Beijing, China
Trip Start
Oct 07, 2007
1
7
42
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
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Beijing,
China
Monday, November 12, 2007
Everyone wants to sell you something - cries of 'Hello' and 'Come Looka' ring out wherever we go. Jonathan, with his red hair and beard, seems a particular novely. Heads turn to follow him and people crash into things and each other because they forget to look where they're going. I'm not exageratting - staring is not on the Chinese list of social no-no's - they do it openly and without any hint of subtlety. My first night in Beijing one girl tries to physically drag me into her shop claiming to rememeber me.
We son learn to be suspicious of anyone trying to befriend or help us. One of the big scams in Beijing is young people befriending you to supposedly practise their English and then bringing you to teahouses to drink tea with vastly overinflated prices. One guy we talked to got hit with a bill for around 120 euro for tea and a few beers!
Anyway, enough of the people - let me tell you a little of the places we visited. First there was Bei Hai park in the city centre. We visited at night when everything was lit up beautifully and the only other people about were locals playing music, chanting and exercising. We also visited the Forbidden City, so called because it was closed to civilians for over 400 years. It basically consists of loads of imperial buildings, courtyards and gardens. The place was absolutely thronged with people even though it was not peak season and I much preferred the less crowded Summer Palace outside the city centre.
Of course no trip to Beijing can be considered complete without visiting the Great Wall and this was how we spent our last day. We did a 10km hike from a place called Jinshanling to Simatai. 10km might sound like a stroll in the park but it was tough going with plenty of steep and uneven sections. The views though were unforgettable.
Some tips for anyone going to Beijing - if you're going to the opera make sure it's a tourist one. A cat being tortured would probably sound better than Chinese opera singing and at least the tourist ones focus osn acrobatics rather than singing. Also, do not show your phrasebook to a waitress - it is liable to disappear till the end of your meal when you no longer need it. I think one particular establishment was making use of our phrasebook to translate their menu before the Olympics! Oh and expect anyone offering to help you when you look a bit lost to pull a rickshaw from up his sleeve! I got caught out by this many a time much to Jono's amusement!
