2 nights in Beijing.
The flight from Ho Chi Minh city to Beijing was uneventful. We had a quick stop and equipment change in Hanoi before rebourding the plane to Beijing. By now I am getting used to being the minority, you see other westerners, but you stand out. The people are lovely, its only quick glances, by now they are used to the western tourist invasion.
So I arrived at Beijing airport to much cooler weather than hot and humid Vietnam. The airport is gearing up for the olympics, its very modern and clean and well organised, though you still have to stand in long lines at immigration, but it moves quickly. It was mainly foreigners entering so they opened up more lines. Wow it sounded like a stamped all of a sudden people started moving, I stood still as I had no idea what was going on, it was pretty funny. So when you went to the desk they had this machine asking to evaluate the service of the immigration officer, trial running for the olympics, its everywhere in Beijing. I then got picked up by my hostel pickup service, very efficient and made it easier on me. The guy was nice but couldn't speak english. There was a long line for the lifts to the car park so this guy proceeded to, this is no joke, hoist my 24kg bag onto his shoulder and then carry it down the stairs. I was left rushing after him hoping he didn't kill himself. The drive to the hostel showed that Beijing is one big construction site, and that Beijing is BLOODY HUGE!!
The hostel was very charming, the owners really nice and helpful, with a great grasp of the english language. I organised a day tour of the city as I only had one day. I had dinner at the hostel restaurant, not much, frozen spring rolls and fried rice with frozen vegies in it, not quite the great chinese food I had been waiting to eat, but filled me up and very cheap!!!
So my day in Beijing started out really good, I got picked up from the hostel and then we proceeded to all the other hotels to pick up the other people. The tour guide was good and explained everything really well. We went out to the summer palace, very beautiful, but it was a quick tour, not much chance to have a good look. From there we were taken to a pearl factory and shown the different types. Very cheap compared with Australian priced pearls. Then back on the bus, also on the way to the summer palace we went by the olmypic stadium, still a lot of work to do!! From the summer palace we went to the silk factory and were shown how silk is produced, pretty boring and prices were not to cheap. Moving on to the Temple of Heaven, very beautiful but not to busy as its not tourist season yet. We then went to lunch, this was the chinese food I had been waiting for, delicious!!!!Tofu, vegies, beautiful sauces, dumplings on and on the food just kept coming out. So full with lunch we boarded the bus again for our final destination. Tian'anmen square and the Forbidden city. All I can say is Massive, the square is very large and filled with people, nothing there to remember the massacre that our quick tour could see. Then on to the Forbidden city. Just amazing, the detail and arcitexture, it blows you away, but a lot of it has been improved and fixed up which is a shame. I got lots of photos though!!! So that concluded our tour, it was very rushed with not much time to stop and have a good look, but you got your moneys worth. For a quick stay in Beijing I got to see a lot.
So this is when it all went wrong. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, and we were going to go by the big shopping street and they said if you want you can get dropped off there. So I thought why not I wanted to have a look and get some souviners and also try beijings red duck. My hostel was ment to be not far, walking distance, but I got the tour guide to write it down in chinese any way the name of my place. So I did my shopping and tried the duck, was having a great time got some good bargains. So it was time to leave before it got to dark as its hard for me to find my way even in daylight. I thought my best bet was to take a taxi and not risk getting lost......Well thats just what happened. I got in one taxi the guy looked at my piece of paper shook his head and pointed to the door, so I was a bit worried, but got out. I went to another taxi, the guy looked and looked as though he knew where it was so ok off we went. For a place that was not ment to be far, it sure seemed like it. We got stopped near Tian'anmen square for the flag raising by the soilders which was good to see but my metre was ticking away, the taxi driver was happy. so we were soon moving and the light was fading. He came to a stop in front of a hotel, not my hostel. I proceeded to shake my head saying no, he said yes pointing at the paper. Eventually he went inside and got the hotel reception to come out but they wern't much help. So I asked for internet so I could look up my place and show them. The taxi left and the hotel pointed me down the street. I wandered around but no luck with internet. So I got in another taxi and the same thing happened dropped at the same place. So the third taxi I asked to be taken to a bigger hotel, the Beijing Hotel he said yes and off we went. As we went a long I saw a sign for another hostel, I said stop and he did and out I ot from the third taxi. I went to the hostel, which was huge and very helpful, but they thought it was funny that I was lost. I used there internet and they wrote out my address in chinese and I got my last taxi which eventually found the hostel, I was much relieved, but also greatful that I didn't loose my cool and yell or cry. So I made it to my hostel by 8:30 after 2 1/2 hours of being lost in Beijing, not an experience I would relive. And the moral of the story is Katie should stick with the guides and also have your address written out in full in chinese, the taxi drivers do NOT speak english.
So that was my adventures in Beijing, I did have a great time and can't wait to go back to see the great wall. In China you need a lot of patience, it takes a while to get used to the language and the people but once you do its great!!!
Bye for now, also look for the photos i added . Love katie XXX
