Beijing: Olympic Ready?

  Beijing, China
Saturday, February 10, 2007

The train from Shanghai to Beijing was luxurious by any standards, known by many train enthusiasts as one of the best in the world. 4 berth soft sleepers and 2 berth deluxe sleepers are the only option and we saved money by getting a 4 berth. Lucky for us, the train wasn't full enough for us to get roommates. The room was spacious and included a free meal. We heard that the deluxe also had TVs. My favorite service listed in the train booklet was "free birthday noodles on your birthday". They think of everything.

After a restful night sleep we arrived in the Beijing train station. It was certainly busy, but without the mobs that plagued Shanghai. Being nervous about the availability of tickets back to Hong Kong we queued in line then and there to buy them. When we asked for the cheaper hard class seats the ticket agent chuckled at our misguided hope at actually landing those the weekend before New Year. We agreed to the pricier soft sleeper and received our tickets. Next it was off to the hostel by subway. Avoiding rush hour this time it was a crowded but tolerable ride.

Right away we noticed that Beijing was much more relaxed and had a bit of a small town feel compared to Shanghai (we know, it sounds bizarre, but it is true). Lots more bicycles on the streets, fewer cars and fewer people in one place. We have to suspect that one reason for this is the fact that the city was cold!!!

Sara with Schoolgirls in Downtown Beijing

There is nothing that clears the streets like temperatures hovering around freezing. We were very glad that we bought our North Face knockoff jackets since we had sent our coats home after Europe.

The hostel we had booked was one of the few on this trip that truly exceeded our expectations. It was run like a hotel, had a big buffet breakfast, wireless internet, clean and tidy dorm rooms, heat lamps in the showers and was in a quiet, friendly neighborhood. In fact, the helpful locals pointed out the way when they saw us wandering around with our luggage. We roomed with a German, a Brit and two Koreans. Julius and Adam, the Brit, immediately started discussing English Premiere League and the chances of their teams Chelsea and Liverpool in the upcoming matches.

We didn't have too many days to see the city so we focused on the big sites. Tienanmen Square was very impressive and the massive crowds of the summer were nowhere to be found. Mostly the tourists were Chinese who had come from the smaller, more rural provinces. They had that "small town boy in the big city" look about them. We got approached by the usual "art students" who wanted to show us a "special exhibition" or a "ancient pharmacy", a common scam here to get us into certain high-priced shops. This scam was plentiful in Shanghai and we were warned not to take the bait. In fact we learned on this trip that anyone who approaches us out of the blue all friendly, speaking English, they usually either want to sell us something or scam us. If we are holding a map and obviously looking lost, kind people will come up and help us with directions, but if we are just walking down the street, minding our own business, and a local comes up to start chatting our guard goes up. A lot of the time there is some ulterior motive. After a while we could sense who was just being friendly and who had a scam brewing. Maybe we will have a blog of all the scams tried so all of you can be tipped off.

The tourists from the rural provinces were truly starstruck by Julius. Bypassing subtle stares altogether they would elbow their friends and point "Look at that guy!" (or something like that in Chinese). Parents would shake their kids shoulders and point him out and the kids would stare awestruck while Julius gave a friendly wave. After a while, parents would approach us and ask to take their kid's photo with us.

Another kid wants a photo with us.

We thought this was very funny and agreed, usually flashing a peace sign which all young Asians seem to do when getting their picture taken. After many parents asked, we started handing them our camera and having them snap a photo for us, too.

Lonely Planet said that catching a public bus to the Great Wall was very easy and cheap and they were right. We decided to go early the next morning to avoid the crowds. We boarded a bus on the north of town full of Chinese heading to a city near the Badalang section of the wall. It was a lovely drive and as we got closer we noticed snow on the ground. When they told us we were at our stop we got off the toasty bus into strong winds and temperatures well below zero.

Starbucks is Everywhere!

We trudged up the hill to the entrance, the only other people there being the people trying to sell us stuff (apparently they don't take the day off for snow). We were quite stunned to see a Starbucks on the street leading up to the gate. We couldn't resist going in to get an extra hot latte to keep us warm on the wall.

We certainly had made it before the crowds, if there are crowds on days that are this cold. There were a few other westerners and more Chinese that showed up later in the morning, but we had a lot of the wall to ourselves. Snow sweepers were out with their old fashioned brooms and the touts selling various goods were also there.

Julius helps the old ladies sweep steps

We were amazed that below zero temperatures, biting winds and a lack of tourists didn't keep them home. We bought some stuff as their prices were reasonable and we admired their dedication to their trade.
Our last activity was a visit to Chairman Mao's final resting place. He has been embalmed since 1976 and is on display for all to see, just like his communist brothers Lenin and Ho Chi Minh. There was no line and we went in with an all Chinese group. He looks pretty good after 30 years as he gets touched up pretty often.

The big question we have heard from friends and family is if we think Beijing is ready for the Olympics next year. Beijing is certainly getting excited, with countdown clocks and signs everywhere. Stadiums will certainly be ready in time with their strong work ethic and lack of labor laws to keep people from working overtime. But they know they have some changes to make. Since leaving we have read about a number of campaigns that the government is putting into place. All are very interesting but make a lot of sense to those who have been there.

The first campaign is "A toilet for every home". I am not sure how they are doing on that one. I loved the neighborhood public toilets in Beijing. They are strictly BYO-Toilet paper and instead of full walls they have half walls with no doors. You just walk into the partitioned area and squat (they are squat toilets). Since we can all see each other from the shoulders up, everyone is just chatting away while peeing. Pretty disconcerting for many westerners but I thought it was hilarious. This is not the restrooms in hotels and businesses, mind you, just the free public ones around the city. I don't know if Beijing will change those, but they do have to make sure there is enough sewage system capacity to handle the Olympic crowds.

Another campaign is trying to eliminate spitting. Spitting is sooo common in China, everyone from kids to proper looking old ladies do it and very loudly I might add. It goes back to Chinese medicine (getting rid of phlegm is important to stay healthy) and probably the dust and smog. That will be a much tougher one. Now they are trying to get people to do it into tissues because they won't stop all together.

The next campaign is getting rid of the "Chinglish" (what the expats and tourists call the charming English translations on signs all over china). Again, we find them very funny but I guess the government does not. Some examples are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglish#Examples_of_Chinglish _expressions

Finally, they are trying to get the Chinese to start queuing (lining up). Unlike westerners who learn the skill of lining up in childhood Chinese do not line up at all. They just mob around and cut in line like crazy. This will infuriate people at the Olympics (where I imagine there will be lots of lines) so it is good they are trying to teach this skill now. We think that at places like ticket offices they will have to put up metal barriers up so cutting is impossible.
The food in Beijing was quite tasty. I asked Julius if he wanted to try Peking Duck but he declined. He had seen the rivers here and was worried the ducks spent too much time in them. We instead stuck to noodles, buns and even tried Korean barbecue one night. The friendly waitresses helped us cook our meat on our tabletop grill as it became apparent to them that we had no idea what we were doing. At night we hung out at the hostel with our new acquaintances from around the world, drinking cheap but tasty Chinese beer and watching pirated movies on the big screen.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Hong Kong. We bought some ramen noodle bowls that are super popular with Chinese riding the train. They are much better than our ramen, with three flavor packets instead of one. We met some of the upper end Chinese families who can afford the soft sleepers. They were all very nice and happy to practice their English with us on the long ride back to HK.

Hong Kong was even more crowded than when we left, as it was the weekend and the weekend before New Year. Tons of Chinese shoppers were in town to buy high end goods. Julius' birthday landed on the day we arrived and after a birthday dinner of noodles, fried rice and tea he spent his big day exactly how he wanted, watching English Soccer at Kowloon's only Irish Pub. I headed to the night market to buy the perfect gift for a birthday in China - a waving Mao wristwatch.

Check out all our Beijing photos on our Smugmug site!