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Published: September 9th 2006
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I never thought I’d see the day that the sun didn’t rise! I thought those dark days would be too far in the future for my generation… Is this Armageddon?!?!!?!
Oh wait…I think its just the Beijing SMOG!
Before I get to the great part(s) about this city, let me say this: Smog makes me sad. It’s difficult to breathe…and I’m not a fan.
Now, smog aside, let me get on with the Beijing report:
I got in on Monday August 14th and took a taxi straight away to my host’s workplace in downtown Beijing. It was a nice way to see the city right off the bat, although the crazy Chinese driving was a little too much like Manila’s for comfort.
My host in Beijing was actually another friend of Nicky’s. She and Will had met in South Africa before she came to Japan the same year I did. They were both doing a Japanese language course and since they became such good friends, she gave me his info to help me out when I first arrived in China. I spent two nights at Will’s, in a comfy air conditioned house with my own bed!
It was certainly a nice way to start off this part of my journey!
My first day out in Beijing was…get ready for this…actually a blue sky day!!! Even Will was impressed. He said they only see blue sky about once every two months. (I guess I brought the nice weather with me from Japan😉
The most touristy voyage one can make in the city of Beijing is to Tianmen Square and the Forbidden City. So of course I had to oblige…even if it meant sacrificing my soul to walk alongside a BILLION tourists. *
*Because I’m NOT a tourist…I’m a “traveler”.
For those who have no idea what this terribly touristy area is (like me before purchasing my clever Lonely Planet guidebook), I will explain. The Forbidden City is so titled because it was off limits to the public for 500 years. It housed two dynasties of Emperors (Ming and Qing) who loved these grounds so much, they barely ever left. At the South entrance of the Square, you pass through The Gate of Heavenly Peace and that’s the launching pad for the ensuing tourist madness. The rest of the Forbidden City is littered with
different halls and gates, each with a new piece of ancient history attached to it.
After a couple days and being unable to procure a ticket on the Wednesday train to Mongolia, I moved into the FeiYing International Youth Hostel, where I met another SFT named Lisa from Australia (that’s “Single Female Traveler” for those who couldn’t figure that out) and together we set off to do some more sightseeing. About 30 minutes from the hostel was the old (and presently being restored) Cow Street Mosque. Don’t ask me why it was named “Cow Street” because I didn’t see any cows around. Go Figure! :P All name jokes aside, this mosque has quite the history. It’s the largest mosque in Beijing and it dates back to the 10th century. It’s also the burial site for countless Islamic clerics. The lunar calendar was calculated from this spot in the ‘old days’ and the main prayer hall is still in use, although you could only enter if you were Muslim…meaning Sara and I had to use the zoom function on our cameras.
We then hopped in a taxi and went off to the White Cloud Temple which was built in
A.D. 739. That’s a lot of birthdays. The coolest part of this temple was the Taoist monks with topknots (much like samurai). They just wandered about, doing their daily chores and ignoring the small amount of travelers invading their sacred space. We walked through numerous shrines, courtyards and temples buildings. I even found a stage that looked very similar to a Japanese ‘Noh’ stage, but I’ve yet to read anything about theatrical performances taking place there.
The next day, Lisa and I left the Fengtai area early and headed off for the Beijing City Zoo. We had both read about the rather harsh facilities that held the animals of this zoo, but when in China, I think travelers are somewhat ‘required’ to see a panda…so we paid the hefty entrance fee (it actually wasn’t that much, I’m just ridiculously cheap) and wandered in. Unfortunately, the guidebooks were right: All the animals were held in small dirty cages and the children AND adults constantly tapped on the glass to try and get the perfect picture. It was a pretty sad sight. Tap tap tap… “Smile for me panda!!! GOD!” (now picture me rolling my eyes at stupid tourists)
To
my Japanese/ALT readers, on the walk to the zoo, we saw an ‘Ito Yokado’! I couldn’t believe it! It made me miss Japan so much...
(Sorry for excluding those who don’t know what Ito Yokodo is, it’s a Japanese supermarket that we all shopped at daily)
Next up was the Hutong (narrow alleyways) district in Gulou. A quarter of Beijing’s residents still live in these crisscrossed one-story cement houses, and my guidebook boasts that some have courtyards…but I didn’t see any. These districts are disappearing quickly, as the government is trying to remodel the whole city in time for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The history surrounding this kind of housing development goes back quite a ways. Genghis Khan and his army reduced Beijing to rubble (13th century I believe), and afterwards the city was rebuilt using this narrow alleyway system. By 1950, there were over 6000 passageways all linking the thousands of homes together, but alas, only about 2000 exist today…and approximately 10,000 houses a year are being bulldozed to the ground. The constant state of construction that I saw created so much dust on the streets, and combined with the smog in the air, I was
waking around with my shirt over my face. Nice, really nice. I felt like I might be in The Gobi desert already…
In the same Gulou Hutong area was the Bell and Drum Towers. We went up the Drum Tower and climbed the steep as hell stairs inside and were graciously awarded with a great view of the city! A full 360° view and a lovely breeze that dried up the day’s sweat (sorry, I realize that’s gross).
By this time both Lisa and I were sufficiently exhausted from sight-seeing and gave in for the day. I knew I needed to get to bed at a reasonable time that night because the next morning at 6am, I had to head off to the train station to catch my 30 hour ride to Mongolia, aboard the Trans-Mongolian Express!
You know, overall, I’m sorry to say, I didn’t care for Beijing. The street food was yummy and cheap (my cheapest meal so far came in at 12¢ (CDN), and the people were generally nice to me if I asked for help, but the city itself has a FAR way to go in presenting itself to the world for the
2008 Olympics. I was watching China’s version of CNN (In English) one day from the hostel and I saw the head planner for the Olympics being interviewed about the measures he’s taking in preparation for the games. He described their plan to have everyone stop driving for a full week before the games (yeah RIGHT!) to decrease the smog, they want to correct all the “Engrish” signs (which I thought were only hung for comedic effect), and he topped that all off with admitting to the world that he was nervous he couldn’t do it! I swear I laughed out loud! Good luck Beijing! You need it!
So, that’s enough of the city life for me right now, I’m off to Mongolia!!!
And by the way, did I mention that I saw a crazy fight on the subway on my last afternoon?! It was like a movie! The fastest punches I’ve ever seen! WHOA! Glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of THOSE!
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mommy
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this proves i read your blog!
aren't you proud of me? i am no longer a 'Blog Virgin!' fascinating stuff! look forward to the next! love, mommy xxxoooxxx