31st October 2007: - We sit in the waiting area @ Lhasa Train Station; this is very plush, decked out with comfy leather sofas. We wait for about 10 mins & then we are ushered onto the train T28. Just looking @ the train I am impressed, & once we enter our cabin I realize it is going to be a comfortable journey. We stretched our budget & decided to go for soft sleepers & I’m so glad we did. The cabin is very spacious with only 4 beds, linen is included in the price & you each have your individual TV & most importantly your own oxygen supply just in case!
The train exits the station @ exactly 8.30am. WE soon pass the outskirts of Lhasa & within 3 hours we are climbing up onto the Tibetan Plateau at heights of over 4300m. Our views from the train are amazing with snow-capped mountains to our right & to our left the plateau stretches for miles with Yaks grazing on the short tuffs of grass. Much of the water is frozen, as you would expect in this permafrost environment. After 6.5 hours we reach Tangula Pass which is the highest point in our journey @ 5070m. It is sparsely populated & very remote, it seems so peaceful just watching the scenery go by. However the pleasure of the views for me were short lived. I started getting quite a bad headache so for the majority of the afternoon I laid down on my top bunk.
1st November 2007: - We woke up @ 6.00am to the noise of a smoke alarm going off, from one of the non-smoking cabns, Hilar. We both had a good nights sleep but I think both of us could have done with a bit more. I am delighted to learn that we are descending quite rapidly, which means I have not had a headache to toady & it has been a pleasant journey. The scenery has changed from vast expanses to hilly areas with small villages nestled in between, which have their fires burning inside, bellowing smoke forms isolated clouds. At the moment we have the cabin to ourselves, it has been nice & quiet for drew & I, mostly we have relaxed reading, writing & listening to Ipods. Oh had lunch today in the dining car, it cost Y62 & we had rice, mushroom & vegetables, and chicken in a sweet chili sauce. It was good & went down a treat.
2nd November 2007: - Today we pulled into Beijing West train station @ about 8.ooam. We followed the crowds to the main hall, as unfortunately we could not understand the signs. Once there we decided to make our way to the ticket office to buy our ticket to Xi’an. Lonely planet indicates that there is a foreigner’s ticket office, however we could not find this. As Drew arrived @ the ticket desk immediately an English speaking clerk came to our rescue, with our little Chinese self written & small English our tickets were purchased with remarkable ease. Our accommodation was fantastic & I certainly was not expecting a double room @ a youth hostel to be this good & clean, the staff here are very helpful & can speak good English. I hope that the rest are like this!
We dump our stuff in the room & had straight to Wangfuging, I think it is the biggest shopping area in Beijing & it is just 10mins walk away. Now I must admit that we had McDonald’s today, I know it sounds stupid to have that here, but we were both craving some junk. We finished our day with an acrobatic show @ Tianqiao Acrobatic Theatre, this was Drew’s idea & I am so glad he suggested going, it was excellent. The strength in the acrobat’s bodies is amazing & some of the positions they got into make your eyes water, an acrobatic show is a must if you visit Beijing.
3rd November 2007: - After breakfast we head out to Tiananmen Square, which is about 30 mins walk. Tiananman Square is huge & is surrounded with points of interest, Great Hall of the People, China National Museum & of course the count down clock for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Once you enter the square you feel a sense of pride amongst the majority of the Chinese people, who clamber to get a picture with Mao in the background. After our time in the square we the follow the stream of people to the Forbidden City. As we did not have a tour guide we opted for the audio. This was informative however we both thought that a lot more history about the buildings & occupants would have been interesting. You are also unable to pause the audio & play back, so you need to pay attention. Parts of the City are being renovated to a very high standard with bright new paint being plastered on. For me though to have a glimpse of the original features showed the cities age & remarkable existence. Although scaffolding features a lot around a couple of the halls, I would definitely take a trip to just to see how past emperors lived within these tall walls.
Our day finished off with a trip to Jingshan Park, which once you climb the steps to the highest Pagoda normally gives you a perfect picture view of the Forbidden City. Unfortunately this was not meant to be for us, as the green scaffolding dominated the view. However the view does show you the enormity of the Fobidden City.
4th November 2007: - We left the Hostel @ 10am & headed out for a long day of walking. Our destination is the temple of Heaven via Wangfuging shopping area. We had an unsuccessful shopping trip so headed quite quickly to the Temple of Heaven. Once through the gate the calming effect of the park hits you. There is not that many people, which is good for us as it means we can walk slowly & not worry about people walking into you! We sit on a bench & a little girl with a bunch of flowers walks over to us & says “Hello” Drew asks, “How are you” & she answers back in perfect English “I’m fine thank-you”. Her grandmother then comes over & says, “Welcome to Beijing”. A surprising scenario but very warming, it made me feel glad that we chose to visit. Renovations are going on here as well, but the Temple of Harvest is unique, the structure has been put together with joints only, no nails or concrete, simply wood. After our exhausting day we end up @ Quanjude Beijing Duck Restaurant & find out that our eyes are definitely bigger than our bellies. Our meal was good, but not like the Duck we are used to back home, very fatty. Our meal set us back about 40 pounds, but I understand that there are plenty of Duck restaurants to choose from that are far less expensive.
5th November 2007: - Great Wall of China Mutianyu. We were picked up @ the hotel @ 10.30 for our great wall experience. After going around the hotels picking everyone else up, we finally arrived @ Mutianyu @ 12.50. We were then told we had 2 hours to explore. To our surprise the wall was very quiet with only our tour group of 18 & about another 20 people. I had prepared myself for another Taj scenario, so I was very pleased with this outcome. Our timing to visit this great wonder could not have been better. Leaves on trees are turning & you get a spectacular array of colours. Although the view was diminished by mist (smog) it kind of gave the wall a mystical feeling, whilst it snaked off into the distance. Steep steps give you a good work out, but every ten steps you take you get a different perspective, a great way to finish our visit to Beijing.
6th November 2007: - Nothing much to report today, caught up on some washing & of course updated the blog as you can see. Oh went to lunch just down the road (a couple of minutes walk) & had duck, I have already forgotten the restaurant name, sorry! This was far better than the other night @ only a snippet of the cost, a massive 7 pounds.
Our next step is to take the train to Xi’an, we will be leaving the comfort of our hostel @ about 19.30 & I must say, Beijing has been a surprising but outstanding success.
