9m bikes, but the smog's so bad, you can't see 'em

  Beijing, China
Monday, November 20, 2006

Jim has never rated himself as much of a linguist, but over the last few weeks he's been busy teaching himself Mandarin Chinese with MP3 downloads and various phrase books. Now he's been constantly telling me how difficult it is as each word has potentially four completely different meanings according to how it's said and he was a little downhearted to say the least when he failed to converse fluently with the staff on the ferry from Korea.

I have to say, I've had my doubts, as a quick glance at our phrase book revealed that one of the particularly memorable phrases was: "We need to talk ... you're just using me for sex!".

00 How happy to finally get a hotel???

However, his perseverance was more than amply rewarded when we arrived by bus in a Beijing suburb at gone midnight with no idea where we were or how to get to our hotel.

01 Temple of Heaven Entrance

We flagged down a taxi and after a few minutes discussion we were heading off towards the older, low-rise area of the city where our hotel was located, in one of the hutongs. We got there after about 20 minutes and then spent the next hour driving around looking for our hostel - our driver was jumping out and asking all the passersby and generally being very accommodating (he even turned off the meter after a while). By this time it was clear we weren't going to find the place we'd booked (and if we did by some miracle manage to, then the reception would more than likely be closed anyway) so in desperation we asked him to take us to an international chain nearby. Instead of paying less than $20 between us we splurged and ended up in a two story suite, the only thing they had left, but still v.inexpensive compared to home. I could get used to this flash packing!

03 Temple of Heaven

After all this excitement it was nearly 3am so we postponed sightseeing the following day until well into the afternoon. This is my first visit to Beijing although Jim has been twice before, and I had been warned that the smog could be bad, but nothing prepared me for quite how bad it was. We couldn't see more than 200 metres in front of us and when it got really bad, even the tops of high rise buildings were obscured. Unfortunately it seemed we were destined for bad visibility, but it didn't spoil our visit to the nearby Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420 it was the place where the emperors went to pray for good harvests and success in battles. Like everything here, it's recently been tarted up for the 2008 Olympics and was heaving with Chinese tourists, who proved as interested in us as they were in the buildings.

04 Peking Duck

After walking around in the cold admiring the architecture we made a bee-line to the massive Quanjude restaurant (it seats 2,000 people) to sample the famous culinary delight that is Beijing Duck. Jim excelled ordering our dinner in Chinese, although he did stumble slightly when the waitress went into an extended explanation of all the possible ways we could have the dish served. The place we chose to dine has been serving duck for well over a hundred years and after it was duly carved in front of us and piled on our plates we were given a certificate, saying our feathery friend was the 178,021 they'd served up since 1864.

07 Smoggy Tian'anmen

The next day we went to Tiananmen Square to muse on its historical significance, gawp at the less than beautiful Communist style architecture and dodge Chairman Mao watch salespeople. It's difficult to express how huge it is - we certainly can't as we couldn't see from one end to the other with all the smog - but knowing that most of the roads around it are at least ten lanes wide should give you some idea of the scale of central Beijing. Our guidebook puts it succinctly when it says it's not a city that rewards idle wandering, but the stroll along the square to the gate of the main gate of the Forbidden City is possibly the exception. As well as the souvenir salespeople there are loads of groups of Chinese peasants snapping away on their cheap old fashioned cameras and queuing up to pose with the large portrait of Mao that adorns the entrance to the former Imperial palace.

09 Mao at Tian'anmen

For centuries ordinary citizens were not even allowed to approach the outer walls of the Gugong, or Forbidden City, but as the audio guide delights in telling you - all that has changed since 1949. Unbelievably, there are eight hundred buildings inside the complex, and you can visit quite a few of the most important ones,

12 Forbidden City - one not under scaffolding

but annoyingly our visit coincided with vital restoration work carried out ahead of the Olympics, so two of the most spectacular formal halls were covered in scaffolding and closed to the public. Very annoying, but it was kind of made up for when we found ourselves practically alone wandering the smaller living quarters where the Emperors wife and many of the 10,000 Ming Dynasty concubines lived, near closing time.

15 Forbidden City view

About nine miles outside the Forbidden City is the Summer Palace - in days gone by it stood alone in the countryside, but these days is engulfed within Beijing. The Yiheyuan was the last Summer Palace to be built after the British, French, Americans, Japanese, Russians, Belgians, Italians and Austrians laid waste to the nearby Yuanmingyuan in 1860.

18 Summer Palace

We had a great time wandering around the beautiful lakeside complex and digesting the blatant propaganda displayed on the various English information signs. The "Eight Allied Powers" were constantly blamed for destroying various priceless artifacts in 1900, and yet no mention was made of the far worse destruction wrecked on China in general by the Red Guard during the 1960s and 70s in the so-called Cultural Revolution. It was quite interesting to see how the nominally Communist authorities paint the Dowager Empress Cixi and the Imperial court as hard done by.

22 Summer Palace bridge

After a day viewing the excesses of the Imperial court - we saw a marble boat in the lake that was built by the Dowager Empress with funds purloined from the Chinese Navy's coffers - we enjoyed a slightly suspect proletarian evening out - watching an acrobatics show at the Beijing Workers' Hall.

26 Beijing acrobatics

The flyer said they invited professional troops from all over China to perform and we couldn't believe the standard. For an hour we were treated to the most unbelievable stunts which left us both speechless and clapping until our hands hurt. They had people doing back flips and landing perfectly onto suspended bamboo poles, routines involving roller skates, swings and high wires. We were left thinking if we managed to see such skill mid week in a small Beijing theatre, then the national Olympic gymnastics team will wipe the floor with the opposition.