So China was to be our 4th adventure in our trip, we were excited and not sure what to expect. It seemed such a huge place we werent entireley sure where we wanted to visit and after hearing lots of 'China's rubbish' stories about the place we decided to give it a go and see what all the fuss was about. After spending so long in Hong Kong and not wanting to leave all our friends and the city behind, we set off on the 24hour train journey to Beijing. It was luxury compared to our Indian train journeys, we got a duvet, pillow and our own bed. One we didnt have about 4 other Indians sleeping on it with us.
Once we had arrived in Beijing we had the issue of finding our hostel, we thought that this would be pretty easy but 4hours later we found out that is definately was not. It all went pear shaped at the station really...we had read somewhere that the train station had its own subway station, it didnt...and we were adamant that it was there, we just werent looking properly...so 1hour later, we were sat on the underground floor, bags spread out all around us...our luggage now included a football, a food cooling bag, two packs of chinese tea, lots of chinese medicine (thank you Nova) and all our original 5 bags of baggage. The laptop was out, Lonely Planet (aka 'The Bible') was open and we had 4 locals trying to understand our English!! It didnt really work...but they managed to write us some Chinese down so we could get to Dongcheng (the area we wanted to go). So off we went again, our bags were back on our raw shouldered backs and we trekked through the 35'c heat to wherever they pointed for us to go. We had our peice of paper out showing anyone and everyone on the way, just to check we were going the right way...yes...we looked like tourists, but we didnt care, we just wanted to find our hostel! So one bus ride later, which lasted around 1hour we jumped off hoping we would be there! We wandered some more, then wandered some more and eventually we couldnt take it anymore. We stopped outside a delicious cake shop, although we were NOT in the mood to be eating yummy cakes at this point, we wanted to leave!!! haha. The man in the cake shop was very helpful though, well he seemed it, he may have been cursing us in Chinese for all we know, he seemed very pleasant though. He rang our hostel and wrote down the address so we could 'easily' find it. haha...so again we set off, eventually grabbing a cab, the taxi driver then rang the hostel, again, as he didnt know where it was. Eventually at 7:30pm, after initially arriving in Beijing at 3pm, we found our hostel. Yayy!!
Our hostel used to be an ex-weapons, a factory and an old Chinese prison....sure!! The common room had been completely changed and barely resembled a prison, and then we were taken to what would be our room for the next few nights!..It was just like a prison!! the dark eerie corridor with all the different 'cells' off the dark alley!! lovely place!
Still though it would do us just fine! The location was perfect for what we needed; right in the middle of the old hutong villages and next door to one of the main temples in Beijing and 2 mins walk from a subway station. Not expecting it to take us 4 hours to find the place, that took up most of our day so we were just pleased to be at the hostel, chilled out and had some noodles...yummy!!
Throughout our time in Beijing we had visited sooooo many places! We finally found the local bus for the Great Wall! which took a while to work out but in the end we were well chuffed with ourselves! and we didn't need to waste our money doing it on a tour and no doubt sharing the wall with 50 other people, wearing red hats and following a woman with a megaphone and a flag!! the 1hour bus journey was pretty cool, being the only non-chinese people and nobody speaking a word of English!we found a way of communicating with people...whilst they're busy looking at us, either thinking 'what are these guys doing on 'our' bus', or 'why hasn't she got black hair the freak' or probably thinking 'the guns on that guy are insane!' we would just reply with a smile and then they'd give us a huge grin back and they seemed to kind of respect us and accept that we were on their bus and we weren't going anywhere...and if they did have a problem with it, well I don't need to spell out what the guns would've done do i!
We got dropped off by the bus and then had to get an 'illegal' taxi to take us the last part to the wall, and at first having an argument with the guy thinking he was trying to con us, we took his word for it and he took us directly to the wall, and told us he would wait for us to come down and then take us back to the bus stop! He looked on drugs, and had a nervous twitch in his head which was a bit offputting when speaking to him, not to mention a little bit drangerous...twitching whilst driving!!...that would explain why he didn't have a real taxi! He also had a very square head, the kind of haircut that seems ludicrous but has caught on a lot out here, where their head is already pretty much a square but they get their hair cut which only compliments that square a bit too well!! nevertheless he was a good guy...
The Great Wall of China...what more can I say...One of the most amazing constructions in the world! with each wall strategically placed around the mountains as a lookout as well as a shield to prevent the oncoming invaders from entering. 1 of the 7 Ancient wonders of the world and it was easy to see how. Climbing up to the wall was a mission, we must have climbed 200 steps atleast, Sarah in her sandals and I was in my walking boots (converse) and they conquered the wall just fine!!
Every steep drop in the wall was then joined with an even steeper uphill part! with 22 watch towers and on the 23rd, the wall was covered and being torn apart by the roots of trees and all sorts growing from within the wall! I think it's fair to say that it was exhausting work, especially as it was ridiculously hot! it made each step that bit harder!!
The best part was the fact that there was literally nobody on the wall!! it was paradise, me, Sarie and the wall, all on our own...the exact reason why we didn't get a tour.
We also visited the Forbidden city which we got in at the 2nd attempt! the first time we arrived we missed the closing time by about 10 mins. When we got in, it was soo impressive!! typical Chinese style buildings, with the corners of each pavillion curling up. After 5 massive areas, all seperated with a massive gate we got to the prettiest area where these beautiful buildings were set in a garden. The only thing that ruined it was the tourists or should I say the tours! why do you need a tour to take you to the forbidden city!!?its in the middle of the city!!..red caps everywhere and flags slowly filling the areas! We started to play escape from the tours as they were like stampeeds. To fully appreciate the size of the Forbidden city and the number of buildings there are in the complex, we climbed the hills in JingShan park where you can see over the whole of the city and the view is impressive...WOAH!! were our words!!...along with more exhaustion from yet more steps!
In the evening we also had a list of things to visit, the first night we went to the Night market, firstly the food market, which sold scorpions, seahorses, octopus and starfish.
After trying Pig's ear, Chicken foot and pig skin in Hong Kong I gave scorpion a go and it wasn't as bad as you would think!! They fry it first so the tail is nice and crispy and then you bite the main body, and you get a really warm goo, just like a soother...and if you keep the image of a soother in your head and not the guts of a scorpion, its all good!...for a moment I felt like me and Bear Grylls had something in common!! Eating strange things and staying at an ex prison...just how travelling is supposed to be!!
One evening we caught the subway to the 2008 Beijing Olympics Birds nest stadium and the Aqua cube. The whole park was full at 9pm with people flying kites etc and the stadiums were sweeeeeeett!!! easily the best stadium I've been to, all the more impressive at night too when lit up
The Summer Palace was pretty special, set on a huge lake in a massive park, we could have spent a whole day there, the weather was boiling and it was so relaxed, a bit like the hutong villages in the way that you could escape the fast tempo of the city, although not lucky enough to get away from the red caps, however we did manage to get away from them for the majority of the time! so far the Chinese have lived up to my expectations, where I thought they were crazy little people, literally little where me and even Sarie were probably one of the tallest!...that hasn't happened since primary school!
To confirm that they lived up to our expectations, it wasn't until we got to the park where the Temple of Heaven was, in the 'long corridor' where it was full of lunatics!! dancing around to a recorder...horrible noise, and then a woman would suddenly jump up and start singing, shreiking like a dying cat it was horrific!! me and sarie just turned to each other and thought "crazy chinese!" also they sold the most pointless things you could ever want, such as a bird whistle that even the old men buy and walk around trying to make bird noises. On the other hand I have seen 1 thing so far that I was so close to buying!...some funny glasses with a nose attached to them, and a moustache attached to the nose. And when you blow out of the nose, the moustache then got bigger like those whistles you have a parties! pure genius!!
The Temple of Heaven itself was awesome, a huge cone shaped building in the middle of a square. The structure didn't use any cement to build it which was pretty impressive, and the temple is still being used, hence why it has all been restored, another great place to visit.
One thing we weren't sure about was the fact that all the babies wore trousers which had a huge slit in the middle for their waddler to hang out of as well as their bum! it was a bit strange...Apparently it's so they can go to the toilet whenever they like, but this still didn't add up for us....we thought if they're sitting on their mother's lap or in her arm, and they decide to either wee or poo, surely these trousers would make the whole thing a worse scenario!! not to mention the mess it would make on the mother! yeah the kid would be ok but wouldn't a nappy solve all problems!? On the bus a lady had a kid with his waddler hanging out, me and sarah start sniggering like the mature adults we are, and the mother cups her hand over it to cover it!...what if he then went for a wee!!!? honestly....only the chinese hey!
We could have spent ages in Beijing as there was just so much to see as well as beer being 18p a can!! But it was time we moved on to the next City so we booked our train tickets to Xi'An...Our first impression of China is a positive one. Pretty amazing, very modern but still very cheap!
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