Advertisement
Ni hao from Beijing again!
Its almost feels like I never left. Except I missed all the excellent food. And did not miss all the unexcellent pollution.
After spending all day Thursday flying, we checked into our hotel at a sparkling 2.15am, making it almost exactly 24 hours travelling time from my bed. After a short amount of sleep, we pulled ourselves out of bed to go on a full days bicycle tour. In Beijing traffic! And pollution! In China's domestic peak season!
Though it seems like a bit of an insane idea, it was actually an excellent way to orient one's self with the city, and on a clear 32 degree day it was actually a relaxing as well. Beijing is flat as a pancake and our knowledgeable guide helped us with the story behind some of the major monuments. We spent some time in the Hutong areas, which were surprisingly peaceful and quite compared with the sometime insanity of the main streets.
After lunch at the restaurant of C. Mao's former personal chef (well his son now), we hit the Forbidden City and dodged the masses of tourists. Then it was a quick ride around
the perimeter of Tiananmen square, before a short ride to the Temple of Heaven and surrounding park. I had forgotten just how large all of these sights were. The Chinese like to build 'em big.
After an unsurprisingly early night post-tour, the next day we were up and much more refreshed. Our first stop was the 798 Art District on the outskirts of Beijing, thanks to a very long taxi ride. The traffic here is still quite intense, but I actually think it has improved somewhat from last time. Now they only use the horn when they are angry (which is quite a bit) and they dont often try to squeeze two cars in one lane, just sometimes.
Next stop after viewing some excellent art was the antiques market. Or should I say "antiques" market. I am not sure either of us were their target market, so we were mostly ignored. Though if I ever want to buy a taxidermied wolf I will know where to go!
After this it seemed very appropriate to consume beer, which lead to a two hour odyssey, mostly caused by my inability to tell the bell and drum towers apart. My
tip: understanding the map is so much easier if you use the correct landmarks. Anyway, we made it in the end, and had a beer overlooking the touristy lake area, before finding dumplings and noodles in a local restaurant where we made the locals very uncomfortable, when they weren't giggling at us.
Today we went to see C.Mao himself - he looks like he is made out of wax - and had a bit of a stroll in the square. Then out to the summer palace, where the weather made for a spectacular walking day. Now if only my feet will forgive me, I'm not sure working a desk job is adequate preparation for 3 straight days on my feet. But persevere I shall!
Tomorrow evening we will join up with our tour, then have a day out at the great wall, before getting on the train to Mongolia, yay!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0209s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Karin
non-member comment
That sounds like fun! Nothing like cycling through a city to feel like you are on holidays and on top of the world. I'm surprised you were provided with helmets!