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Published: November 8th 2009
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Royal dignitaries...
We made this picuture in a park overlooking the Forbidden City. The robe was to small for Chris.. But we got a lot of laughters from the locals ;) Hi Dear Friends,
sorry for the big silence, we haven't posted any entries for long... partially because of the trip to North Korea, but let us start with Beijing first!
After the harsh weather in Mongolia we really longed for the high 10s or low 20s C in Beijing, which thankfully awaited for us there. OK, no fliplops weather, but we could get rid of the long john's, gloves, caps and fleece jackets... big difference. Spent 6 days in Beijing, and enjoyed it a lot. It's a buzzing city with noise, traffic and lots of smells, so different to the Mongolian steppe :-) We took it easy in Beijing, but managed to do the main highlights, being Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Tianmen Square, Great Wall, Acrobatics, Peking Duck, etc... Great architecture and thanks God the tourist season was over, so did not have to queue a lot. Exception is the Mao mauzoleum, which took 2 hours to reach (Lenin's popularity is nothing compared to Mao's if you measure it based on the length of the queue.... sorry Olga, nothing against Lenin ;-) And funnily or sadly (?) after passing the luggage checks, ID checks (we had no ID with
Fondue local style
We found in a small alley this fondue restaurant, without picutre menu. So we've execised our 'pointy-point' skill to get the food we wanted.. And it tasted GOOD!!! us but they did not notice... crowd...) I failed to pass the last checkpoint... the damn camera beeped at the metal detectors... so I sacrificed my Mao experience to Chris' benefit and waited outside on the square while he could admire him and the propaganda around him... I dont think I missed that much. Picking out Chris from the crowds leaving the mauzoleum was funny, was easy to see him among the short Chinese ;-)
A great experience was the hiking of the Great Wall. After chatting to our Austrian fellow traveller friend, Christian, we decided to do the trip on our own instead of doing the organised stuff with the hostel. The result: saved 75% of the cost and ended up on a deserted wall with no tourists... We could hike it for a kilometer or 2, most of it was in its original form without reconstruction. Was great, topped with sunny weather. And the view was fantastic. Will show you pictures later on.
The acrobatics was also great, amazing what those kids/youngsters can do with their bodies. I am not surprised that Cirque de Soleil uses a lot of chinese acrobats, they get excellent education here.
Mao and me...
Aren't we cute together....??? For those who've read the North-Korean part, a picture like this with the Great Leader or the Dear Leader is NOT possible. The guides always stressed that the GL and the DL should always be taken seriously!!! We could not take photos there, sorry, but I am sure if you Google it on the Internet, you will find pics.
The Peking Duck was a disappointment though, we went to the restaurant highly recommended by LP, but the result was very pricy, very small portion of a duck. Half duck is there approx 150 g.... so we asked for the 2nd half after finishing the first, as we were still damn hungry after crossing the half city on foot to get to this restaurant. The 2nd half was a bit more filling, but after check out we decided to top the duck in our stomach with some lovely street food for 3 Yuan each (0.3 EUR)... :-)
Ah man, Chinese food is so great!
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Johan
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Mooi man!
Hi Guys, Great stories, great pics. Seems like you are heaving a jolly good time over there. Enjoy your stays and easy on the dogs! Cya