one turret to the next and were all nearly sick as the air
is soo thin, was funny. We also took lots of photos of us jumping off the side of the wall on a cleaners broom stick we were pretending to be Harry Potter because it was the only movie the Chinese recognise. On the way to the car we were attacked from all sides by the local farmers who make gifts for the locals. We brought a shuttle cock football (use your imagination) and this has given us plenty of entertainment in hostel rooms playing keepy up.
An old woman also approached us with a Camel! We all had a ride on it. In the evening we decided to take it easy; had some 40p beers with some other travelers who had been traveling for 5 years!
On Sunday we were taken by our Chinese friends to the famous Summer Palace. The gardens are beautiful, containing the largest lake in Beijing. As it was -8 the lake had frozen and we had great fun sliding and playing with the Shuttle football on the ice. Funniest moment of the day was when Nicholas tryed to break the ice and suprisingly succeed and nearly fell in. We departed the ice and
visited the decorative temples which all contained Buddas, it was difficult to understand the history as the majority was in chinese (Dont worry mum I took pictures and you can translate them if you wish).
In the evening we had another great chinese meal with 11 dishes being seved on the spinning table. We didnt know what the meats were but had them anyway, may have been dog!
Following the meal we had a few beverages in what seemed to be now our local, it was called The Tree. The taxi man tryed to double out fare but we discovered this and so only gave him10RnB instead of 20 so then he pointed us in the wrong direction. Silly man. We were in the bar for a few hours and there was a live acoustic band playing. It made me think of home when they played "Kiss me" by Sixpence none the richer.
That evening we checked into a 5* deluxe hotel!! This was a surprise present from Ming Sie, my Dads friend. We drank the alcohol in the suite and settled down in our fresh bathrobes for a cheesy American movie in front of the TV.
We woke up at 7:30am, we were certainly not missing the opportunity to take advantage of the hotels facilities. We had an hours work out in the gym followed by a refreshing swim (pool all to our selves). We then regenerated our bodies in the steam room and sauna aaaa. We changed into our traveling gear and proceeded to breakfast, where we looked slightly out of place as we were the only ones not wearing suits. We didnt care and nearly ate the whole hotels food clean out. Eggs, toast, sausage folllowed by chinese breakfast and then bacon sandwiches. We also took some fruit for later as the fruit on the streets appears to be alive with bugs.
We were then met by our chinese friends our driver Stu and translator Simon. Plus we have a new girl guide everyday and for this day we had Sunny! Sunny took us to the DiaLama temples. This was a very spiritiual place where we lit joss stick and therefore we were granted a wish. One of the temples contains a Budda that has won a Guiness World record. It was 26m tall and was carved out one singular tree.
In the afternoon we visited the Hotong (chinese homes) in style. We each had a ruckshaw which is a carriage on a bike. The drivers were funny they kept racing each other but mine was an old man and had to keep stopping for rests. We went into a ladies home which was quite modern and had some herbal tea, which i drank for the first time. All the homes had 2 trees in the garden as it brings them good luck.
In the evening we went for an Indian with James Ming She and the majority of the chinese people we had met during the week. It was a very hot meal and we had great fun teasing them for a change about using a knife and fork. We then proceeded to our local bar " the tree"were we had our last drink with the guys and James Ming Sie who we owe for such an excellent start to our gap year 08.
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cazza
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Great to read your 1st blog! food sounds a-m-a-zing (5* breakfast, not ducks feet! Just make sure you steer clear of the DOGmeat! Especially Tibetan terrior Richard Huntington!!! Think Cassie....cute and cuddly!! Glad you' ve had a brill time in Beijing- hope you have immersed yourselves in culture and history! You will be tested when we see you on every temple, garden and museum you visit ! You'll be well prepared for the Kings Arms pub quiz when you get back! Weather here is ssoooo depressing. It has rained 'cats and dogs'( not Tibetans!) since you left. Speak soon. LU. Keep blogging!