Beijing, China
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
2
47
Trip End
Apr 30, 2009
Beijing,
China
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
We arrived in Beijing, on schedule, around 9:40 AM on Sept 5th. The train station was absolutely crazy with people everywhere. It took us almost an hour to get out of the station and grab our bearings on how to get to the Leo Hostel where we had made reservations already. We nearly opted to take a taxi but the line up for taxis was so long it wasn't really worth the wait (in the sun). Instead we opted for the subway, which only costs 2 RMB/each in Beijing. It was only two stops for us, but I believe that the fare will get you anywhere on their extensive subway system.
After getting off the subway at the Qianmen stop, we followed the instructions that Leo had provided us and after about a 15 minute hike we found it. We had originally booked a 4 bed dorm, but after seeing the private rooms for two, we opted for that instead. Leo Hostel is not like any other hostel that I have been to and seems very traditional in nature
The Great Wall
. Our room is situated off of an open hallway, full of plants, and covered almost entirely in glass. There is a fountain tricking through stones and seats for those that want to read or drink coffee. Shortly after arriving, we both showered and then headed out to check out Beijing. The weather was hot and humid, felt like around 35 degrees when we were in the sun. Fortunately Leo Hostel is in a prime location, situated on a preserved hutong very close to Tiananmen Square. It didn't take us long to wander out and find it, but when we went to take some pictures and video we were mortified to discover that both devices (the Canon SLR camera and the HD camcorder) were totally dead.
We returned to the room, to charge the devices and pray to the electronics god (he resides in Northern Japan somewhere) but decided it was time to eat. Since our stomachs have been holding out very well, we looked for a place that was popular with the Beijing residents. We found a place that had a sign indicating that they had English menus, even though there was only Chinese people inside...perfect. Once we got in though, all the seats were taken, so we went to leave. The restaurant staff noticed us leaving, beckoned us to stay, and then proceeded to kick some of the other patrons out of their seats. At least that is what we thought, but they only asked them to share their table with us
Beijing Old Town
.Lisa ordered "Chicken Cashew" (25 RMB) and I ordered "Stir Eggplant" (15 RBM) an we got a large beer (10 RMB) and bowl of rice (3 RMB) to accompany the meal. Although I thought mousaka was the best dish to ever use eggplant, this meal has changed my mind. It was absolutely delicious and Lisa enjoyed her meal as well. The serving size was enormous. I had no trouble finishing mine, but Lisa couldn't finish hers even though we were both quite hungry. When we went to pay the bill, the waitress started punching in seemingly random numbers until the bill was obviously way too high. Lisa complained and got the bill lowered to 63 RMB....still 10 RMB more than it should've been....so obviously no tip was left for them (despite the absolutely delicious meal that I am still thinking about).
The good news was that once we returned to the room, both devices were back to life; they just had totally drained batteries somehow. This let us go out to Tiananmen Square and shoot some video at night. On our way home, we detoured down some of the tiny old hutongs to see how the people of the area live. Most people seem to leave their front doors open with an open-air hallway leading to their private residences. Like Shanghai, there were lots of people walking their dogs and many well-cared for cats were roaming about.
There were also a surprising amount of public washrooms in these dark little alleys
Beijing near Tianamen
. Since the locals were using them regularly, we figure that many of these houses do not have their own bathrooms and instead use these community ones. Lisa went in one and discovered that there was not very much privacy. They are essentially just one big room with a few holes in it for people to do their business in. There are little waist-high walls that separate the holes, but they would not provide very much privacy.By the time we got back to the hostel, it was nearly 8PM, so we figured we had better get some dinner. Neither of us were very hungry, due to the enormous portions served to us for lunch, so we split a Chicken Fried Rice (12 RMB) from the hostel. The serving size was again rather large. I am not sure how the thin Chinese people manage to eat such portions regularly and remain thin. The dish was absolutely delicious again, and since you pay ahead of time here, there was no chance of getting ripped off. Following our meal, we started watching the first episode of Lost and then went to bed early.
We awoke the next morning shortly after the sun had risen, around 6:30 AM. It was too late to catch the ceremonial flag raising at Tiananmen Square but we figured that it would be a good time to beat the crowds to the Forbidden City. Along our way, we found an old and unused entrance to the Forbidden City that was surrounded by a moat. Since it was already quite hot and humid, we took a break and watched several fishermen trying out their luck in the dirty old moat. Nobody seemed to be getting anywhere with the fish; I am not sure if they would try to eat what they caught anyhow.
We made it to the north entrance of the Forbidden City (also called the Palace Museum) just when it opened its doors, at 8:30 AM. We purchased two tickets which cost 120 RMB and spent the next three hours touring the old Forbidden City. There were lots of signs in English that described the historical importance of each building and the condition of the building was truly remarkable. We are lucky to be coming after the Olympics because the Chinese spent a serious amount of time restoring these national treasures. We will be posting lots of pictures of what we saw in the Forbidden City and it was a time that I will never forget.
We noticed several of the paralympics athletes, including (what must have been) the entire team from Thailand. However there were also thousands of Chinese tourists which comprised the vast majority of attendees. While I was in line, a little boy started talking to me. He said he was from Beijing and that he had never been to the Forbidden City before. He spoke exceptional English, and when he saw my camera he asked me if I was a professional photographer. It made me smile and I told him that I was not a professional but that this was a great place for anybody to take pictures.
By noon we were both tired, and the crowds had increasing significantly, so we figured it was time to go. We headed back to the hostel for a shower, a quick nap, and some lunch. We ordered Beef Fried Noodles (15 RMB), some Chicken Fried Rice (12 RMB) and a large Tsingtao (6 RMB) to drink. The food was excellent again. I know I used to say that I did not like Chinese food; I am not going to be able to say this again.
After lunch we chilled (which really means sweated) in the hostel lounge and watched Godfather III. The temperature in the lounge was around 30 degrees and it was plenty humid. This is still much easier to manage then the streets of Beijing but we are glad to have a private air-conditioned room none-the-less. We also started planning the rest of our time in Beijing and purchased some tickets for a tour of the Great Wall for tomorrow. We chose one of the more challenging tours, which consists of a 10km hike from one part to another. The cost 220 RMB each and we are told it'll cost another 100 RMB for entrance fees and such.
We just got back from wandering again through the hutongs in our area of Beijing. We found a grocery store to buy supplies for tomorrow and now it is time for dinner. The bus leaves at 7 AM tomorrow, so it should be another early night for us. I am both excited and a little worried about the difficulty of tomorrow's adventure. At least the forecast predicts that it will not be as hot as the previous few days. I will continue this story shortly after we return from the Great Wall tomorrow. It is time to try some more local Chinese cuisine.
Sept 8th, 2008
I have a feeling that we did not get an accurate weather forecast yesterday. We woke up in the middle of the night to continuous thunder and a relentless downpour. It lasted all night and the storm was still raging when we were supposed to leave for the Great Wall at 7AM. After we expressed concerns about climbing the Great Wall and lightning bolts striking us, Leo Hostel offered to reschedule the trip to the next day. However they said that they called somebody that was situated where we were going and that it was barely spitting out. Furthermore the forecast showed rain the following day anyhow, so we decided to take a chance and go.
It was a 2 hour drive from our hostel to where the Great Wall trek was to begin. The rain pretty much stopped during that drive and the lightening stopped entirely. There were six people that signed up for the tour, a couple from NYC, a guy from Ireland and a girl from Calgary. I cannot remember the name given to the section of the Great Wall that we started at, but I did remember to save the coordinates in the GPS, so I'll be able to figure it out later.
The tour that we signed up for cost us 220 RMB each and really that only provided transportation to and from the Great Wall. We spoke with a couple from Sweden that did the same trip, only using public transportation and taxis. I think they saved about 70 RMB which probably isn't worth the pain of getting organized. On the drive out to the Great Wall, we saw two or three cars that were recently involved in accidents. The way everybody drives here, I am surprised it took this long to see such things. We nicknamed our driver Ricky Bobby because he sure wanted to drive fast.
Once we started on the 10 km hike, we were soon accompanied by some local people that claimed to be farmers. They walked with us about half way before trying to sell us their goods. They were actually quite helpful, as they had done this trip many times and helped us find out way. Of course their real agenda was to sell us t-shirt, postcards and guidebooks. We found them so helpful that it was hard to say no. Kieran, the Irishman, was the biggest softie and ended up paying 60 RMB for the first t-shirt. I bought the 2nd one at 45 RMB. That was all the first group of travelling sales people managed to sell to us, but it wasn't long before other farmers caught up to us with a similar agenda.
The next girl that met up with us claimed to be from the Mongolian side of the wall (which is China today of course). I really wish I had taken some pictures of this woman. She definitely looked Mongolian but with piercing bright blue eyes. Never in my life have I seen a blue-eyed Asian girl, but this Mongolian farmer proved that it can happen. These locals had no problem climbing the crumbling walls and helping us from falling while wearing flip-flops.
Although the section of the wall that we climbed was not heavily traveled, there were still locals at every peak selling various things, including beer. I had my first beer at about the half way point and ended up having about four along the way. I cannot really emphasize how nice it was to have a cold beer after climbing through 5kms of the Wall in some of the most beautiful terrain that I have ever seen. We also found that we had paid WAY too much for the t-shirts. I bought another one for 25 RMB, which was probably still way too much.
I took lots of pictures along the 10km stretch of the Wall that we hiked. It will take me awhile to stitch together all the panoramic shots, but I should have some really nice pictures after I am done. I don't have words to describe how amazing the trek was. Really you could look in any direction at any point along the way and it would seem like a scene from a postcard. I must've said "Wow!" at least 100 times. Even the climb to Machu Picchu had trouble comparing to the splendor of the scenery we soaked in the entire way.
At the end of the hike, we had to climb about 1/3 of the way up a massive mountain and we could see that the Wall kept going as far as the eye could see. The climb we did was difficult, but if we had to keep going it would've gotten much harder still. The mountains were so steep and tall that I really had trouble imaging why it was necessary to build a defensive wall through it. I figure the psychological impact of seeing such a project must've provided the biggest benefit, because there is no way any army could cross this terrain regardless of the Wall. None-the-less, they still built in large holes on the Mongolian side for dumping large boulder, as well as shooting arrows down at whatever enemy would dare to try and cross their Wall. I can understand why Ghengis Khan decided to go around the Wall rather than trying to breach it.
I think we were lucky that the sun did not shine for long because I was totally covered in sweat by the time we made it to the end of our trail. I felt fortunate that it didn't rain at least, because I wouldn't have gotten many pictures in the rain. By the end of the trip, Lisa had nearly reached exhaustion but fortunately there was a zipline across the river and back to where the van was to pick us up. Lisa and Tina (the girl from Calgary) chose to go down the zip line for 40 RMB and Lisa kept the video camera running the whole way down while I snapped pictures. I haven't yet seen the video but it should be spectacular.
The trip cost just 5 RMB less than Leo Hostel said it would cost and it is some of the best money that I have ever spent. It was an adventure that I will never forget. The drive home was not something that I was looking forward to though, so I bought another 600 ml beer to make it easier. It is hard to watch the driving because our driver (Ricky Bobby) didn't care much for the driving laws of China. Most drivers in China just follow their own law which is essentially to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible.
We ate dinner at Leo Hostel again. The Asian dishes at Leo Hostel are so good that there is little point in venturing out. Shortly after dinner, I started chatting with a guy (Steven) from Holland and we started pounding back the Tsingtao. Before I knew it, it was midnight and I was having trouble forming proper sentences. Steven was in a similar state, so we figured we had better get to bed before we got too carried away.
Despite going to bed rather drunk, I awoke the next morning fairly early and feeling quite well. By 7 AM Lisa and I were dressed and on our way to the Olympic facilities. Steven had mentioned that he had purchased some tickets to a paralympic event for 50 RMB, so Lisa and I decided we'd like to go if we could. It didn't take us long to find a bus that took us straight to where we wanted to go for only 1 RMB.
The crowds were quite intense and the atmosphere was very energetic. We started walking around the Birds Nest stadium looking for where we could buy tickets, but there were literally hundreds of scalpers trying to sell us tickets every few seconds. When we stopped to take some pictures, a Chinese girl soon offered her help and we started talking about where to find tickets. She said that a lot of the scalpers were welling fake tickets and that she would not buy any. We thanked her for her advice and continued on to the ticket office. However when we arrived we were disappointed to find out that they were closed. Apparently they were all sold out of tickets for every single event.
I really did not think it would be possible to sell out such a large venue but I have a feeling that many Chinese residents that could not afford Olympic tickets were very happy to have the chance to buy the more affordable Paralympic tickets instead. Although I was disappointed that we could not attend, it is hard not to feel happy for the Paralympions that were competing in a full house. We did get to see many of the athletes walking/wheeling around the area and bus load after bus load of Chinese volunteers that would always wave to us.
By the time we had finished walking around it was nearly 2 PM. We caught a bus that went the wrong way, and that turned out to be very fortunate indeed. The bus that went the wrong way took us to very first stop of the bus going the other way. The competition to get on that bus was very intense....people were shoving about as hard as they could, kids were scared and crying and it turned into a full out stampede. We got on the third bus which got to be the most crowded bus that I have ever been on. Fortunately a Chinese woman with a seat offered to take my bag, because otherwise there wouldn't have been room to breathe. In other countries I may have hesitated to hand over my big with several thousand dollars of electronics in it, but in China it seemed safe.
It took nearly 45 minutes to get back to our hostel, so by that time we were both ready for some more delicious Chinese cuisine. We started watching some movies with our lunch and chatted with the Swedish couple we had met a few nights earlier. Next thing I knew it was dinner...time for more of Leo's great Asian cuisine. It was shortly after dinner that Steven (the Dutch man) showed up with some type of Chinese liquor. It was 60% alcohol and some of the staff at Leo's noticed it and warned us about it. However to me this trip is all about trying new things, so I did hesitate to try some.
Two journalists from Brazil joined us at our table and informed us that Canada had done quite well that day. They only spoke in Portugese though, so it was a bit of a slow conversation. Lisa helped translate the Portugese to English because the staff at Leo wasn't really able to communicate with them at all. After a night of drinking Tsingtao in Leo's bar, we went to bed.
Sept 10, 2008
Our last day in Beijing was not nearly as eventful as the previous days. We awoke to rain, but it stopped long enough for us to stroll through the hutongs of Beijing one last time. There was lots of Chinese art and masks that was all really affordable, but neither of us wanted to carry any extra weight or delicate materials.
One of the funniest things we saw was a little boy (2 or 3 years old) came charging out of house, wee-wee in hand, desperately needing to pee. I quickly got out of his way and he promptly started to pee. When he saw us, he used his other hand to wave and shouted "Hello!" His mother came running behind him within a few seconds and she did not seem too pleased with what he had done. We were both laughing though, so I think we may have kept him out of trouble.
We intended to rent some bikes for the day, since they only cost 10 RMB (200 RMB deposit), but the sky never stopped threatening to rain. After a few hours of walking about, the rain started and it didn't stop for the rest of the day. We had to check out of our room for noon, but Leo Hostel had a secure storage room for us to leave our stuff. We were also able to chill in their lounge once it started raining, so we watched "The Departed", which was a great movie that neither of us had yet seen.
Around 7PM we decided to try to make our way to the Beijing West Train Station, where we would be catching the overnight train to Xi'an. We had purchased our tickets through Leo's Hostel earlier at a cost of 430 RMB each (30 RMB was a commission) for soft-sleepers. They had sold out of hard-sleepers within one hour apparently, so we were travelling first class this time. This train station was not the same one that we came in on, and we found out that Beijing has three major train stations all together. Unfortunately this one was not on any of their subway routes either, but Leo's staff gave us instructions on how to get there by bus.
We had to walk about 10 minutes in the rain to get to the bus stop. When we got to the bus stop, it was really crowded and unfortunately our bus (#9) was the most crowded route of all. We didn't even bother trying to get on the first one but positioned ourselves so that we'd be first in line for the second one. The second bus was just as crowded as the special bus that we caught from the Olympic stadium, but Lisa decided to get on it and somehow I managed to follow her.
It was so crowded that there was no hope in actually paying for the ride, which was only 1 RMB anyhow. We did not get seats and must've annoyed everybody on the bus due to our enormous backpacks. I had to carry the backpack I normally wear on my front and of course we were both soaking wet. It was not a fun trip, but it only lasted about 20 minutes (Leo had told us 40 minutes) and then we arrived at one of the nicest train stations that I had ever seen.
At first we set our bags down outside, under the canopy of the rail station, and within about 30 seconds we again had some young Chinese people talking with us. They said that they came from a province in the far North East (I asked "Manchuria?" and he said "Yes."). They had never been to Beijing before and had traveled the 20 hours by train to see the Paralympics. They stayed only for 1 day and now they were heading back. I was starting to understand why we could not purchase tickets at the last minute.
When we got to the lounge area for our train, it was absolutely packed. Within a few minutes of sitting down, we were again the center of attention and had a few people striking up conversation with us. We found out that Xi'an was not the last stop on the train, so it was going to be important to wake up in time. We also found out that the train was going to be very busy, so our hopes of getting our own private room (since soft-sleepers from Shanghai to Beijing were mostly empty) were greatly diminished.
We had the top beds in a small room of 4 people and sure enough there were two Chinese people under us. The beds were quite comfortable and every one had their own TV set, etc, but it wasn't long before we all went to bed. Well at least we tried, but one of our new roommates had a terrible snoring issue. He was not a big man, but I would rank him as the third worst snorer that I've ever heard, and believe me there has been some stiff competition from our travels through Europe.
I decided to listen to of the "Yao to Mao" recorded university lectures that I had brought along and soon I was so tired that I was sure the snoring could not keep me awake. With the help of some ear plugs, I actually got quite a good sleep, only waking up twice when my ear plugs fell out. Lisa did not have as much luck with sleeping as I did and ended up tipping a tower of magazines on the head of the snorer for some relief around 3 AM. She didn't get caught fortunately but within 5 minutes, he was right back at it.
One unusual practice about train travel in China is how the ticket system works. You purchase a paper ticket in advance, which is checked when you first pass through security, then checked and stamped gain as you leave the lounge area. Once you are on the train, there are two groups of security officials that you must deal with. The first one checks tickets again, but this time they exchange your paper ticket with a plastic card that only has Chinese writing on it. Finally somebody came by and checked/recorded the personal information of everybody (although they only checked my passport, not Lisa's). Near the end of the ride, another official comes by and everybody exchanges the plastic cards back for their original tickets. As you leave the train station, they check those paper tickets yet again. I saw one person talking on his cell phone that ignored that final check and he had security all over him within a few seconds. I cannot imagine what they'd do if you lost your ticket at that point...make you get back on the train back to Beijing?
