In which we did loads.
This is going to have to be a bit of an abbreviated account of our time in Beijing, because – unless I want to be up all night – I've only got a few hours to write-up five days. (I can almost hear the cheers from here.)
Day 92 (Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City & Jing Shan)
Having been to these places last time and not especially keen to revisit, I spent the day until dinner time blogging and doing chores at the hotel, while Juli went out with Adam and Corinne, so I'll let Juli write this next bit.
The hostel/hotel has a tour booking concession in the lobby, which arranges trips out and about, here and there. We'd all spotted this when we arrived and met up now with Adam and Corinne to book one to a particular section of the Great Wall plus a visit to the Ming Tombs – both some way out of town – for later in the week. After that we went our separate ways. Our way took us to another huge shopping centre under which lies yet another of the these great food streets with loads of different restaurants off it. Some of them have people outside, partly to greet you, but mostly to urge you to choose their restaurant over the virtually identical one next door. We'd played a good natured game with some of them, pretending we couldn't decide between two places then running off to look at some others. In fact, we went back to the first place we'd seen, and the greeters there seemed very amused to see us again.
After we'd eaten, we headed back up to street level, and immediately bumped into Corinna, who'd had to seek out another hospital/clinic, as her condition didn't seem to be getting any better and was causing her some concern, as it was us. Apparently, she'd been seen very promptly by a doctor who spoke very good English and had come away with new medicine and instructions to rest. Like us, she's been to China before and was considering getting a train to some chilled out little town she went to last time to kickback and do as the Doctor ordered.
Back at the hotel, we started to put our new cruise plans into effect by sending off e-mails, both direct to the cruise company and Reader Offers, the agents Corinne had recommended (a now independent spin-off from the Daily Mail) and waited…
Neither of us slept very well that night wondering if we had done that right thing, and at about two in the morning I got up and sent off some more e-mails when, as a result of our nocturnal deliberations, our plans changed a little.
Shortly after we moved into our house in Weardale, we made friends with two ex-farmers, turned super amazing keen gardens, Ian and Dorothy Hedley. Now, it just so happens that they booked on to a trip round China which put them in Beijing at the same time as us, so this morning we took a taxi to the hotel where we knew they'd be arriving the next day to leave word that we'd meet them for dinner on the day after that. There's yet another taxi story in the middle of all that, but suffice it to say that we made a point of picking up one the hotel's cards to make the journey there a bit easier next time.
After leaving our note, we got another taxi to take us to another of Beijing's major crowd pullers, The Temple of Heaven, which is where the Emperor (regarded as the Son of Heaven on Earth) had to go two or three times a year to perform certain rites to ensure a good harvest. Again, we both saw all this last time, but Juli wanted to take more photographs, and I went along too, but spent most of the time seeking shade on another hot day.
When we came out, we couldn't negotiate a taxi to take us back to the hotel for anything like a sensibly price, so began to walk. Fortunately, Juli spotted the name of the train station on a bus stop timetable and, like a good omen, the very bus we needed came along almost immediately. The fare was just one Yuan each (about 10p) and easily negotiated with the very friendly conductor who spoke enough English to complete the transaction. A welcome legacy of their Olympic games, perhaps?
When we got back, there was another e-mail from Reader Offers saying they'd just tried to call. I immediately called back, but got someone's voicemail, on which I left a message. A few minutes after that, the phone rang again, and a few minutes after that, the deal was done. Phew.
However, before we could go to see the things we wanted to see, we had to make a quick stop at a jade factory so that our guide could collect her commission for taking us there. Apparently this is how it's done here. The hotel keeps 100% of the ticket price and the guides make their money from tips and commissions. We weren't obligated to buy and the tour didn't take very long, so no real harm done. In fact, on the plus side, the vast showroom (complete with very many under occupied sales assistants) very shrewdly incorporated a man-creche (or bar, as they're sometimes known) where Adam and I enjoyed a cold coke while our women window-shopped. (Actually I did learn something: I had no idea jade came in so many different colours according to its mineralogical make up. I saw a very nice fruit bowl in a subtle shade of orange-y peach, a snip at $62. Not bad compared to the four foot long dragon boat made from a single piece of green jade they had on sale for $62,000.)
Next stop was the Ming Tombs, or rather one of the seventeen Ming tombs, but not the one we were expecting to be taken to and not at all to a central feature of the whole complex, known as the Spirit Way, which, apparently, is separate tour. Hey ho.
Stop number three was the main event: the Great Wall, or rather a part of it. (There are several sections with visitor facilities and rather more of it that has crumbled into disrepair.) Our bit is a perhaps less authentic stretch, having been restored somewhat, which, of course, also makes it rather more photogenic. That said, it's not one of the especially tourist-y bits and has the added advantage of having a cable car (actually a ski lift) to take you up to the top of the steep hill the wall sits on. Coming down, you have the choice to walk, take the ski lift back down, or – much better – speed down on a toboggan run that snakes its way down the hill. Brilliant.
After a couple of hours on the wall under the hot sun (which might account for a moment of madness when, much to the amusement/confusion of the other tourists, we 'Razzle Dazzled' down a stepped section of the wall) we were ready for our included 'typical Chinese lunch'. Expecting a bowl of noodles or something, we were very pleasantly surprised when dish after dish came to our table. More than enough quantity and variety to satisfy all of our group, including vegetarians and non pork eaters.
After lunch we had another shopping opportunity at a silk factory – quite interesting – with associated vast showroom. (This one without a bar.)
Expecting next to be taken back to our hotel, we were surprised to be told the next stop would be the Olympic park to see the famous Birds Nest stadium. After that, another surprise: a tea house, where we were treated to a tea ceremony and taster demonstration. It turned out that the passengers from the other hotel had paid very much more for a fuller itinerary and we were the lucky freeloaders.
After the tea house, the last stop was the night market, but we stayed on the bus and were taken back to our hotel, tired but more or less happy.
After that we took a more leisurely stroll back via a very nice patisserie for brunch and a relaxed walk through the Temple of the Sun park, which has some brilliant hard landscaping you'd think was natural and features some more of the same music and dance related activities seen by Juli in Jing Shan Park. (This time it was Piano Accordions rather than harmonicas, though.)
Back at the hotel, I blogged a little until it was time to get a taxi to Ian and Dorothy's Hotel, where they were standing ready to meet us. We spent a very jolly evening there eating, drinking a little and catching up on all their news. They showed us the suite they'd been upgraded to: very impressive it was too with its two rooms, two loos, two telly's and complementary vibrating condoms.
After lunch, we went across the road to the Confucian Temple and took more photos of more temples. (Can you tell I'm beginning to get a bit templed-out?) The largest of these – the Hall of Music – contained all sorts of drums and variously sized and shaped metal percussion instruments plus a number of very long stringed instruments. Confucianism was, of course banned during the Cultural Revolution, but now seems to be making something of a comeback, even cropping up in Political speeches.
When we got back to the hotel, Juli sent some e-mails while I rested. Dinner this evening? Well, we had to have it some time: Peking Duck. Not, actually, the best I've ever tasted, but fun to have it here and in a lively restaurant full of noisy locals out with friends, colleagues and business associates.
["So, shall we send this rocket up then?" "Nah! Let's have another one of these free beers.]
TTFN - N
This is going to have to be a bit of an abbreviated account of our time in Beijing, because – unless I want to be up all night – I've only got a few hours to write-up five days. (I can almost hear the cheers from here.)
Day 92 (Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City & Jing Shan)
Also the start of Week 14: half way point on the truck trip and the beginning of the second quarter of our year.
Having been to these places last time and not especially keen to revisit, I spent the day until dinner time blogging and doing chores at the hotel, while Juli went out with Adam and Corinne, so I'll let Juli write this next bit.
The three of us left the hotel/hostel early and walked along the great main road to the edge of the Forbidden City. The guide book said that we could avoid the crowds if we entered through the North Gate and I remembered that last time we were in Beijing we had finished our trip by going into the Jing Shan Park which has a huge pagoda, built on a mound of earth that was created when they dug out the canals that surround the city. From here there is a wonderful view over the whole of the Forbidden City and the modern city beyond. So we walked to the park entrance and paid our two Yuan entrance. This turned out to be money very well spent. The find of this trip to Beijing for me has been the parks and all the things that go on in them. Just inside the gates there was a performance in progress with elderly women dancing to the gathered forces of what seemed to be all of the mouth organ players of Beijing. We stood and watched for a while but were then distracted by another woman who had set up her cassette player and started doing a dance with a huge silver sword.
Having climbed to the top of the pagoda, (where a nice Chinese man and his wife asked whether Elizabeth's palace was this large, to which I had to reply 'no' which pleased them immensely) we took our pictures and then heard singing coming from the far side. When we got down we found a group of people singing, probably a folk song, but everyone in the park seemed to know it so gravitated towards the choir and joined in, including a woman doing her knitting while she was singing. Just around the corner there was a impromptu performance area set up, where people just seemed to arrive, get changed into costumes they had bought in carrier bags and then do their 'turn', whatever that might be – a song, a dance, playing an instrument – for an audience who had brought their own chairs and were settled in for the day. No need for old people's homes. The elderly of Beijing spend their days having a ball in the parks in the city. Brilliant! Can you see the same thing happening in parks in England? You would probably be taken away.
Leaving the park we tried to do what the guide book had suggested and enter through the North Gate. Unfortunately things have changed and a one way system seems to exist now, so we had to go all the way back around to the South gate. We took a taxi who dropped us off at the side of Tiananmen Square and we walked across, along with hundreds and hundreds of tour groups.
We crossed into the Forbidden City entrance and joined a huge queue for tickets. This fortunately moved quite quickly and after paying our 60 Yuan (about $10 – very good value, I think), we were walking into the first courtyard. I suggested to Adam and Corinne that they should leave me and go off on their own as I would be taking a lot of pictures and moving slowly – the main reason Nick didn't want to come again – which they did. I then took my time to stroll around taking hundreds of shots. The last time we were here I had a film camera and could only take 32 pictures – can you imagine?! Now with a digital I could get carried away, which I did.
Several hours later I emerged onto the main road again. I had been barged, trodden on, walked in front of, pushed out of the way, stared at by the hundreds, no, thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of other tourists (mainly Chinese). I was exhausted but still in a state of wonder at the place and had definitely filled my eyes. I walked back to the hostel happy and full of stories to tell Nick.
The hostel/hotel has a tour booking concession in the lobby, which arranges trips out and about, here and there. We'd all spotted this when we arrived and met up now with Adam and Corinne to book one to a particular section of the Great Wall plus a visit to the Ming Tombs – both some way out of town – for later in the week. After that we went our separate ways. Our way took us to another huge shopping centre under which lies yet another of the these great food streets with loads of different restaurants off it. Some of them have people outside, partly to greet you, but mostly to urge you to choose their restaurant over the virtually identical one next door. We'd played a good natured game with some of them, pretending we couldn't decide between two places then running off to look at some others. In fact, we went back to the first place we'd seen, and the greeters there seemed very amused to see us again.
After we'd eaten, we headed back up to street level, and immediately bumped into Corinna, who'd had to seek out another hospital/clinic, as her condition didn't seem to be getting any better and was causing her some concern, as it was us. Apparently, she'd been seen very promptly by a doctor who spoke very good English and had come away with new medicine and instructions to rest. Like us, she's been to China before and was considering getting a train to some chilled out little town she went to last time to kickback and do as the Doctor ordered.
Back at the hotel, we started to put our new cruise plans into effect by sending off e-mails, both direct to the cruise company and Reader Offers, the agents Corinne had recommended (a now independent spin-off from the Daily Mail) and waited…
Neither of us slept very well that night wondering if we had done that right thing, and at about two in the morning I got up and sent off some more e-mails when, as a result of our nocturnal deliberations, our plans changed a little.
Day 93 (Temple of Heaven)
The next morning, there was a reply from Reader Offers to say they'd made a provisional booking on our behalf and requesting more information, which I duly returned.Shortly after we moved into our house in Weardale, we made friends with two ex-farmers, turned super amazing keen gardens, Ian and Dorothy Hedley. Now, it just so happens that they booked on to a trip round China which put them in Beijing at the same time as us, so this morning we took a taxi to the hotel where we knew they'd be arriving the next day to leave word that we'd meet them for dinner on the day after that. There's yet another taxi story in the middle of all that, but suffice it to say that we made a point of picking up one the hotel's cards to make the journey there a bit easier next time.
After leaving our note, we got another taxi to take us to another of Beijing's major crowd pullers, The Temple of Heaven, which is where the Emperor (regarded as the Son of Heaven on Earth) had to go two or three times a year to perform certain rites to ensure a good harvest. Again, we both saw all this last time, but Juli wanted to take more photographs, and I went along too, but spent most of the time seeking shade on another hot day.
When we came out, we couldn't negotiate a taxi to take us back to the hotel for anything like a sensibly price, so began to walk. Fortunately, Juli spotted the name of the train station on a bus stop timetable and, like a good omen, the very bus we needed came along almost immediately. The fare was just one Yuan each (about 10p) and easily negotiated with the very friendly conductor who spoke enough English to complete the transaction. A welcome legacy of their Olympic games, perhaps?
When we got back, there was another e-mail from Reader Offers saying they'd just tried to call. I immediately called back, but got someone's voicemail, on which I left a message. A few minutes after that, the phone rang again, and a few minutes after that, the deal was done. Phew.
Day 94 (Great Wall, Ming Tombs and more)
After a much better night's sleep for having sorted our mini cruise, we met the others outside the hotel and waited for our tour bus, which was late and still had to pick up some other passengers from another hotel. Our guide for the day then explained what we'd be doing that day and how long we'd have to do it.However, before we could go to see the things we wanted to see, we had to make a quick stop at a jade factory so that our guide could collect her commission for taking us there. Apparently this is how it's done here. The hotel keeps 100% of the ticket price and the guides make their money from tips and commissions. We weren't obligated to buy and the tour didn't take very long, so no real harm done. In fact, on the plus side, the vast showroom (complete with very many under occupied sales assistants) very shrewdly incorporated a man-creche (or bar, as they're sometimes known) where Adam and I enjoyed a cold coke while our women window-shopped. (Actually I did learn something: I had no idea jade came in so many different colours according to its mineralogical make up. I saw a very nice fruit bowl in a subtle shade of orange-y peach, a snip at $62. Not bad compared to the four foot long dragon boat made from a single piece of green jade they had on sale for $62,000.)
Next stop was the Ming Tombs, or rather one of the seventeen Ming tombs, but not the one we were expecting to be taken to and not at all to a central feature of the whole complex, known as the Spirit Way, which, apparently, is separate tour. Hey ho.
Stop number three was the main event: the Great Wall, or rather a part of it. (There are several sections with visitor facilities and rather more of it that has crumbled into disrepair.) Our bit is a perhaps less authentic stretch, having been restored somewhat, which, of course, also makes it rather more photogenic. That said, it's not one of the especially tourist-y bits and has the added advantage of having a cable car (actually a ski lift) to take you up to the top of the steep hill the wall sits on. Coming down, you have the choice to walk, take the ski lift back down, or – much better – speed down on a toboggan run that snakes its way down the hill. Brilliant.
After a couple of hours on the wall under the hot sun (which might account for a moment of madness when, much to the amusement/confusion of the other tourists, we 'Razzle Dazzled' down a stepped section of the wall) we were ready for our included 'typical Chinese lunch'. Expecting a bowl of noodles or something, we were very pleasantly surprised when dish after dish came to our table. More than enough quantity and variety to satisfy all of our group, including vegetarians and non pork eaters.
After lunch we had another shopping opportunity at a silk factory – quite interesting – with associated vast showroom. (This one without a bar.)
Expecting next to be taken back to our hotel, we were surprised to be told the next stop would be the Olympic park to see the famous Birds Nest stadium. After that, another surprise: a tea house, where we were treated to a tea ceremony and taster demonstration. It turned out that the passengers from the other hotel had paid very much more for a fuller itinerary and we were the lucky freeloaders.
After the tea house, the last stop was the night market, but we stayed on the bus and were taken back to our hotel, tired but more or less happy.
Day 95 (Vietnam Embassy, Temple of the Sun, dinner with Ian and Dorothy)
As we had a bit more time in Beijing than our truckmates would have, we decided to get our Vietnam visas here rather than take up precious time in Luang Prabang, Laos getting them there. So this morning we made our way over to the embassy district, which we didn't think was too far from the hotel to walk, but turned out to be a bit of a hike. We'd left it a day too late to get them on the cheaper three day service, by decided – partly because we were there and partly because the original reason was still valid – to go ahead anyway and pay the $90 for the premium one day service. (We'd been told that it might be as much as $80 in Laos anyway, so this wasn't that much more for the convenience.)After that we took a more leisurely stroll back via a very nice patisserie for brunch and a relaxed walk through the Temple of the Sun park, which has some brilliant hard landscaping you'd think was natural and features some more of the same music and dance related activities seen by Juli in Jing Shan Park. (This time it was Piano Accordions rather than harmonicas, though.)
Back at the hotel, I blogged a little until it was time to get a taxi to Ian and Dorothy's Hotel, where they were standing ready to meet us. We spent a very jolly evening there eating, drinking a little and catching up on all their news. They showed us the suite they'd been upgraded to: very impressive it was too with its two rooms, two loos, two telly's and complementary vibrating condoms.
Day 96 (Lama Temple, Confucian Temple & Peking Duck
After returning to the Vietnamese Embassy to collect out visas, we went with Corinne (Adam not feeling well again) by tube (much nicer than the London Underground) to the Lama Temple: a complex of Tibetan style Buddhist temples in the north-west of the city, where very many worshipers were making offerings of incense in huge burners in front of lots of temples containing statues large and small of Buddha in his many different forms, one of which was over 30m tall and carved out of single piece of sandalwood.After lunch, we went across the road to the Confucian Temple and took more photos of more temples. (Can you tell I'm beginning to get a bit templed-out?) The largest of these – the Hall of Music – contained all sorts of drums and variously sized and shaped metal percussion instruments plus a number of very long stringed instruments. Confucianism was, of course banned during the Cultural Revolution, but now seems to be making something of a comeback, even cropping up in Political speeches.
When we got back to the hotel, Juli sent some e-mails while I rested. Dinner this evening? Well, we had to have it some time: Peking Duck. Not, actually, the best I've ever tasted, but fun to have it here and in a lively restaurant full of noisy locals out with friends, colleagues and business associates.
Day 97 (Today)
A stay at home day today, mostly spent sat in front of Juli's netbook computer while Juli did some last minute shopping, a bit of laundry and generally got ready to get back on the truck tomorrow morning. We did go out for dinner, though. I finally got the pork ribs I'd been craving all week and we enjoyed a beer called Yangjing, the label on which proudly proclaims the brewer to "Sponsor the China Space Programme."["So, shall we send this rocket up then?" "Nah! Let's have another one of these free beers.]
TTFN - N
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