Beijing jing jing

Hello,

The original intention was to have one post-Beijing blog, but as will become clear in my next post, there is the need for two. This one will detail the Beijing trip only.

So, in what seems like an age ago, Greg and I headed out EARLY on Sat 2nd May to board our China Southern flight to Beijing. I was a bit apprehensive about CS but they turned out to be good, not excellent, but perfectly OK for a two hour flight. Upon arrival at Beijing airport we caught the airport express train into town and then rode the subway a few stops to get near our hostel. The hostel was called the Sleepy Inn, and rightly so. It was located in a 'hutong' which is a traditional area of Beijing. There used to be hundreds of 'hutongs' and they constituted the majority of housing in the inner city, but due to population increase and China's insatiable appetite for growth many have been bulldozed and replaced with faceless apartment blocks. Thankfully this is yet to happen to the one Sleepy Inn is located in, so we were greeted by meandering lanes filled with bicycles, a lake with old men fishing and playing mah-jong, and people generally taking it easy. Here's a couple of photos of the hostel entrance and the lake nearby.

After checking in and unpacking, we headed down to a clothes market to get suits fitted. I didn't have a suit before this trip, but after some hard bargaining we managed to get a deal. Mine cost around 120 pounds, which I think is a pretty good deal for a tailor-made suit! After all our bargaining we were pretty tired out so went went for dinner back near our hostel, and then headed out for a few beers.

The next day, it was up bright and early for a day of sightseeing in Beijing. First stop was Tiannamen square. it's the largest public square in the world, and we were glad it was so big, as there were thousands of people there. We had a stroll around, took lots of photos and drank lots of water (it was very hot!). At this point it's probably a good time to roll out the Facebook album link, here it is for our Beijing trip.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=252141&id=777495416&l=59c21b3dbf

We made our way over to the Gate of Heavenly Peace (the one in the above photo with the huge portrait of Chairman Mao on it) and passed underneath the Chairman's giant picture, all the time being watched by lots of Chinese guards. We continued on along with the crowds of other people and bought our tickets to the Forbidden City. Back in the day, only the emperor, his assistants, lady friends and other approved people had access to the place, these days, anyone with 60 Yuan can get in! It really is a massive place, lots of different buildings each with its own function, and miles of walls, paths and a huge moat encircling the whole thing. My photos don't really do it justice, I think it's one of those places you really have to see to believe. We made our way slowly through the complex and exited out the other end, slightly overwhelmed by it all.

After our morning exploring the history of the Forbidden City, it was time to see some more up-to-date structures, in the form of the main Olympic venues. A lengthy taxi ride eventually dropped us off at the 'Birds Nest' the nickname of the main Olympic stadium. It is an incredible piece of engineering, with all the girders intersecting and giving the birds-nest-like appearance.

Inside is equally impressive, it is huge. They have covered the running track and infield, so although you can't see where the athletes were treading it does mean you can walk around almost anywhere inside. Greg and I even did a bit of sunbathing in the middle! After some time soaking up the arena we exited and took a short walk over to the main aquatics centre, the 'Water Cube'. Another amazing structure, it has this translucent double skin in a honeycomb like structure, really cool. Unfortunately, some genius at the Cube decided to locate the ticket office on the other side of the entrance, so we had a long walk there and back before we could head inside. It was weird sitting in the grandstand staring down at a perfectly still swimming pool and watching the cleaning ladies at work. It made me want to go for a dip!

After seeing the Cube we headed back to the hostel, freshened up and headed out to our pre-booked table at a recommended Peking Duck restaurant. The duck was delicious, it comes already sliced and you make little parcels with onion, sauce and these thin pancakes, very tasty. We also had some deep-fried scorpions, which are my least favorite animal! I had to build myself up to do the first one, but they were definitely dead and didn't really taste of much, so it wasn't too bad really!

The next day, we caught a bus out to Badaling, the site of a restored section of the Great Wall Of China. There are various different bits of the Wall you can visit from Beijing, but Badaling is one of the most popular. There are those who say that it is perhaps not a good experience, being stuck on a restored section with hundreds of other people, but I really just wanted to see the Wall you see in books and postcards, and Badaling offers that. There were a lot of people, but for me it didn't detract from the experience. We hiked right up to the 'top' of our section of Wall, negotiating the crowds and steep gradients, but were rewarded with great views and the accomplishment of having climbed one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It's something I won't forget in a hurry.

Greg near the top of the Wall

Having hiked our way up, we thought we deserved a break so we hopped on the cable car for the journey down. Then it was back on the bus to Beijing, sweaty, but satisfied! That night we went to pick up our suits and do some more hard haggling to buy a few other bits and pieces (polo shirts and shorts for me)

Us with the tailors!

Our final day in Beijing was a bit more relaxed. We got up later, enjoyed bacon and eggs at the hostel, and then headed to the nearby lake where we hired a battery boat (basically a pedalo but you don't have to pedal) and headed out onto the lake for some initial boating and then latterly, sunbathing.

A hairy encounter on the lake. As you can see, the sea conditions were pretty nasty, I had to work really hard to keep the boat pointing in the right direction!

Sadly, we couldn't stay on the water forever so it was back to the hostel to pick up our bags, and then a taxi back to the airport for the flight back to Korea. When we got back to Incheon we met Lisa who was returning from her trip to Hong Kong, so we all shared a taxi back to Yeonsu-Dong together.

Overall, I was very impressed with Beijing. There is so much to see there, much more so than Seoul. Korea work hard to promote tourism but it is easy to see how they struggle to attract people given what Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong have compared to Seoul. I don't think I would like to live in Beijing, but for a visit, it was incredible.

To be continued........with Greg's birthday, the DJ festival, and a trip to Taiwan!