China... and The Great Boulevard of Tourists

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China is an exciting country, I didn't give it much of a chance with a short visit of two weeks, but I plan to come back and do it properly one day. In China my luck still followed me hand in hand. Apart from my lower back injury, which left me crippled for a few days, I made great friends here and had quite a nice time.
I seem to get lucky at airports, I met a Hong Kong guy on the plane travelling to Beijing and he turned out to be a real nice person.... He had someone waiting for him at the airport and, yet again, I scored a lift into town. They dropped me off in front of my hostel and he waited until I'd got my room sorted out to know that I'll be Ok. Lovely man. I didn't see him again.
BEIJING: In Beijing I had quite a time of catching public transport. The place is Huge! Not many people can help a lost tourist with directions, as not many speak English and, as I found out from my experiences, not everyone can read.
I made it to the Summer Palace late on my second day in Beijing. I tried to find the bus to take me there, but couldn't... so I gave up and took a cab. On the way back, I'd met a Dutch girl at the palace, and together we searched for half an hour for the bus stop. It was quite an adventure, but we made it! all the way back to our hostels on public transport. We were so proud of ourselves.
The next day I moved rooms and made a few friends, a Swedish girl Moa, a french girl Fooshia, a Hong Kong boy Kyros, and a Canadian girl whose name escapes me. They showed me where the supermarket was and the food hall at the nearby department store. I was wrapped, as I'd been eating crap food for the past two days. May I say, Chinese food in China is quite different from Chinese food in Australia, I just couldn't get used to it! It was a struggle. I wrote down some strange things I'd seen on menues around town, but I can't find the piece of paper......... anyway there were things like, 'brased pig's knuckle','duck's tongue'... wish I could remember more.
At this point I'd managed to sustain a lower back injury from carrying my two heavy cameras around all day at the Summer Palace and a million other things in my day pack. I was literally bed ridden for two days but finally gathered the courage to buy my ticket to The Great Wall. Sadly, I had to part with my ticket to the far section of the wall, which involves hiking up the old unrestored section for a whole day. Instead, Kyros and I went to the closer section, which is the new restored part, where all the tourists go..... it was a laugh, would have done well with a protective shield or a bumper bar.
XIAN: I went there for the terracotta warriors. The town is nice, but felt very provincial.... I spent far too long here and spent most of my time sleeping and nursing my injured back.
SHANGHAI: Caught up with people from work, my company in Melbourne has a China division. So I went to the office to meet the staff and got taken out for lunch. I also spent a couple of days shopping for presents for my folks in Bulgaria. I gave myself the task of finding only very exotic gifts. By the time I left China my backpack weighed more than 30kg, excluding my hand luggage of 8kg. I didn't know how I would make it to the airport with my bags. I had a brain wave. On my departure day, I managed to walk a whole 15min with this load to the nearby 5-star hotel, where I caught the airport shuttle from. One of my smartest moves ever, saved myself 2 hours on public transport this way.

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Photos

The Great Wall 02
Kyros and me, had to fight for an empty spot.

The Great Wall 04
Soldiers' entry into army ceremony... see the next photo for the explanation.

The Great Wall, moto
"Whom who does not visit the Great Wall is not a true man"..... Kyros, could you help me out with the exact translation??

The Great Wall 06
One World One Dream, this is for the Olympic Games but it sounds so utopic and communist.

The Great Wall 07
... the great men who helped in building sections of the Great Wall. I can't remember this guy's name, but he was an emperor.

My first day in Beijing
... this is Bob, from my hostel, i asked himwhere the supermarket was and him and his girlfriend took me to a nightclub instead. Ha! I love travel stories.

My second day in Beijing
at Tiananmen Square, met some local students who invited my friend and I to visit an art exhibition. I invested in a Chinese scroll... i asked them to write "Inner Peace/harmony and Happiness" on the silk canvas. My good luck charm! ...mind you, this is such a tourist scam! but I liked the students so I didn't mind.

Tiananmen Square...
The People's square...outside Chairman Mao's mausoleum... Many many Chinese lined up for a glimpse of their beloved Mao. Inside the mausoleum lay Mao,...the faces of the Chinese were priceless! They took everything so seriously. I must say, I have never forgotten our school excursion to see the preserved body of Bulgaria's former communist leader when I was a child.

Tiannanmen Square 03
...the locals gather here for raising of the flag at sunrise and again for lowering of the flag at sunset.

The Forbidden City 02
...gatekeeper

The Forbidden City 04....
....in the Forbidden City you must walk with your eyes closed....

Summer Palace 01
Feel free to laugh at me, that's what it's for....I can't believe I posed for this... what was i thinking. I'm sure it could win the worst picture ever competition....or the stupid things we do when we travel contest.

Summer Palace 02
... does anyone know the name of this instrument?

Comments

[Kyros Ho]

I think the chinese food in australia is Canton food, which you can eat in hong kong, is different from the food of Beijing. ^^

[Kyros]

Your translation was perfect! it is exactly the true meaning^^ And, what we eat at the Shopping Mall is Japanese Ramen Noodles. but not chinese.