If there are two things you learn about China after spending some time in the country. 1)people like to be close, really close 2) they like to spit! Spitting on the sidewalk, street, train station, subway, escalator, airport, you name it and if has a floor it can be spit upon. After getting used to both of this things you quickly learn that the Chinese are very friendly and warm people with an infectious happy attitude about their place in the world. Beijing was my last stop in Asia so I decided to spend a week here which is more then my customary 2-4 day stopovers in other cities in SE Asia. Like Xi'an, Beijing was how do say?...cold as shiot! Again without a coat I froze my niblits off and was sometimes recultant to even venture outside because it was so cold. However, like a seasoned traveler I "mann'd up"(I heard this from an American from Indianapolis and the spelling comes from a Texan, Jessica's roommate) and did up the city throughout the week.
I arrived pretty early Sunday morning on the train from Xi'an so I just concentrated on finding my hostel and than getting the lay of the land. Beijing is quite a large city(15 million+) so it takes some time to figure out where most things are located. I found most of the main tourist things are located in the center area a bus ride or subway ride from the hostel. My hostel had information already for getting to the popular places so I relied on them with a double check with Lonelyplanet guidebook.
I had decided to visit the Great Wall on Wednesday on my own instead of a tour. I checked the weather on Monday am and it predicted some snow showers on Wednesday so I moved it ahead to Tuesday. This meant I was going to tour the Tiananment Square and the Forbidden City on Monday. I caught the bus on a cold Monday am for Tiananment Square. The square itself is not too impressive although it is the reportedly largest in the world but it does house Mao's body in a building in the middle where you can view it. It was not open on Mondays so I saved that for another day. I made my way across Tiananment Sq for the Forbidden City. This is one of the highlights of any visit to Beijing. The area is also called the Imperial Palace museum because it housed so many emperors during the QIng and Ming dysnastys. The place is absolutely huge and seems to go on forever from gate to gate. There are many halls which you can only view from the doorway, other random buildings, a garden, etc. While there I also toured the Ancient Clock exhibition. It had many clocks given to emperors during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most were very elaborate and it seemed telling the time was an afterthought. But ther were some interesting ones on display(see pics). After making my way through and around the Forbidden City I exited at the north end and crossed into Jinshen Park. THis park affords nice views of the central Beijing skyline IF it is not hazy. Unfortunately, today was hazy because it was so cold the coal fired heaters were running extra. After the park I made my way back to the hostel to get ready for my tour to the Great Wall the next morning.
On Tuesday I got up at 6:30am and was out the door at 6:30am to catch the subway to the Dongzhimen long distance bus station. After arriving in the area and wandering around for 30 minutes I finally found the station. I was met by a woman who talked to me about what I was doing. I should have known better because what she was doing was setting up the drop off at the other end of bus 980 in Miyun, my mistake. 1.5 later I arrived in Miyun only to get off to early to awaiting touts who wanted to drive me in their private vehicles to Jinshanling my Wall entrance. I realized my mistake but decided to have a go of it with one guy. His English was about like my Chinese, nonexistent except random words. However, he could write English numbers(Chinese numbers are written as characters like their letters) so we wrote on a scratch paper back and forth for 20 minutes(I also took a pee during this time at a nearby tree) before I finally pulled out 150 Yuan and said this was all I was giving for a roundtrip to Jinshanling and picked up at Samatai for return to Miyun. He started at 360 Yuan so I felt like we had bargained well.
Five cigarettes and 80km later we made it to Jinshanling, a lesser visited entrance to the Great Wall affording more "as it was" opportunities then other areas that have been rebuilt for tourists. My plan was to hike the 10km from Jinshanling to Samatai where the driver would pick me up. Before purchasing setting the driver gave me a ticket for the entrance at Samatai on the other end. SInce you pay at an entrance fee at Jinshanling I was determined to not pay again at Samatai since I was only going one way. I stuffed into my pocket and told him he would get it back intact. I set off up the hill to begin my journey. ONce onthe wall I quickly realized the only other people on the wall with me were the occasional souvenoir hawker every 1-2km. This was exactly what I wanted minus the hawkers. It was cold abut sunny and clear. I warmed up quickly as this section has many steep ups and downs. For many stretches I was the only person on the Wall, this is almost unheard of on many sections of the wall where it can be shoulder to shoulder. It was so nice to have the solitude and enjoy the wall without a group or lots of people walking around. I took lots of pictures and even enjoyed a little lunch along the way. There were some sections that were completely unwalkable andyou had to climb off the wall and walk alongside it. As I got closer to Samatai I was met by the first ticket checker. He asked for my Samatai ticket. I said I did not have one nor did I have money to buy one. He understood that much and let me pass but called on the walkie talkie to the people at the start/finish. As I crossed the bridge over the river at Samatai (another 5 Yuan, I protested and they let me pass). I got up to the start/finish of Samatai and one of the Wall officials escorted me all the way down to the parking lot after hearing my story of no ticket or money. Since I arrived much earlier then my driver anticipated, I was hoping he would not be there and I could just wait out everyone leaving. He was of course early and as I approached with the Wall official they began speaking to each other in Chinese. The official was of course telling the driver I did not buy a ticket because I had no money to which the driver was I am sure responding with not only does he have money he has a ticket I gave him! As we approached I tried to give the driver the old arm motion for go with it don't say much but he sold me out pretty quickly. The official(who was probably 23) said he need to call it in and as I drew a little crowd another guy said the police were coming. I said to no one in particular because no one really spoke English-let them come I am not paying twice for a one-way trip. After about 10 minutes of waiting someone radioed down to let me get on my way. I think they just got tired of some bum looking American who did not want to buy a ticket. After we got into the car all the driver could say was "no money, no money" point and laugh at me. He would continue to erupt into this chant about every 10-15 minutes during the 4 cigarette and 55km long ride back to Miyun. He dropped me off at the real bus station so I could catch the #980 back to Beijing. It was quite an adventure for me but I got to see the Wall in a way probably most people do not and it was everything I had hoped for in my Wall walk.
The next day I was bound for the Beijing Underground City Tour. This is a tour of the underground tunnels that Mao had made in the 1970s when he was paranoid about a nuclear attack from Russia. However, after I found the tour location down a small street close to Tiananment Square, the door had a small, hand-written sign from last April saying they were closed for construction. So much for that. I packed up and headed to ancient observatory which I had planned for later in the day. This observatory was one of the earliest in the world and dates back to the 14th century with help from Jesuits who were missionizing(my word) in the China. There was a great exhibit on the roof of various instruments from the 17th century that had been built and used at the observatory. After being outside for during this visit I decided to head back to the hostel and warm up.
The next day I set out for the Confucious Temple and Imperial Academy. Confucius was an actual person who lived during the 13th century BC and had a lasting affect on the moral and ethical development of Chinese life. As he grew in stature around China and temples were built to study his teachings they various emperors begin building what amounted to the first universities in the country called Imperial Academys. This is were students not only learned the teachings of Confucius but also mathmatics, science and government. Students had to take and pass several exams including the one to complete their studies and one given by the emperor. These schools faded in the 19th and 20th centuries but educated many scholars and government over the centuries.
That evening was my night out for a treat found throughout China but very popular in Beijing called Hotpot. This is an individual pot of either hot broth(not-spicey) or spicey hot broth. You gather various meats and veggies from a buffet bar, plop them into your pot and then dip them in the requisit peanut type sauce with more spice added. Most hotpot is enjoyed with a group where individuals can cook their own stuff while enjoying conversation. Since I was flying solo I found a place that served individuals like me and set out. I arrived to a packed house of Chinese enjoying their hotpots. The manager(at least I think she was) did not speak much English but helped set up my hotpot, escorted me around to gather cooking food and then sat me down. She was very kind and helpful and really helped make the evening very fun. After I settled in with my hotpot and food I began cooking various things all at the same time. Some take longer(meats), some quick(soft veggies). I also enjoyed the free beer and coke to cool the spice. I personally did not think it was that spicey but just right for me. I also made quite a mess lifting the food from the hotpot to the dipping sauce into my mouth because my chopstick skills are still poor. I also burned my tongue about six times at least. By the time I was finished I was so full (the manager kept bringing me more food to cook) and all warmed up after a cold day walking around outside. I left feeling warm, full and tired so I caught the subway back to the hostel.
The following day I took the subway out to Olympic Village to see the aquatics center called the Cube and the stadium named the Nest. BOth are impressive especially the Cube. It was a bit smoggy out in that area so my pictures are not totally clear but you can see the designs of each structure. It was very cold again so I did not stay long. I came back towards my hostel had some lunch then set out for the Drum and Bell Tower. I was not as interested in the Towers because I had seem similar structures in Xi'an but more I wanted to walk around the Hutongs that surround the two Towers. Hutongs are the narrow alleyways that used to dominate Beijing. Many have been plowed over from construction over the years but there are some areas where they still flourish. These are were people live, work and eat on a daily basis. Many of the residences have fancy doors to show off their promenance to their neighbors. You can get a bicycle rickshaw to give you a tour but I opted to just walk around and follow several around (they don't travel that fast). It was a great way to glimpse old Chinese city life among Beijing's breakneck building pace for urban modernization.
Every weekend in Beijing is the Panjiayuan weekend market also called the "dirt" market, not sure why. This is the place to bargain for buddhist things, "old" rugs, Mao/communist era things, books and a few other things. Sellers claim they sell antiques, in reality most are fakes but there supposed to be few antiques here and there but you really have to know your stuff. You also have to like bargaining because sellers love to haggle. I headed to the market on Saturday to do some Christmas shopping and people watch. The area is pretty big(not as big as Bangkok's weekend market but big) jammed with Chinese vendors and Chinese buyers. The fact that the majority of people buying goods are Chinese is a one of the nice things about the market, you get a more authentic experience. I made my quick tour of the stalls noting where things were that I was interested in and then made my way back through to do some bargaining. As most know I am cheap(including you Jessica and Judy) so bargaining is fun for me and the Chinese make quite the sport of it. Again another cold morning so I probably did not linger or bargain as much as I would normally have but I did my fair share. I came away with everything I wanted and cold toes. I made my way back to the hostel to warm up and grab some lunch.
Sunday was my last day in Beijing and after visting a few bookstores I made my way further out of the center to Peking (Beijing was called Peking for many years before a name change) University, Beijing's oldest university. After getting a visitor sign in at the gate I walked around for a few hours. The campus is quite large with a definite mix of old and new construction. The center has some older Chinese buildings with typical style roofs and brick construction. The outer areas are newer with shiny buildings built in the last 15 years. I also stopped into the main theater for what appeared to be a talent show between different academic departments put on by students. I caught the Philosophy and Chemistry departments performances of singing and a little swing. Quite reserved I must say but I think I was the only westerner in the audience and I enjoyed the singing even if I did not understand the words. After walking around for some time I cou not find a student union. Finally I believe I came upon the building you could classify as the union but I could not get inside so I was never quite sure. Certainly the campus looked every bit like many campuses in the US with students out walking around. Again a bit muted for more less the same.
As I packed to leave Beijing and Asia and could not believe it had been nearly three months since I left Jessica in Florence. I also could not believe it had been since June when I left the US. As I prepared to end one journey I had already begun to think and plan for my next journey, this one in a much different place-Africa. I thought of the wonderful people I met in Europe and Asia over the last six months. There are truly amazing and wonderful people all of the world, I am sure Africa will be no exception. Jessica will again be joining me as her studies in Florence came to an end in December. We will both travel back to the US for the holidays to see family and friends before heading off across the oceans once again.
The blog will not be updated until sometime at the end of January as we leave for South Africa on January 28 from Detroit. Until then, thanks to all for reading and commenting on my travels, I hope you continue to read and take an interest in the great world we live in. Peace....
