Tuesday 23rd October 2012 - Day 20 - Beijing

We have been promised a twin room tonight so we had to pack our bags and leave them in the room to be moved while we are out all day visiting the Muitanyu part of the Great Wall of China! We dumped off some stinking laundry that was long overdue then met Yan at 9am in our private taxi. We opted for this as we could determine that we wanted 4 hours to explore the wall whereas the £13 cheaper minibus tour only had 1 and half hours at the wall. We got dropped off and took a cable car but it was more like an open air ski lift up to the wall. We started hiking from tower 6 where the cable car dropped us off in search of the end at tower 23.

The wall has been restored on this section and it was still quite busy being so close to the start. However, as we climbed and climbed through tower after tower there were less people until after 2 hours of hiking there were a handful of us. There was one section in particular that was very steep and very long. This certainly separated the more eager explorers. We both tried a quick sprint but soon realised this was a bad idea! We made it to the top where there was an almost vertical section that required both hand s and feet to steady yourself. You had to be careful where putting your hands as there were plenty of wasps that were hovering about. We thought we were there, a flag was flying and everything and there was a sign that said no visitors past this point but still a few people kept going so we followed.

From here the wall was not restored and we could get some cracking photos with me attempting to recreate one of the poses we had seen in the kung fu show last night. Sure its not technically correct but it was fun trying! Jon created his own pose which he perfected for a good 10 minutes! It was a beautiful clear and sunny day and just to sit at the top and take in the stunning scenery was amazing, but of course what goes up must come down and with our legs feeling like jelly it was easier said then done. We had to walk back to the same point which we did manage but it was a long slow slog doing a few steps at a time before resting. We made it and finally got to sit, but it was on a toboggan to slide our way down the side of the mountain! I let Jon go first as he was massively faster than me. It was great fun and I did not stop smiling from top to bottom.

We grabbed some lunch and the must have purchase of a ’ I have climbed the great wall’ t shirt! They were only £2.50 and I will probably only wear it walking Cody but its got to be done! We drove back to the city while attempting to edit the 200 photos I had just snapped in 4 hours! On arrival we were told that there was no twin room available but we were given an entire 6 bed dorm room to ourselves so we went from one bed to 6! We sat in the courtyard bar with Ikea chairs, disco ball and snooker on the TV. We enjoyed a few beers, dinner and just soaked up the atmosphere all evening. Very peaceful and relaxing, just what the doctor ordered especially with Jon now having man flu.

Monday 22nd October 2012 - Day 19 - Beijing

Today was meant to be a day of rest and of course it did not turn out to be so. We were up and out by 9.30am as we wanted to go and absorb the atmosphere in the local park. It is just amazing to walk around and see so many people enjoying the outside space. They are enjoying many different exercises whether in groups or alone. We saw Diablo groups, music groups, dancing groups, people doing Thai Chi, people swirling swords, swirling ribbons etc. They were of all ages and all abilities all having fun and getting exercise in the fresh air, so nice to see. I had a go the Diablo and the men were quite surprised when I flipped it in the air and caught it three times!

We then went to the Temple of Heaven where the emperors used to come to pray to the heavens. We wandered in the surrounded gardens where there was more of the same but also people playing chequers, cards, and knitting all in groups. Very sociable. We then walked back to the hotel to check out at noon but the walk always seems to be so much further than the map implies. Don’t know if I mentioned previously that Beijing is the size of Belgium! We saw a man living in a tent airing his washing on the centre of a roundabout. We took a taxi to the Happy Dragon Hostel in the local part of Beijing. It is down a tiny alley with interesting smells wafting around.

When checking in despite having reserved a twin room we were given a double with no alternative. We dumped our bags and it was at first a bit of a shock compared to the 4 star Tiantan Hotel we had just left. We went straight out for a walk to find lunch which just confirmed that we are in the locals area. We struggled to find anywhere that we fancied and opted for McDonalds! I know that’s really bad and typical of foreign tourists but it was like a clean haven we could not resist. We then decided to jump on the underground and attempt to find our way in Chinese to the Olympic park to see it up close and in better weather. It turned out to be very straight forward. It has obviously been very westernised for the Olympics in 2008.

We walked with the masses through the Olympic park taking photos of the amazing birds nest stadium and the water cube swimming pool building which was like a load of bubbles, apparently it was designed from someone looking at fairy liquid. It was quite a structure and we paid to enter it and have a look around. You could actually go and sit in the stadium and see the diving boards etc. To be honest it was nice to be in a clean place with a seat and a western loo!

Back on the underground we headed back to the hostel but got side tracked by a bakery café that was at the end of our alley. We grabbed a coffee and a hot chocolate with jelly surprise cubes and sat on the comfy sofas upstairs listening to school kids speaking very loudly and sitting next to a DIY cake making shop, such a good idea. We should have these at home. We sat here too long and missed our opportunity for a snooze at the hostel as we had to be at the theatre at the other end of town by 7pm for our Kung Fu show. Having now mastered the underground we made our way then had to walk for a good half hour to a restaurant next to the theatre as we arrived a bit early. We had a quick drink and did a few puzzles.

We watched the Kung Fu show which was brilliant. It was a story of a young boy being left at a monastery to learn Kung Fu and become a master. There were young boys doing back flips with no hands just using their heads! They were testing the strength of their bodies by breaking wood sticks and metal poles on various body parts. Lots of spiny kicks and flips which they made look so easy, very good and gripping to watch. To make our way back to the hostel we waved down a taxi but he just turned his nose up at our address so we took the underground back again.

We stopped in a 24/7 for snacks and a restaurant where we guessed at orders. The rice was delicious but the meat on kebabs was either meat balls, not sure if they were minced balls or the alternative…! Also, flavoured gristle, chicken hearts, chicken tendons etc. We ordered a few but when they came I just had rice! Back at the hostel the central bar in our courtyard was well into party mode but we just crashed as it was 11pm and we have another early start tomorrow. Jon opted to sleep on the floor so I had a double bed all to myself. We kept getting wafts of loo though which could have something to do with the bog brush hanging on the wall? Dad would be impressed with the electrics hanging in the shower area!

Sunday 21st October 2012 - Day 18 - Beijing

Once again no lay in for us. 6.30am alarm call and showered, breakfast, changed up dollars to yuan and met the others with rain coat in hand at 8 o’clock on the dot. We had an hour and a half travel to the Badaling section of the great wall of china. This is the closest to the city and therefore the most touristy. We arrived along with coach loads of others and started out on the wall where we had 2 hours to explore. We had two possible choices to either go right with the majority of the crowd of go left with less people, we chose left. Its true there were less people but it was the steepest section.

 

The wall has been extensively restored and in the steepest sections there was a handrail which was definitely needed. There were several elderly people with walking sticks being pushed and pulled up and down, if they can do it so can we! We climbed as quickly as possible to make sure we got as far as possible in the time slot. As we got higher and higher the crowds started to deplete and at the very top where you could not go any further there was merely a handful of others around. You could see past where we were allowed and the wall was definitely in a worse condition. It was very misty up in the clouds but at least the rain held off while we were on the wall.      

 

Our guide book says that October is the best time of year to visit as the colours of the trees around are very autumnal and they were. All in all the wall was everything we expected and more. It was awesome and it amazed us as everybody on there was smiling. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world and lives up to the title. We are very excited to be revisiting the wall in a less touristy place on a weekday in two days time and we will have longer time there and we have been guaranteed there will be less people.

 

After a quick coffee we went to lunch in a jade carving factory where we saw masters carving jade balls with smaller balls inside very clever and it was nice but we just really wanted to get on the road to the Ming Tomb. We arrived there and stood in the rain while Yan explained that the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried here in the tombs. Only one has been excavated and we went underground to see the coffins and the thrones of the emperor and empress’s. It was good to see but to be honest it was not decorated or anywhere near as ornate as other places we have visited recently. There was a white stone above ground that had directed the excavators to the right place. We also walked through a gate leading to heaven and on the way back through we had to shout ‘I’m Back!’

 

From here we sat in traffic for a good hour before jumping out in the rain for a quick run over the bridge to photograph the Olympic site including the bubble swimming pool and birds nest stadium. It’s a shame it was chucking it down and getting dark as it would have been nice to spend a bit longer looking around the Olympic sites. We got dropped off at the Silk Market and was surprised to see it was more of a shopping mall. We did a bit of haggling and had a bit of a wander but did not stay long. We went in search of dinner and came across the I food restaurant which was like a clean sanctuary in amongst the chaos. We enjoyed ordering our own food and got wifi for the first time although we are blocked from both the blog site and facebook!

 

We bartered with a few taxi drivers and managed to get it for less than half price and it was worth paying seeing as we had worked out it was an hour walk in the cold and rain in the dark and that’s without getting lost! Back at the hotel we changed up more dollars and got some cash out too. Today is the last day we are spending with the Go Russia tour company, from now on we are on our own but don’t worry about us, we have the Chinese language cracked! The next week or so should be fun! We can say hello, thank you and I can nearly count to ten. Also no more 4 star hotels more like no star hostels.     

Saturday 20th October 2012 - Day 17 - Beijing

We woke to a phone call in our hotel room at 7am… it was a wrong number. However, we had set our alarms for 7am when we showered, had breakfast and met Yan in the lobby at 8.30am to begin a mammoth 12 hour day of sightseeing. We began at the Tiananmen Square where we arrived before 9am and it was already packed with tourists. There were millions of groups of tourists mainly Asians following flags in groups of orange hats, red hats, white hats and red peaked caps etc. We wandered in the square photographing the Chairman Mao and Government buildings through the smog.

 

We took a short walk over to one of the 7 gates leading to the Forbidden City. As we piled through the huge gate we followed the main path and we could not believe how long it was as we walked for a further 15 minutes passing through several more gates before we finally entered the Forbidden City. Once inside we saw some of the emperors rooms and throne although being crushed in the process. We saw huge bronze cups, a dragon wall and a 1.7m deep stone carving weighing 200 tonnes which had been slid to the City on ice. We went to the jewellery room which was a newly opened section where we were lucky enough to meet a descendent of the Royal family and watch him doing some calligraphy.

 

We then went to a silk house where we were shown how the silk is extracted from silk worms to make silk items and double silk worms that make duvets only made in China. It was actually quite clever how  approximately 1,300 metres of thread came from one of their cocoons! From here we went to lunch in a traditional Chinese restaurant with skinny hard benches where we were given way too much food. We tried everything from vegetables we didn’t recognise to deep fried cows milk.

 

Next stop was the summer palace where 3 quarters of the surroundings are a huge lake and also where the last emperor was bricked in by his mum and banned from seeing his concubines. The mum made him marry someone of her choice and threw his favourite concubine down a well. We walked through a pagoda which was 780 metres long and had over 14,000 hand painted pictures and was in the Guinness book of records. We saw a large marble boat but opted for a dragon boat to cross the lake as the sunset.

 

Back in the van we popped into a pearl farm where we opened a fresh water oyster to find between 20 plus small pearls of pink and white colour. They also get black and lavender colours due to the minerals in the lake. The lady in the shop put a £1,000 pearl necklace on me in pink as she said it matched my rose complexion, I think she works on commission! We learnt how to test the difference between a fake and real pearl which was interesting. We didn’t buy the face cream that was made from pearl dust and sheep placenta but we considered getting some for Christmas presents!

 

Next was a shark fin free restaurant where we had more food which was tasty. Although one of the dishes was covered in chillies and also tasted like flowers. Making our way through the traffic each time we arrived at the theatre for our 7.15pm Beijing Acrobatics Show. We sat gob smacked for a full hour. We watched ladies being flung in the air, bending in all sorts of shapes, men with such strength and balance as they piled up 3 stories high. We saw motorbikes in a circular cage, ladies pedalling umbrellas on their feet and cycling with 12 on a bike! Still, we saw how they did it so we are going to try and top that when we are home. It was a jam packed day where I took approx 200 photos but narrowed them down to just 90!

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.