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Published: November 14th 2011
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We made it to Beijing!! Was a long journey, as we had to go through passport control, get a train to our bags and get currency before getting a train and two metros to our hotel. The metro was very crowded and we definitely got some looks! Knew the language barrier would be a problem when vinny almost bought us tickets to Chaoyangmen instead of Chongwenmen!! We slept all afternoon then went to a local restaurant in our hutong where they had no english menu. The waiter spoke a little english so we ordered noodles and beef and vegetables and had a savage feed! two bottles of local beer (Yanjing SAVAGE) and it came to €5 total!
The next morning we were up at 6 and were collected for our trek of the great wall which took us three hours to get there. We were brought to a place called Jinshanling which is described as one of the older parts of the wall and very steep. Karl Pilkington once described it as "the alright wall of China" but it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It was a steep climb just to get up to
the wall itself! It was a tough trek as there are many towers along the peaks of the mountains along the way and very steep steps to get to the top of each tower, and then you have a steep incline back down and on to the next peak. As everyone will know, I’m terrified of heights, so I was absolutely petrified the entire time as we were very high but it was so worth it. We were warned that mongolian farmers would follow us and try and sell us souvenirs but as the climb got tougher, two women started to help me along! As you can see from the pics at some points along the way, they were on either side of me holding my hand!! So embarrassing but at some points i was grateful for them! Towards the end of the trek, we came to a really old part of the wall where the wall was crumbling and there were no walls on either side, just sheer drops down. I was terrified at this point but kept going. We then got to a section of the wall where the climb was so sheer with virtually no walls on
either side that i had to say no! I sat and watched vinny climb it while my mongolian tried to sell me souvenirs! We ended up giving them money for their help!! One of them told me I was beautiful and looked about 20 but then when I overheard her telling vinny that he was also beautiful and looked 22, I knew she was full of it!!
That night, we headed to a lonely planet reviewed Peking Duck restaurant! Was nearly 10 times more expensive than our meal the previous night but we were paying for the experience! We ordered a whole duck and got all the trimmings! The duck was then brought out where the chef spent ages cutting it up for us! Was really good! On the street outside, Vinny spent about 5 mins haggling with two mongolians for a tibetan lion fur that he had no intention of buying!!!
On our third day, we went to the Temple of Heaven Park. This was beautiful, really huge park with the main temple being the Hall of good prayer for harvest! After a couple of hours walking around, we headed for Tiananman Square. Ended up going into
Starbucks for coffee and spending an hour chilling out on comfy couches using their free wifi and western toilets!! Simple pleasures!
The chinese are nice people and didn’t bother us at all (unlike India) but when they speak to each other it sounds like they are shouting abuse! They also hock and spit the whole time which is disgusting! Even the women do it! It is probably the grossest thing here and we have seen some gross stuff!
We have gotten many strange looks alright, and one ‘oul lad even laughed when he saw Vinny, but that may have been due to the communist hat Vinny was wearing (I tried to talk him out of it)!! There were also a few occasions where we have been approached to have our photo taken!! (well me more than Vinny haha). Was on the great wall and these chinese lads took a picture of me and same in the Temple of heaven park, where they got in beside me for a photo! Its mad!
On our last full day in Beijing, we went to the Forbidden city. This was beautiful. The size of it alone is overwhelming, but the buildings, treasures
and details for the period of time in which it was built it mind boggling. Enjoyed walking around it for the afternoon, and when we left, we headed across Tiananmen Square for coffee to wait for the flag raising ceremony. This is basically a ceremony that occurs at dawn and dusk every day when the soldiers march at 108 paces per minute to the flag in the square to raise it at sunrise and lower it at sunset. It is precisely timed so that the flag disappears at the same time as the sun sets. We were there early and got a good enough view. At just after 5pm, the soldiers marched out and across the road to the flag where they lowered the flag. To be standing in the famous Tiananmen Square at dusk as the chinese soldiers lowered the flag was a pretty cool thing to witness. Headed to the railway station to book our train tickets to Shanghai for the next day and then on to the Red Theatre to see “Chun Yu: The Legend of Kung Fu”. Was an amazing show!!
On our last day, we went to Jingshan Park which was near our hotel.
We climbed to the Wangchu pavilion at the top and were awestruck by the views all around it. We had amazing views of not just the various halls of the forbidden city but Beijing itself. Stayed up there a good while until some chinese guy on the level above us sneezed and showered us with snot!! No joke, my arms and the top of my head was wet. As I write this, myself and Vinny are dying of head colds so I’m blaming that guy!!
Anyway, headed off to the train station a little bit nervous about getting the high speed train to Shanghai! The train itself was fab, very modern and spacious. You could stretch right out and recline your seats! There is a screen at the front of each carriage which shows the speed is going, so was bit nervous watching it climb from 150km to 200 and up to 311km which it went at for most of the journey! Arrived in Shanghai in less than 5 hours though so would definitely recommend it!
A xxx
Seen some strange sights in Beijing so far:
1) A man walking backwards around the park, followed shortly
by a woman doing the same thing in the other direction. (Vinny has a video of that!)
2) A man cooking meat on sticks outside on the street with a hairdryer in one hand!
3) A group of chinese women doing a sort of line dance outside what looks like a government building! (Vinny also has a video of this!)
4) A guy cutting up a dead chicken on the side of the road (surprise surprise, vinny made a video of that too!)
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Danielle Shirley
non-member comment
Cool blog!
I've been having a lot of fun getting caught up on your travels tonight. I have been locked out of FB for a few weeks and just happend to tell Brandon that I was wondering how you guys were and where you are and that's when he told me that I should just read your blog and was perplexed I didnt know about it. So...now I do. :) Sounds so adventurous!! Hope your head colds are clearing up. Looking forward to reading more!!