Busy Beautiful Beijing

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After our seven nights on the Trans-Siberian, we arrived in Beijing Central Train Station at 5am to the hustle and bustle of Beijing coming to life while our tired bodies were just grateful that we simply had to drag them across the road to get to our hostel.

After catching up on some sleep and trying to make our bodies recognise the fact that we were no longer moving on a train we set out to explore what Beijing had to offer. Over the past five days in Beijing we've visited the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, the Birds Nest and Water Cube. The touist sites can be a bit mental. They are packed with scores of camera happy tourists and trying to stay out of other people's portrait photos is like trying to dodge bullets and, like any tourist attraction, you have the usual hawkers and vendors trying to sell you anything and everything.

We've also been exploring the Hutongs and experienced the culinary delights of Beijing street food that lurk around every corner. There are so many weird and wonderful things particularly on sticks. We've tried to be as adventurous as possible tucking into barbequeued chicked hearts and even scorpions but we had to draw the line at seahorses and starfish.

On our second night here we consulted our indespensible travel partner, the Lonely Planet Guide, as to where head for a quiet beverage or two away from all the hustle and bustle. We decided upon a little bar in one of the Hutongs. Beijing is made up of thousands of Hutongs which are a network of backstreet alleyways, home to millions of Beijingers amd with a real community feel. The bar, called the Drum and Bell, is located between two large towers, one called Drum and the other Bell which date back from the Ming Dystany. We approached it stepping off a busy street and into the darkness of the quiet atmospheric hutong. The views and atmosphere were truly amazing. The bar had a rooftop terrance with the trees sweeping over you acting like a natural ceiling yet fail to block your view of these two amazing towers and the rooftops of the hutong below. We relaxed with a beer and just chilled. The Hutongs definitely provided more of a feel for what we anticipated China to be like and it was nice to get away from the sky scrapers, KFC's, McDonalds and neon lights.

Enjoying the feel of the Hutongs we decided that we would try and find a Hutong hostel for a couple of nights so we could enjoy a bit more of the traditional street life up close. On Monday we moved to the Beijing Backpacker Youth Hostel, located in a funky little street with a cool cafe/bar/restaurant culture.

Our new Hutong was super cool and also super expensive, as we later found out, with the prices, in some places, no different from what you would pay at home. A bar across the way was selling pints of Erdinger for around 6 quid. With the money slowly evapourating out of wallets we decided to head to a less commerical end off the Hutong to seek out some street food. Pulling up a table in a curbside eaterie and for 2 quid we were treated to an amazing selection of barbequed street food. We were served with a feast. Roasted green peppers, bread, bbq green beans, mushrooms, chicken, octopus and much more. It was really amazing just sitting on a street corner in Beijing enjoying really good food.

On our last night in our Hutong hostel we didn't go too far and chatted to a few people about where they have been travelling and compared notes on our views of China so far. As it turned out one of the Irish guys actually worked with one of our friends back home! It was all very random! I'm sure Alan would agree.

Its so warm here at the minute. Today has most certainly been the the warmest so far at about 37 degrees. It's been way into the high 30's everyday so we have booked our train tickets to head to the coast for a few days to try and cool down. Before we head though, we're off to the Great Wall tomorrow. Can't wait.

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Comments

[eve]

scorpians
double ugh! I cant believe that you ate SCORPIANS!I said to mum that I am glag that Asda dont sell them. I am off on my summer holidays now. Love you , Eve xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx