Beijing - Our First Taste of China

---

I think it's fair to say that Paul and I were both a little nervous about our trip to China. Despite good intentions our Mandarin was below the most basic level which isn't great since the language barrier is the single biggest issue for foreigner travellers in China. That coupled with the expected cultural differences left us both a tad apprehensive. The Lonely Planet's advice for first time travellers to China is to be patient and understand that lots of things which we take for granted, like orderly queues and personal space may not exist. As another website abruptly put it, forget everything your mother ever taught you about table manners, waiting your turn and spitting. This information is undoubtedly sound but leaves you expecting the worse and wondering why you made the crazy decision to book flights to Beijing.

We've just spent five nights in Beijing and had the most wonderful time. Never has a place blown me away so much. It is so culturally different in some ways, and in others more similar than you might expect. Despite the language barrier, which can be a challenge, Beijing has to be one of the easiest cities to visit. The people are friendly and smiley and it's amazing what you can accomplish with picture food menus, pointing and a big smile. A great example is a trip to the 7/11 (which I love as they bring back fond memories of Thailand where there is one on every corner) to buy some vodka. We pointed at the smaller, half bottle (those good intentions again) and the guy rang it through the till and then started pointing at a bigger bottle behind us on a discount trolley. Of course there was no price but he held up 5 fingers indicating 500 yuan. This was 130 yuan cheaper than the half bottle. We bought it of course and could not quite believe how lovely it was for him to go to all that trouble for two ignorant English people who could only say hello and thank you in the local language. Picture that scene in London - I can't imagine it panning out the same somehow.

The language barrier does have a plus side. People pretty much leave you alone. As you walk down the street there are a few interested glances but no one pesters you. Unlike places like Bali or Thailand you're not having to say 'hello' and 'no thank you' to whatever someone is trying to sell you. It also feels very safe and unthreatening which leads to a very relaxed travelling experience.

There are some things that take a bit of getting used to. Crossing roads is beyond challenging. We've come from America where cars stop the moment your body language suggests you might be about to step into the road, regardless of whether you're at an official crossing or not. In Beijing the exact opposite happens. When you get to an official crossing with red and green men (just like back home) the cars, push bikes and scouters just keep on coming, regardless of whether the green man is on or not. There is no place for fear here - you just have to set off confidently and hope you make it out alive!

Perhaps the most shocking thing, the thing no one properly warned us about, were the public toilets. A lot of bars and restaurants don't have their own bathrooms because there are public toilets everywhere. Now you'd think this would be a good thing for someone with a tiny bladder like me, but oh no. It's bad. In fact it's beyond bad. Squat toilets I can deal with and are par for the course in Asia. And the fact you can smell them before you see them is not great, but again I'd been warned. What I was totally unprepared for was the complete absence of cubicals. Just a row of squat toilets with nothing but a small screen in between them for 'privacy'. I was so shocked that I actually walked out of the first one I went into. I was simply not mentally prepared. The hand sanitiser came in very handy our first day. As well as there being no toilet roll (again we had been forewarned and were prepared) there are no sinks. Not a pleasant thought when you consider chefs and waitresses are using theses toilets. In fact I think this is one of those instances when it's best not to think!

But this is all painting an unpleasant picture and that is so not the intention. These stark differences are what make it so interesting. And you do get used to it. We are now masters of crossing roads and are completely fine with our personal space being invaded. Whilst I don't think we'll ever be brash enough to do the blatant queue jumping it is nice being able to weave in and out of people when you're in a rush, safe in the knowledge that you're not being rude, even if you do cut a couple of people up; it's the local way.

With one day set aside for the Great Wall we had three days to see the sites of Beijing. This made for a pretty full on few days. There is so much to see and like any city everything is so spread out. There were two big sites that we allocated a day each for; Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. This left just a day to squeeze in everything else, and that's what we did on day one. We left the hotel at 10am and walked back in at 8pm. We walked for 23km that day, taking the underground three times so we definitely covered the miles. It was exhausting but totally amazing.

We started at the Temple of Heaven Park, my favourite site of the day. Covering a massive 267 hectares this is apparently the highlight of Beijing's royal parks, and if the number of visitors is anything to go by it's pretty accurate. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest was simply beautiful with it's triple-eaved purplish-blue umbrella roof mounted on a three-tiered marble terrace. Odd numbers are considered lucky in ancient China hence the three-tiered terrace.

We then headed over to the incense filled Lama Temple, the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. More beautiful, Buddha filled buildings were surrounded by people worshipping, which was intriguing to watch. Again it was full of Chinese tourist, and every visitor is given a packet of incense to burn, which you do in multiples of three (one for the past Buddha, one for the present Buddha and one for the future Buddha), so the place was absolutely full of incense, almost suffocatingly so! Never have I seen so many Buddas in one place, the highlight of which was the 18m bronze Buddha in the final hall. Unfortunately no inside photography was allowed so despite all the Buddas we came away without a single picture of one.

Our next stop was Conficius temple which wasn't on the hit list but was across the road from Lama temple and promised to be quiet which sounded appealing after a day of bumping shoulders with Chinese tourists. Unfortunately it wall full of tour groups, whose guides use microphones so everyone in the group can hear. When you get two tour guides competing with each other it can get pretty loud! It wasn't quite the calm, tranquil oasis we'd been promised but then this is not a city to visit if you're looking for peace and quiet! We got lucky and manage to see a free local dance show which rescued the visit.

Our final stop of the day were the Hutongs - these are narrow alleyways containing mainly one story buildings that give you some insight into old Beijing. Lonely Planet had a one hour walking tour which we did, taking us into lots of random little back alleys and promising to get us lost. We rewarded ourselves at the end by having a drink in a roof top bar by the Drum and Bell towers which I was regretting 15 minutes later when I needed the toilet and had my first shocking experience of public toilets.

This was our second night in Beijing so we decided to brave a local restaurant in the Huntong where no English was spoken. All we had to go off was a picture menu with one line names which even google translate struggled with (unless chicken MA pepper is really a dish). We ordered and the food was fine if a little on the large side.

On our second day we took the subway out to the Summer Palace. This was the playground for emperors escaping the heat of the imperial city. The place is huge with three-quarters of the grounds taken up by the lake. The diversity of the place was fantastic; temples, halls, bridges, corridors, crazy boat monuments. You start off walking (and sometimes clambering over rocks) to the peak of Longevity hill, visiting temples along the way. When you reach the top you get spectacular views down to the river. The highlight for us was the Buddhist Fragrance Pavilion perched near the top of the hill facing the lake. Yet another astonishing building surrounded by a lovely courtyard and corridor (covered walkway). We then dropped down through more temples, halls and courtyards to the lake. We stopped here for some questionable lunch and then jumped on a boat across the lake to the South Island. From here we slowly made our way back to the exit, walking along the edge of the lake and then dropping into Suzhou street, designed to mimic a famous canal side town. We spent about five hours here and still left not having seen everything we wanted.

On our third day we joined a day tour to hike the Great Wall. This warrants a separate blog, but all I will say is wow. Definitely one of our top five travel highlights, ever!

On our final day in Beijing we finally made it to the Forbidden City taking a route through Tian'anmen square, which we instantly regretted. The queue to get thorough security checks was massive and as our tour guide from the Great Wall hike had warned us that only 80,000 tickets were issued per day, we were worried they would sell out. Once through security we legged it through Tian'anmen square taking photos on the move, and joined the mass of tourists crawling through the bottleneck tunnels that took you through to the entrance. This is the point at which we saw the plus side of the cultural differences, weaving our way between people using the tiniest spaces!

Of course we got our tickets and found a shady spot to recover and take in our surroundings. The Forbidden City is China’s largest and best-preserved collection of ancient buildings, and the largest palace complex in the world. As you enter you find yourself in a huge courtyard facing the Gate of Supreme Harmony, one of the most impressive buildings in my opinion. It is enormous and has been beautifully restored. The three Great Halls that follow are equally impressive, if absolutely packed full of people. Trying to peer inside them involved battling for space with Chinese tourists, a game they always seem to win. Thankfully Paul is tall by Chinese standards and able to take pictures over the tops of people's heads!

The buildings that followed were unrestored and whilst it was interesting to see the contrast they weren't half as impressive. For me, the Forbidden City was somehow less wow than the Summer Palace, and I think this has something to do with the sheer size of the place. Everything is very spread out, and somewhat similar. Or maybe it was four days of rushing around like a crazy person taking its toll!

After the Forbidden City we went back to the Hutongs for our last meal in Beijing (three dishes ordered; one terrible, one amazing and one about average) and then took our final subway back to our hotel to pack and get an early night in preparation for a 4.30am start the following day.

Beijing has been so amazing that neither of us are sure how the rest of China can possibly compete. Have we hit the highlight of our trip in our first few days? Should we just jump on a plane and come home now (nah!). Watch this space....



******please scroll down for more pictures******

....

---

Comments

[Sharon Tomasi]

Oops toilets!
Hi! Loved this blog! And oops, sorry. I should have warned you about the toilets. I still remember my first experience. There was a queue and as I got to the front, I remember praying that the next to come available was an end one. But no, of course it was the one straight in front, the easiest for everyone in the queue to stare straight into. Aaagh!