Great Wall of China
We arrived sweating at the post office to see not so friendly looking roller shutter doors and cursed the fact we would have to start ‘backpacking’ with 3 extra boxes of stuff meaning our total weight was up to 70kg.
We managed to relieve ourselves of the boxes in the more reasonable China post office which doesn’t just slope for a lie down whenever it feels like it. After a couple of days in Beijing, China.
We had bunks right at the end of the room facing the side of the boat and the window so we had almost complete privacy.
We were slightly suprised (but still merry) when we arrived at our guesthouse to find the place in an impressive state of disrepair.
Qingdao is hosting the 2008 Olympics and it seems that they are having a little bit of a ’spruce’.
Tiananmen Square
We did find some nice areas, when we were in Qingdao, the biggest draw is the German influenced architecture, the clean air and its location at the seaside. None of which are really what you’re looking for on your first stop in China.
We were ready for jostling crowds, honking traffic, people…we were ready for Beijing. So we decided to hop on a bus to Beijing. It was a sleeper bus which consists of bunk beds so on you get, off come the shoes and you tuck yourself up in bed under the thick duvet and lie there feeling semi ridiculous been driven through the streets at 7:30pm in bed in full view of everyone.
I was right at the front so when we picked up some more passengers there I was in bed mumbling hello as the locals grinned down at me.
Beijing didn’t disappoint. We found ourselves in Tiananmen Square at 6 in the morning watching the PLA go through their morning drill. It was almost devoid of tourists at that time and we wandered around enjoying the morning stillness in
Summer Palace
what is at all other times a seething mass of ‘my-party-this-way.’ We wandered through backstreets and enjoyed the other-worldliness of Beiing with it’s lanterns, calligraphy, early-morning hawkers and impressive number of bike based vehicles.
My favourite sight in Beijing was the Summer Palace. We scrambled over rockeries, walked though courtyards and outside passageways, with temples, halls and pagodas at every turn. I overheard a tourist saying that she found the Summer Palace ‘far more interesting’ than the Forbidden City.
I think she actually meant to say that she found it ‘far more fun.’ The Forbidden City was impressive in size but it does start to look all the same after a while. I wouldn’t suggest that the ancient Emperors and Imperials lacked imagination but every building is pretty much identical.
Forbidden City
Somewhat predictably the best sight of all was the Great Wall. We went to a quiet unrestored part which the hostel questionably labled the ‘Secret Wall.’ We trekked from a small village where we picked up our elderly guide.
Just one look at the 70-something year old with her tiny height and stature, ‘inappropriate’ clothing and shoes and broad smile and we just knew there would be more than a small bit of humiliation involved in the 2-3hour walk. The walk and wall were stunning. We had perfect weather and could see the wall stretching on for miles.
We walked for a mile or so and got to climb up on the ramparts and pretend to be Mongols and generally enjoy having the place to ourselves.
We finally made it to the last rampart before heading back to the village and as we scrambled up.
China Flag
That night we got drinking with some lovely people in the bar of ultra-sociable Leo’s Hostel and what started as a few beers progressed to shots of snake and rice wine and ended in searching the streets for an open bar or club when the hostel chucked us out of the bar at two in the morning.
We ended up desperately banging on the doors of a closed bar and asking them very nicely if they would be so kind as to reopen their establishment to business. They seemed to find this reasonable and on went the lights and music and the drinking continued with new vigour.
All in all it’s an excellent start to travel in Beijing.
Qingdao
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