Homeless in Beijing

Trip Start Jun 09, 2003

169

Trip End Jun 02, 2007

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Where I stayed

Novotel Peace Bejing Beijing

(Beijing hotels)

Flag of China Beijing, China
Friday, June 27, 2003

The journey on the train from Mongolia (30 hours) felt like a lifetime. Travelling through Mongolia there was just nothing for hundreds and hundreds of miles. I was beginning to miss the trees! We arrived at the Chinese border to classical music playing. We were then wheeled into the Bogey Changing Shed to have our bogeys changed. The Russian railway lines are 10cm wider than any other railway lines, so they have to change the wheels, (the Russians were paranoid about being invaded). It was a train spotters paradise. After about 3 hours of being shunted in and out of the station we were finally off and we could finally get to bed. I woke up to paddy fields and mountains which were a refreshing change from Mongolia.

We arrived in Beijing at about 3.00pm this afternoon. After eventually getting some money changed we went to McDonalds. Nigel and I then went looking for my Youth Hostel and his hotel as we'd figured out they were practically next door to one another. After eventually finding the Youth Hostel we couldn't find the entrance. We gave up in the end and decided just to look for his hotel. We couldn't find it either. We eventually got into the Youth Hostel and up to the 10th floor. The doors opened onto a wooden wall. We then jumped in a taxi to find the hotel, which turned out to be miles from the hostel. We checked in and realised the woman had given us just one room. She wanted to charge me double for my own room, so I decided to get a taxi and try and find the other youth hostel. The taxi driver had no idea where it was, even though I was pointing to it on the map.

A Mongolian Town

He just kept saying 'hotel'. By this time it was starting to pour with rain and thundering and I was getting tired so I just said yes. The taxi took me right across Beijing and dropped me off in the pouring rain. I was glad I was wearing sandals as I was ankle deep in water. I went into the 'hotel' and asked if they had any rooms and they brought me a bench to sit on. When the rain went off I tried to figure out where I was on the map and tried to find the youth hostel. I wandered for about an hour with my rucksack getting heavier by the minute. I gave up in the end and headed back to Tianamen Square but got completely lost. I ended up walking around for 2 hours before I gave up at about 9.00pm and booked into the Novotel - it was like being in heaven!!

Yesterday I walked without my rucksack to try and find the youth hostel again, but after another hour I gave up. I was just walking back to the hotel to check out when who should I bump into but Nigel. We jumped in a taxi and once again the taxi driver had no idea where the hostel was. I had to go on the internet and get the number for the hostel and the doorman phoned to find out where it was. At about 1.00pm I finally had somewhere to stay and we also bumped into Rob, Matt, Liam & Ash staying at the same hostel. We all jumped into taxi's and headed back to Tianamen Square where we got soaked in another downpour. We went to the Forbidden City but didn't go in as we didn't think we'd have time. We had a beer on Tianamen Square. We then walked for miles and stopped for another beer (chinese beers are huge - about the size of a wine bottle. The alcohol level is greater than or equal to, as the filtering process is not accurate, so you never know how strong the beer actually is). About 5 beers later we decided to get something to eat. Liam wanted to try sushi, so we went to a Japanese restaurant which unfortunately didn't serve sushi, so we ended up in KFC. It was then time to say goodbye to Nigel who was heading off home.