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Published: September 10th 2008
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3 days in Beijing went by like blur.
21/06/08 In the morning I decided to call Gao. What did I have to lose right?
So Gao came and met me in the hostel. He brought a travel map of Peking in english for me. Then we went to purchase my tickets for Ulanbataar (UB). Well first we went to the international hotel and found out they charged 55RMB commission for the tickets. We decided to try and get the tickets from the trainstation however when we got there they were also all sold out. We had to purchase them from the train station anyways and the time wasted resulted in us finishing this at 12:00pm. Gao then suggested we go and have lunch and called his wife and son to join us for lunch. He refused to let me pay for any of the transport that day. On the way Gao brought me this tasty vege and egg pancake style pastry that was really delicious and only 3.5RMB. Once we got to the resturant we asked to be sat at a table with hot pot and waited for his wife and son to come and join us. The hot pot
was delicious and I really over ate for the first time in China I mean there was so much deliciousness left over but I really could not fit it all in. And we had duck. I can really rave on about how good the duck was - it is definately worth to try the Peking duck in Peking!
Anyway after the delicious meal - where Gao wouldn't let me pay saying I was a guest of his and as my guest he would take me around the city - we decided to go to the Beijing Museum (we being me, Gao and his son who was also Outlook). The musuem was pretty good for historical artifacts of China and even had a brief video on the history of China. We spent about 3 hours there. We then made our way to the markets (not the silk ones) and here Gao left me to shop for books. I got a few bargains - including my new diary for the trip (15RMB down from 25) and earphones (36RMB down from 60). Oh and I got sweet bubble tea when I was there and yes people it is every bit as good
as Ezyway so do not feel as though you cant come to China for lack fo availability of Ezyway.
Got back to Leo's Hostel (which I recommend to stay in if your in Peking) and met Lindsay at 8pm. Kati also made it a bit later she got lost and it was great to be reunited with my fellow Yunnan buddy! The three of us, along will some english guys and girls and an Australian girl called Kate (who was a journo from QLD and I later traveled Mongolia with) went to this resturant across the road from our hostel. It was ok but a bit pricey (for China) 25RMB plus cutlery charge of 2RMB and me Lindsay and Kati noticed there was a different price for the same dishes for mandarin speakers as there was for english speakers. Went back to the hostel after dinner - did not join the others for the club as wanted to have an early night. Ended up staying up chatting and drinking beer until 4:30am!
22/06/08 - this morning getting up at 7am was not nice but i dragged myself out of bed and met Kati and we hopped on the bus
Beijing 21/06/08
The forbidden city. to take us to the secret part of the great wall (Mutianyu Great Wall) that you can only book a tour through Leos for - as far as I know. Its about 200RMB but its worth it I think it gets you transport there entrance fee and lunch. Met Dan and Ahmed (both from the east coast in the States). The wall was really cool (raw and unrestored) especially as there were only 20 of us there. Managed to slip 3 times (not badly) for good measure. Delicious vege lunch - where I pigged out on about 4 serves of rice. Yum. Hopped back into the van for 2 stuffy hot hours in the back. Met Kat (from Northern Ireland - who had spent 6 months in AU and was coming home). When we got back I said good bye to Kati then me and Kat tried looking for a waxing parlour but ended up down in this strange out of an 80's porno movie room where a woman was walking around naked a guy was getting a massage and a white cat lay queen like across a bed. After they found out we did not want a massage they
kindly informed me and Kat we had come to the wrong place. We booked a Chinese acrobatics show - at a booking place down the street for 100RMB (they were selling it for 150 but we managed to bargain it down). Our hostel was selling the tickets for 180RMB. The theatre was close by so I think if you went to the theatre you would probably get it for cheaper still. We tried to find some more waxing parlours but to no avail.
Goodbye Kati - for now because I know we will meet again soon! For those interested to read more about Katis trip and who can read German please check out her blog. If you cant read German check it out anyway as it has some really awesome pics of China when we traveled Yunnan and Beijing together http://experience-singapore.blogspot.com/ I think this is the Beijing pics page but couldnt find the Yunnan one - http://picasaweb.google.com/kati0784/BeijingSummerProgram
So after the waxing parlour shinadiggans (sorry no spell check on this computer) we went to a hostel nearby and used thier internet for 3RMB (which we bargained down from 6 by the hour). Decided I would join Dan and Ahmed
for Tai Chi at 5:30am tomorrow!?!?
23/06/08 - Got up at 5:20am woke up Dan and we left at about 6:30am for the Temple of Heaven park. It was worth it. I got my dumplings for breakfast on the way. The park was super fun and worth it - 15RMB to get in - 30 if your not a student. Inside we joined in Chinese dancing, back and limb slapping, singing and we even managed to get in on some Tai Chi action. We ended up leaving around 9am - Ahmed took a taxi back to the hostel to get his things to go to the airport and we got a bus to go to the Summer palace (me, Dan and Kat). 1.5 hours later we were there and this was also worth it (again 15RMB for students). After checking out the fragrant buddah temple we got a paddle boat and decided it would be a good idea to paddle to the closest island and back in the hour. We made it back in the nick of time and then the terrential rain started. I parted with Dan and Kat and tried to make it back to the Forbidden
Palace. I didnt make it before closing time but managed to get some postcards sent and get a new memory card bargained down to 80RMB from 260. I met some Chinese workers who invited me to have dinner with them and I was disappointed that I had to reject them as me, Dan and Kat had agreed to meet at the hostel at 6:30pm for the Chinese acrobatics. We made it to the show on time which started at 7pm and it was so worth it - the acrobatics were Circ di Soleil style. It blew me away and was definately the highlight (along with the secret tour) of Beijing for me. I would definately do it again. I got a small watermelon for 3RMB on the way home from a street vendor - yummy. Met Chris from Oklahoma and Jan from Berlin. Said bye to Kat, and Ahmed (who was back in the hostel after being stuffed around with his flight).
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roma
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lol sadie, i went there just 2 weeks ago with my friend josh!! he is now back in germany and this reminded me of the walking we did. did you see the rock mountain where mao had his affairs? they would run up the rock hill thing at the garden. my friend and i were like- what da? anyway hun, hope you are enjoying the rest of your world trip. im going to look at facebook and see where you are- let me guess- anatartica?? lol... muah to you my friend hope all is well. zaijian. miss you. roma queddeng