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Published: August 6th 2007
Well here we are, sat in a hotel in Beijing about to head off to Xi’an tonight on the sleeper train. We have been here for seven days now and have had a really enjoyable time in the Chinese capital. We have been lucky with the weather as the temperature has been relatively mild, a contrast to the heat we were expecting.
We arrived in Beijing at 2.30am on the Wednesday morning which is never a good time to get to a place. We had planned to get the sleeper bus from Erlian to Beijing but we found out that the bus had either already left or did not exist, depending on which person you believed. It was difficult to know who to believe but in the end we got on a minibus with the two Americans we had met on the train and shared a ride to Beijing. Upon arriving in Beijing the driver didn’t seem to know where our hotel was (plus his license didn’t allow him to drive in the capital!) so we ended up having to take a taxi to the hotel, arrving tired but pleased to have a bed to sleep in.
Over the
Beijing Great Wall
The two of us on the 10km hikenext few days we got ourseleves acclimatised to the city and the people. Everyone was really friendly and seemed keen to stare at us, albeit in a nice way. On the first night we went to the Chinese acrobats which were amazing. It was probably technically better than the one we saw in Moscow but perhaps not as much fun. We also had a walk around Tiannemmen Square (Jenny’s description of it as a big block of concrete probably won’t make it into the tourist brochures but it did describe our slight lack of wonder about the place.) We didn’t quite think it was as cool as Red Square in Moscow (not name dropping of course). Our tour of Forbidden City was enjoyable as well - it was very hot that day which made us a little lethargic but we were still impressed with the stature of the place.
Then came our trip to the Great Wall - definitely something we had been looking forward to for a long time. We weren’t to be dissapointed either, it was Great. We decided to do the trip which included a 10km walk along the wall. It was another hot day (34
Beijing
Met up with the lovely Lesa Rodgers (ex-Laser-Scan) for a chin wag. degrees) so we felt the strain at times but the effort was of course worthwhile. This is a quieter section of the wall so it was a lot less crowded than other sections. Hopefully the pictures do the day some justice. When we got back that night we met up with Lesa, our ex-workmate from Cambridge, and had a nice evening with her. Life in BJ (as people call it here) was good.
The last little tale was how yesterday we went to one of the famous Peking Duck restaurants and ordered… Steak Pie and Chips. It was so nice to have some English food and such a treat. Only joking!! We of course had Peking Duck and it was amazing! We decided to have a whole duck between us as we we worried if we just had half the duck it would end up swimming in circles. The chef wheeled it out to our table and expertly sliced it up for us. We had the requisite pancakes, lettuce, sauce and spring onions to accompany Donald. They even gave us a little card to say how many ducks they had served since they opened! I think we had number
Peking Duck
Jenny with Donald - the knife in Jenny's left hand is obscured from view... 330023!
And that’s about it really. We’ve really liked BJ and hope to be able to return back here one day soon. We particulary like the Crowne Plaza bar we went to one night where we had a five pound cocktail each (that is a LOT of money in BJ - about the cost of our hotel room for the night!) Maybe we’ll go back there one day. We are on to Xi’an in about 4 hours so will no doubt check in again soon. Hope you are well and managing to stay above water (if you are in England).
Jay and Jenny.
x
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Michelle and Rob
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Hi Jay and Jenny, as i am sat in my office ,looking out onto the raining city and streets of Birmingham looking at your pictures and hearing all your news it is a refreshing change. Sounds like you are having the best time, what a great experience you are having and think of all the memories that will stay with you forever. Beijing is not how i imagined it at all, and i think it is def worth a visit if not for the cocktails alone! All is good here, Rob did tell me to pass on his deepest love to you Jay - he is still crying every night now that you arent in the UK and we are already planning a stop off in Oz to see you................ Look after yourselves, stay safe. Big hugs , Michelle x