So I have now just about receovered from Hong Kong which was brilliant. I took an overnight train from HK to Beijing in total about 24 hours which was completely fine. Having said that, I was on the top bunk of a 6 berth cabin sharing with 2 other women a Mum & her 2 kids. Those of you who know me well will be able to appreciate my horror at this sitaution. I am brilliant with kids for seconds on end but David & Kevin aged 8 & 6 respectively were actually pretty good.
Beijing train station didnt present any difficulties, they started once I tried to get a bus to the hotel. I found the bus stop & worked out how they operated & then waited for over an hour when at least 3 other buses on every other route went past. Taxi it was then. On reaching the rank where the taxis were meant to be, a guy came up to me initially asking if I wanted a room. I declined. He then offered his services as a taxi. I asked to see his badge & to show me the car. He showed me his car keys!!! Anyway agreed a price, put my bag next to me in the back seat when I then realised that his wife wwas in the front seat with a GPS system!! They did get me to the hotel in a manner of speaking & I think I got a pretty good price.
Where I am staying is about a 20 minutes walk to Tiananmen Square. It's pretty impressive as is The Forbidden City from what I could see through the thick pollution.Did these sites over a couple of days & generally chilled out-well as much as you can with hundreds of Chinese kids running round screaming & their parents spitting what seems like all the time! Just reminded me of India as the constant stream of people wanting to have their picture taken with me. Oh the price I pay for having strawberry blond wild hair!!
Read in the Rough Guide that every morning the authorities winch Chairman Mao up from his freezer in his crystal coffin for a few hours so that people can have a look at him. Well sounded far to good to be true. Having left my bag at the left luggage place I went to stand in the huge line waiting to enter the Chairman Mao Memorail Hall. Although the queue was massive it only took about 20 minutes to be processed through the now familiar security.
We were herded into an ante room where people lay bunches of flowers in what looked like a coffin. I thought that this was all we were going to see & was starting to feel a little disappointed. However, after more instructions to keep moving & be silent we enterred another huge room where in the middle was the frozen corpse of Chairman Mao. He was in his crystal coffin wearing the traditional jacket of the Chinese Communist Party, draped in the Chinese flag & his head appeared to be illuminated by an orange light. Quite to most bizarre sight I think I have ever witnessed. You got about a minute in the room with the dead guy but that was enough.
After that The Temple of Heaven was a beautiful and to a large extent, tranquil retreat for an afternoon. Off to The Great Wall tomorrow & then hitting the sites of Shanghai for 6 days. Can't access Facebook here so please Skype, mail or Viber me until the 25th when I return to HK for a couple of days. Oh yes & have booked my room on KPN for a week fun!! You gotta love this traveling lark!
