I have arrived.

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  Beijing, China
Monday, May 25, 2009

Arriving into Beijing I quickly realized I'd forgotten about the whole culture shock thing. Getting the bus into the city centre from the airport sounded simple enough, until you realize that all the information you need is in Chinese and nobody speaks English. It all turned out to be simple enough, until the bus dropped me off. I knew I was meant to be next to a train station but there was not one in sight. No sooner than I had stepped off the bus I had taxi and rickshaw drivers, who of course were the only ones who could speak English, trying to convince me that my hostel was in fact a 40 minute walk away, and therefore I should let them take me in their taxi. Knowing they would be trying to take me somewhere they would get commission, I declined, taking a peak at the vehicle in question. If it took a 40 minute walk, it would surely take an hour in that thing!

Looking around at the scale of the place and the total lack of signs or English speakers, I quickly realized that printing a map of the area before I got here, probably would have been a good idea. Or at least having the name of where I was trying to go written in Chinese. I had none of this. I started walking in the general direction that everyone was heading, and thankfully managed to find a sign for the train station. After a bit of a walk, lugging my bags that weren't getting any lighter, I arrived in a huge area that resembled some sort of square. It was unbelievably busy, people absolutely everywhere. I was pretty sure that the hostel was in this square, but I couldn't see it for looking. After a lot of aimlessly wondering, asking, realizing my phone didn't work etc. I found a westerner. He didn't know where the hostel was, but showed me where I could buy a phone card. The woman from the shop promptly took my next door, which had phones in the entrance. It looked kinda promising. The woman who I then spoke to, didn't appear to speak any English, but tried to convince me to stay in the hostel upstairs. Amazingly, just by talking to me, she must have learnt a lot of English, as it dramatically improved when she slowly realized that I would not be staying anywhere other than where I had booked. After 10 minutes, she gave up and pointed me across the square. Sure enough, I had walked straight past it and not seen it hidden above the Post Office. The taxi driver turned not to be too far off about it taking 40 minutes to get to my hostel after all!

Beijing is huge, loud, busy and full of life, living and breathing every minute. Smog fills the air, obscuring the blue sky, looking like a thick fog on a heavy day, clearing after a rainy one. I braved stepping out of my hostel the next day, and found, it actually wasn't that scary after all. The subway system is easy to follow and makes getting round the city quick and cheap, 20p a pop no matter how far you are going. A brand new shopping street with imposing modern Chinese architecture runs down from the main city square. Teaming with people clinging to the the small pieces of cool shade that run down one side, nearly all the shops are empty, waiting to be filled. A side-street bursts off to the right, exploding its crowds into the street. Turning down it the crowds bustle through the shops and markets selling silks, spices and bric a brac. Hutongs join the street from all direction, revealing people's washing hanging over the tight alleys in front of the houses. Bikes carrying all sorts of bizarre and long loads are wheeled down the streets into the crowds.

I had definitely arrived in China, there was no questioning that. A simple trip to the supermarket turned out to be...interesting, when a man leaving the shop, stopped dead in his tracks, turned round and stared at me, mouth wide open. I thought I'd done something to seriously offend him and then I remembered. Oh, yeah, I'd been warned about the staring. White skin is considered beautiful here in the same way it used to be in England. The whiter you are, the less time you've spent outside working the fields and so the richer you probably are. The energy of the crowds on the streets was infectious. The mixture of architecture, and shops, and houses and hutongs, all co-existing, cramped together, like the city had grown by itself, of its own accord is Beijing's identity. Although there were some tourists in the popular areas, it was definitely not touristized. I knew at this point I was going to like China. A lot.

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