Historical Breakthroughs in Beijing

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After another energy consuming weekend, I was happy to get back on the high-speed train in comfort to Beijing. The ride I had in store was about five and a half hours, and I slept for the majority of it. I’d have to say I fell in love with the bullet train the first time I took it en route to Suzou. I've always loved trains for the fact that you can actually observe a bit of the country that you are traveling in and it feels like moving from one destination to another is less of a waste of time. And with these high-speed trains, it definitely accelerates the process. The average speed is around 300km/hr and you could have a full glass of liquid on your tray, and it would be barely disturbed. I'd say the only downfall is one that is experienced in the majority of this country... the noise. Peace and quiet is destroyed by people talking unnecessarily loud, movies playing on devices without earphones, music, and everything else in between. Luckily, I was able to solve this problem by putting my own earphones in and zoning out.

I arrived in Beijing a little rested from my extended nap on the train, but it was getting into dinner time and I was looking forward to checking into my hostel, grabbing some food, winding down and enjoying a good nights rest before screaming through the sites over the next 2 and a half days. The hostel I booked was decent, however, had a strange set up where a 4 bed dorm had everyone share the bathroom. This wouldn't have been a problem except the fact that it was separated by smoked glass with no soundproofing whatsoever. Nevertheless, this setup had everyone in our room fairly intimately acquainted whether we liked it or not.

My first full day's schedule in Beijing included the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, and finally squeezing in the Temple of Heaven. As I scurried onto the subway, I knew I had a bit of a packed day, but was definitely looking forward to it. I arrived at the Summer Palace and was immediately eager to experience a little bit of a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, despite being here for only a few hours. The Summer Palace was once a place for the imperial court to spend summers away from the Forbidden City. It was an amazing example of Chinese landscaping and spans over an immense area. It surrounds Kunming Lake and is filled with treed areas spotted with numerous pavilions, temples, halls and bridges. Although the sights were most impressive, my desire to escape the crowds was a delusion as I was beginning to discover almost everywhere in this country. I managed to see all of the top sights and my next stop was towards the very communist Tiananmen Square, which is loaded with an eerie history and is the world’s largest public square.

As I got off at my Metro stop, I was approached by a very kind Chinese woman who was overly polite, providing me some information about the square and asking me a lot about Canada. It began to sound very familiar as this was one of the common cons experienced in major tourist areas. After some time conversing, she was curious if I wanted to get some tea with her. Most people may have jumped on this opportunity, however, I was previously warned by Richard and have experienced this a few times, so I was able to dodge the extremely high price I would have been demanded to pay after indulging in her offer. However, it didn't take away from my experience of Tiananmen as I began to marvel at the extreme expansiveness of this concrete square. Building height limits are enforced in the immediate area, so it allowed for a vast, uninterrupted view of the sky. That, combined with the surrounding Soviet styled parliament buildings, propaganda screens, numerous Chinese flags and military guards, gave it a very cold war feeling. I was able to get some interesting photos as I was approached by a plain clothed official asking me to stop taking pictures and to move out of the square. At the same time, I noticed numerous military uniformed officers inconspicuously forming a line combined with other plain clothed officials. Methodically, they pushed forward moving everyone out of the area starting from one end asking people to move and saying that, “The Square is closed!” This was confusing to me as I knew that the square rarely, if ever closed as it was supposed to be open well into the evening and was a public space. Their lack of English made it impossible for me to understand what was going on. As I left the area I also noticed some high profile police vehicles in the middle of the square that weren't there before. All of this action had me extremely curious as to what was going on and after discussing it with a few people in hindsight, I've come to the hypothesis that there was either a high profile person entering or exiting one of the parliament buildings, or it was just a random show of force and oppression to remind the people that the Chinese government is still very much in control. Whatever the reason, it definitely reinforced the stern feeling of dictatorship that Tiananmen radiated.

Following the concrete harshness of Tianenmen Square, I left to finish off in a tranquil park, the Temple of Heaven. This was a nice contrast as I was actually able to shed off a bit of the crowds that dominated the day. It sits surrounded by urban Beijing as a peaceful spot covering 267 hectares that many Chinese enjoy for exercise, social interaction and a spot to take pleasure in some magnificent temple architecture that litters the area. With that in mind, it continued to follow the typical Chinese design of nature, which is to delete and flatten any imperfections and to replace them with straight lines of trees, paths, and walls. Nevertheless, it was a welcomed finish to a busy day. Tonight was a decent bedtime as tomorrow had in store one of my most eager sights, The Great Wall.

As I boarded the bus early in the morning en route to the Mutianyu section of the Great wall, I couldn't have picked a better day. Blue sky, limited smog, and hot sun would be the setting. It was a shame that I forgot to put on sunscreen. On the bus, I was able to meet two ladies from Canada, Briana from Toronto, and Kris from Winnipeg, who lived not far from where I was born and spent the first 5 years of my life. It was nice to sit and chat and I discovered that Briana was also teaching in China, while Kris was working in Cambodia and visiting for a few weeks. As we arrived at the wall, the option was laid out to us that we had the could either take the gondola up to the main part, or walk the 300+ steps up to the wall. I was immediately thinking gondola, however, Briana and Kris quickly thwarted that idea and we were the only ones to embark on the climb. As we got to the top and onto the wall, it was truly breathtaking. The beautiful sight, combined with the history of knowing when the wall was initially created was marvelous. I snapped more pictures than I could possibly imagine and it was nice to share the experience with some new friends. The nice part of this area of the wall was that it had some towers and sections that have not been refurbished. This made for a nice contrast as I was able to walk on a portion of the wall in its original form. Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better day, and despite being a bit rushed, Briana, Kris and I made it back to the base and avoided missing our bus.

That night, the ladies and I planned to check out the area Houhai Lake, but not before I enjoyed some infamous Beijing Duck. After I filled my belly with enough for at least two people, I met up with the girls and we began to marvel at Houhai, which is a large lake surrounded by rooftop bars offering a wide variety of live music covered in neon lights and signs. We wandered around having a few drinks and we settled on a chill reggae bar. We continued to indulge in a few beverages and decided to explore a little more. This is when one of the more memorable social experiences of the trip began to unfold. As we were passing a club that was playing some music more up our alley, we were approached by a group of 3 Chinese men and 1 woman. With their extremely limited English, they offered for us to join them and immediately my traveling suspicion became activated. However, after assessing the situation briefly, we decided to take the chance, which we immediately discovered was a great idea. One of the older gentleman in the group offered to order anything on the drink menu, and after we didn't understand, he ordered a bottle of whiskey, which immediately began to be shared around the table. This was another fantastic experience where it didn't matter that we didn't know each other’s languages. The official language of drinks, music, laughs and good times took over and we drank and danced the night away, all on their treat. This was an overwhelmingly genuine, generous Chinese experience that I will truly never forget. However, as we began to head back to our hostels, I began to dread that I had the Forbidden City to explore early tomorrow morning.

Despite the amazing experience of last night, I regretted the reality of my alarm waking me up and the fact that it was another scorching day, and I only had a few hours to check out the Forbidden City before my train left to meet Forbes in Xian. However, as any traveler should do, I pulled up my socks had a quick breakfast and took off. As I arrived and made my way into the hoards of tourists entering the Forbidden City, which is directly across the street from Tiananmen Square, I was immediately overwhelmed by the crowds. However, as I made my way into the City, my frustration began to melt and was replaced with wonder at the sheer size and marvel of the ancient architecture. I was also amazed that the Forbidden City was once reserved for one Emperor and uninvited entry was punishable by death, hence the name. It’s located at the very heart of Beijing and houses numerous halls, temples, gates, and gigantic pagoda style buildings. Despite the crowds, I couldn't help but imagine being by myself, which added to the experience and I felt dwarfed by my surroundings. It was unfortunate that I had to be rushed through it, but I was glad to have experienced it. The last unfortunate event of the day was a result of my laziness as I decided to accept an offer from a motorbike taxi driver to take me the 20 minute walk to the closest metro station. Unfortunately the driver, although completely understanding where I wanted to go, took me through a maze of streets and demanded 400RMB, approximately $70. After a few choice words for him, I refused and luckily he kicked me off his motorcycle no money lost. The only issue was that I had no idea where I was. Thankfully, I was picked up by a much friendlier taxi driver and I was only out about 30 minutes. I mention this because it is an unfortunate part of traveling, but I was thankful that this was one of the only experiences like this I've had in China thus far. It was a reminder that it’s important to keep on your toes in any foreign country.

With that in mind, and as cliche as it might sound, everything happens for a reason, and despite that detour, I was able to get back to my hostel, check out, and hop on the metro on time for my train that left for Xian. It was here that my leftover frustrations from the previous experience faded away. A Chinese girl that approached me and asked me where I was from. She was dressed in a funky Hawaiian shirt, fedora hat, Doc Marten boots and sported a pink suitcase. Now, this young lady didn't want to sell me tea, rather, she was fellow traveler, a rarity from rural China that went by the name of Seventeen. She shared the same destination as I did, and we had a wonderful conversation about life, traveling, China and Canada, and the challenges that are often faced no matter where you’re from. It was one of the more enriching conversations I've had, and if I hadn't been forced to take the extended ride on the motorbike taxi, it would have never happened. We parted ways at the train station and it was an extremely joyful and fitting way to end my short time in Beijing. As I reflected back on it, I couldn't help but get excited for meeting up with Forbes in Xian.

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Comments

[Lori]

Hey Jay!! Great blog!! Sounds like Beijing was action packed!!! Enjoyed the read, thanks for sharing!! Enjoy the rest of your week!! See you soon! Be safe xo