Friday 19th October 2012 - Day 16 - Ulaan Baatar to Beijing

I woke up and the others were already wide awake. Simon and Carla were awake early and as Jon rolled over at 7am they were both just sitting there so he felt obliged to get up. I shortly followed and at 8am we were allowed to enter the new buffet cart we got when crossing the border. The prices were much more reasonable so there we were practically set for the entire journey. We did puzzles, chatted and read all the time with one hand on the camera as early this morning we were expecting to travel alongside the Great Wall of China, albeit from a distance, but still very exciting!

 

We could see the wall on and off for a while but it was tricky to photograph while moving at speed through a dirty window and timing the shots between trees and electric wire poles and tunnels. You can just about make out the wall going over the mountainside. We ordered chicken and rice for lunch and got exactly what we ordered but not what we wanted! It was a drumstick chopped up in pieces bone and all with a bowl of sticky rice. The buffet cart shut at midday and we were arriving in Beijing at 2pm. So for 2 hours we sat in the room and stood and looked out the window at the most spectacular scenery to date. There were high mountains that we were passing through following a river almost like being in a gorge. The sun was beaming down and the brief stop we had it was warm outside, so nice not to be shivering.

 

We arrived in Beijing very excited to have successfully finished the Trans Siberian Railway section of our trip and over the moon about staying in a 4 star hotel for 3 nights! Our guide Yan met us on the station and we walked along with thousands of people across the station to our minicab that took us straight to our hotel dodging the crazy traffic system where bikes, mopeds, rickshaws, coaches etc and pedestrians appear to have no rules but still it works somehow. We checked in and are not disappointed, it almost felt like we did not belong in such luxury.

 

We were only there for 20 minutes before meeting in the lobby and heading for the Hutong neighbourhood or ’old Beijing’ with the tiny alley ways. We took a rickshaw around the streets and stopped at a locals house which was a bit odd but at least he had a bird that said Ni Hao (hello) to us. We stood in the square between the Bell and Drum towers watching the locals play their version of hacky sack I.e. keeping up in the air a ball with feathers coming out. Its nice to see people just enjoying the outside space and being sociable playing cards in the street and chequers.

 

Next we went to the Shichahai lake as the sunset. Old men were swimming in their pants in the lake and others were boating. The area was very tranquil and pleasant amongst the busy chaos of the city. We then went to dinner, it was only about 3 miles away but it took a good half hour due to the traffic. We arrived and went underground along a corridor of restaurants and tables where people were in private rooms and tucked away in corners eating around tables. We went right to the end and dined on a feast of various dishes that were very tasty. We have nearly mastered the chop sticks. We got back to the hotel at 7pm which is early but it felt late. We have a huge day tomorrow and we are in desperate need of a shower and a laundry session. So tonight is our opportunity to chill and sort ourselves out. We got distracted by the tennis table room but there were no balls.