Beijing 11-15th April 2006

Arrival in Beijing was scarey. We had just spent 6 days on the train with little space or freedom (David likened it to the closest he felt to being in prison) and gentle motion day and night. Adjusting to not moving was weird but we did find our legs while milling round the platform, weighted with our bags wishing travel pals safe journeys. The walk through the station was simular to our crowded Russian tube experience and once we were out hawkers and beggers start pressuring you to part with you money in various ways. We find a stoney, tunnel vision look wears well in these situations, it's a suitable front line defence to warding them off. The hawkers here are not persistant and get the hint, quickly.

Not knowing what to look for, for the Beijing tube we pointed to the chinese characters in our guide and got an great result, it was right under our noses! Again with finger pointing we communicated 'two tickets please' (same as Moscow, same price where ever you like), we knew our route and found the tube trip pleasant - even if all eyes where on us!

Our hostel was located by writting the address down in chinese and with help from the locals. The entrance to the hostel was very grand, we woundered if we where in the right place but, we later worked out there is a hotel above the hostel - good idea. The hostel was clean, showers we good and the people staying where really friendly. We ate in groups making it a great opportunity to out new try dishes. I've tried chicken feet! David picked around them. They where quiet tastey really.

Beijing suffers from dust storms at this time of the year, the sand is blown from the Gobi Desert. Beijing is under threat from the encroaching desert, it is moving toward this capital at an alarming rate - there's just nothing to stop it. The weather was generally warm in comparision to siberian weather but cold at night. We saw little of the sun due to the dust and/or pollution.

During our stay we visited the Great Wall. To get to the wall we had to cross farmland where a kranky lady whelding a rusty axe wanted 2y each - we tried to ignore her and barter but eventually we guessed for 2y each it was worth more to her than to us, she also had a validate point about our effects to soil erosion. We made our trip with 8 of us Me, David, Greg, Pill, Pamela, Steph, Dave and John and it was a really fantastic day. The day after we ached like mad so decided to go for some gentle sites.
Pill acompanied us to the Summer Palace by bus, half way thorugh the day we realised this was not to be such a gentle day, oohh we where knackered at the end of this day!

If your after a true 'chinese' experience during your stay avoid Sanlitun. Its an area of town located near the western business quarter, therefore it's full of (expensive) western style pubs etc on the other hand you may find it a welcome break. It was good however to have time to catch up with Alex and managed to pick up a manderin phasebook from the Bookworm 10y cheaper than bookshops, this has proved invaluable for communicating!

Visiting a local park is great fun, especially when the locals are there. Its bustling with activity. People congregate according to what type of music they wish to listen and sing along too, playing games and generally enjoying the vibe. It was a great escape from the city at Tiantan Park, full of blossom and contrasting greens, a great place to sit and share a drink of tea. This is the park where the Temple of heaven is built, as with most of Beijing it was under construction on our visit. That was our last day in Beijing at 19.00 we got on a HARD SEAT (!!) to Pingyao.