Beijing

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24/09/2010 - 26/09/2010

Next stop was Beijing, China! Initially during the planning of my trip China was not one of the favorite countries I admit. But after reading more about it and hearing different stories I really grew into it and was looking forward to meet the new rising global and massive country. Plan is not only to visit the main cities but also try to get a taste of the 'less touristic' places.

First city on the agenda was Beijing. Already on arrival you realize how massive these places really are, train stations eg. have the appearance of european airports...going hand in hand however with incredible chaos (especially trafic), stress, shouting, etc.

Still travelling with Roman we enjoyed our first day exploring the city with a bicycle. We followed a route described in the guide book, which was estimated at 14 km, however...ours had a few more. It's easy to get bluddy lost if you take a turn in one of the 'hutongs' (small traditional chinese streets) and asking police men for directions won't get you any further; one police man says north, the other points south..in the end their professional explanation was that our map was wrong😉

Now being in real east Asia you get to notice the small cultural differences: spitting out the snort all the way from your back scull, no separation in the toilets between nr 1 and nr 2, no tipping in restaurants and ofcourse the chop stick eating, which was a very first experience for me...and a very entertaining one for the local staff😉. We went to the 'Peking Duck' restaurant close by the hostal and ofcourse had the duck but also another dish wich looked really good on the picture, but turned out to be a soup with knee bones and very strong peppers in it...which for me included a free ticket to the little house the coming days (very frequently)

Next days we visited the 2 main places to visit in Beijing, which are the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
The Wall is absolutely amazing. We were also blessed with a perfect sunny day so the views were incredible. To think that those little chinese men were able to build these massive wall up in the high hills...The Forbidden city is also great, nice detailed architecture of the temples..but if you have seen two or three, well...

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Photos

Street food
one of the many street food places we tried...

yes...it can go quick
me and a chinese baby on the Tianmen square which i'm holding very clumsy...
i think they don't have seen a tall arab looking guy very often because people asked me frequently to go on a foto with them...