Advertisement
Published: October 22nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
Hi everyone! Having a great time so far.
We've a little time before heading off to Hong Kong so thought we'd drop you a line and to let you know what we've been up to so far.
16.10.08 Arrived in Beijing after an uneventful flight, but exhausted. Got the underground and easily found our way to the hostel thanks to Jase's planning before we got here. Made us realise how bad the London Underground is in comparison. Beijing's is hyper modern, all signs in English as well as Chinese, very punctual and with plasma screens everywhere - not what we expected! Maybe we have the Olympics to thank for that. First impressions - very smoggy, very built up and hardly any Westerners - we're getting stared at a lot. I feel like saying "What?!!" but have managed not to so far! Sure we'll get used to it. Crashed out for a few hours' much needed sleep before heading out to the night market near Wangfujing shopping district. There is a whole road of food markets with all sorts of grilled meat, etc. We tried some steamed shrimp dumplings, grilled fish and beef pancakes - all very nice. Avoided the dog
hot pot, seahorses and scorpions on sticks though!
Hostel is great - large room, en suite bathroom. Nice common room and good food.
17.10.08 Visited Tianenmen Square and the Temple of Heaven today. A good 5 hours' walking nearly killed us with the jetlag still lingering but it was worth it. Lovely day weather wise - around 22 degrees and sunny but not too hot. On our walk to and from the hostel we saw street-side barbers, lots of bustling hutongs (alleyways) and even locals playing a game of what I can only describe as foot badminton in the parks of the temple of heaven. We were invited to play but feeling knackered, kindly declined! Starting to feel like we know the place a little better now we've got over the culture shock. We've been hassled a few times by so-called art students who seem nice enough but try and get you to come and view their exhibition. Luckily we'd read about this scam so didn't get drawn into it!
18.10.08 Feet are very sore today. Not used to so much walking! Took the metro to The Forbidden City. VERY busy - lots of Chinese tourists, many of
whom pushing and shoving their way through. I think the old women were the worst - so rude! Jase stood his ground when one woman tried to shove her way through - she almost bounced off him! She looked up at him in surprise - that'll teach her! The temples were worth a visit though. Lots of ornate, colourful buildings with the well-known Chinese style rooves. There was also a carved 'nine dragon' wall which was impressive. That night we wandered back down to Wangfujing to try a roast duck restaurant called Quanjude, recommended by Lonely Planet. It was heaving when we arrived so we waited for around an hour before having a very nice, traditional Peking duck. Carved in front of us by a chef and served with a rich, not so sweet sauce. Not quite the same as back home, not as crispy and you even get served the duck's head (Jase found it quite tasty until he accidentally eat some of the brain - yuk!). It was a nice meal though.
19.10.08 Had a big lie in today, might be something to do with quite a late night last night. The Beijing beer on draft in
the hostel is great! Headed off to the Olympic Park and got chatting to a lovely couple at our metro station - Jo from N Ireland and Rob, from Leeds who were staying at our hostel. Ended up spending the day with them. Visited the Bird's Nest Stadium which is as awesome as it looked on tv. We paid to go inside and take in the sheer size of the place. Also got a good view of the Aquatic Cube. In the evening, we inited Jo and Rob to come with us and check out another area within our district around Galou Dajie, seeing as there aren't many bars near us. The Lonely Planet did us proud - managed to find all 3 of their recommedations despite them being tucked away down dark hutongs. First was bed bar, a trendy place with low lighting and cushions to chill out on. Then we moved on and had a great meal in Cafe Sambal, low seats, low lighting and great Malaysian curries. From there we moved on to a roof top bar called the Drum and Bell. Almost missed it, it was so tucked away but glad we persevered. Lovely comfy seats
on the rooftop and friendly staff. Back at the hostel, the 4 of us played cards over a few beers and crashed at 2am.
20.10.08 Another mammoth lie in and me with an upset stomach didn't bode well for a good day but we managed to squeeze in a visit to The Summer Palace. Very serene and pretty with Chinese style buildings surrounding a huge lake. A hazy day today so the pics weren't as good as hoped. Had a lovely walk around the lake though and took a dragon-style junk boat back to the other side. Tried the Beijing taxis - suprisingly easy (with the help of a Chinese map) and dirt cheap (about a quid for a 15 minute journey). Early night tonight to let the blistered toes recover - Great Wall tomorrow - 5am start!
21.10.08 This was definitely the highlight of our visit to Beijing. Jo and Rob came along too. We'd decided to avoid the touristy bit that everyone else does (Badaling) and opt for something a bit more challenging - a 10k hike from one point on the wall (Jinshanling) to another (Simatai). After a 3hr coach journey we arrived. Our first
glimpse of the wall from the coach was amazing. Seeing it's vastness snaking over the lush mountains. We took a cable car to the start of the Jinshanling section of the wall. Couldn't believe how few people there were on it and how far it stretched out into the distance - the steepness of it shocked us too - we had 10 k of climbing and hiking ahead! It certainly wasn't easy - at parts we were literally climbing ladder-like sections of the wall, then carefully treading down steeps bits while other parts were just rubble, but we felt exhilarated to be doing it. Such an amazing spectacle and a great sense of achievement at the end. Pleased to have shared it with a such a nice couple (and of course, each other!) too. Had a quick bite back at the hostel then to bed for a much needed sleep.
22.10.08 The weather's not great today, a little cooler and grey skies so time to pack up and get ready for our next stop, Hong Kong! Seeing a Kung Fu show tonight so looking forward to that.
Hope you're all well. Will be in touch soon.
Louise
& Jase xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.156s; Tpl: 0.05s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0595s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb