The flight to Beijing wasn’t as luxurious as the plane from India, as we had planned our film viewing for the flight only to find it was a set schedule :(... That’s ok, I couldn’t hear the TV over the old Chinese woman coughing up phlegm every 5 mins and fighting me for the armrest. Arrived slightly later than expected as the weather in Beijing was stormy and we couldn’t land so we diverted to another airport a few hundred kms south only to find out when we were just about to land there that Beijing had cleared up and that landing in a storm with lightening both sides of the plane was safe!?!? We were slightly wary when we got in the taxi to the hostel as not only did the driver not speak a word of English, drove around at 140kms per hour in torrential rain but had no idea where to go. By pure luck we were dropped off assuming we were on the right street and thanks to watching the “walk to 1 Hai Inn” on YouTube (a video of someone walking to the hostel) we managed to find the place in 5 mins which was amazing! The hostel was great and immediately met people out the front however as this was our first night in a dorm room we were slightly unsure of what to expect as well as the customs (eg if you put on a light when you arrive at 2am and if it’s hot and smelly can we put on the free A/C) so we walked in and luckily only 2 people were in the room - 1 fat Asian who snored his arse off and the other an American who was naked and VERY hairy and had his arse hanging out from under the covers... Made us laugh anyway and finally, after a few hours (time difference screwed us a bit) managed to get some sleep.
Next day we decided to do our usual and suss out the place a bit and get an idea of where we were staying but before we even left the hostel we ran into a young Aussie who was very friendly who we started getting chatting to about the Great Wall trips and what to do and before long we were heading out to get some lunch and beers with him. The funny thing is lunch and a few beers turned into a few more beers and pool, well for Jase anyway, and someone even managed to lose a game of pool and run around the bar with his pants by his ankles... well the justification was that it was a bet, however I say a few beers might have helped. Either way the Chinese waitresses were slightly distressed but Jase certainly got a reputation at the bar for being a “fun” guy! That afternoon, and after a few more beers and with our new Aussie mate , we headed to the local Aussie bar to watch a few games of footie as well as get some Russian food. The food was great and the bar was a hole in a wall, not that Jase would remember as I seem to remember that he was falling asleep at the table insisting he was fine, didn’t need any water (even though I forced him) and even order a double bundy and coke which cost $18! Thats exactly what he needed :)anyway as if by magic Jase was fine and we headed out to a local Drum and Bass club where a French band was playing. It was really interesting although not our type of music so decided to head home and sober up for the next day of sightseeing.
Next day was a mission and a half as we had to get our Mongolian visa so we headed to the embassy ( a little later than expected) only to find the queue was about 50 people long and they just turned everyone away at 11 as they were closed. So very annoyed at another bodged visa application we decided to conquer the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square hungover which wasn’t too bad until we got to the Forbidden City and saw just how large it really is. The square itself was just so large and packed with a million tourists and locals with their umbrellas trying to stab you in the eye at every tourist attraction. Unfortunately we missed the open time to see freeze dried Mao so headed straight to the Forbidden City which was just beautiful. We walked around for a few hours attempting to be interested and as beautiful as it was it was very repetitious and all the temples looked exactly the same. We then headed to Jin Shao Park and climbed up the hill to give us a view of the city and the entire Forbidden City. Starting to feel slightly better we decided to get some Peking Duck for dinner so headed to Ghost Street, famous for its duck, which was a awash with red lanterns, buzzing red signs all in Chinese and locals trying to get us to eat at their restaurant. Found one which had an English menu and decided to get the Duck, over the “do a burner on the duck head,” duck head soup and “fried blowfish with no result.”
Temple of Heaven was planned for the next day and we decided to act like locals and take the subway around town instead of hailing cabs with non English speaking drivers. The park was again huge which is funny considering it is plonked right in the middle of the city and the temples again were beautiful to look at with some amazing colours. Again the umbrella brigade were out in force so we had to be careful but it was a great place to just relax and watch the locals playing cards and dancing without a care in the world. On the way home we went via the Pearl Markets which was 5 floors full of traders selling anything and everything and was a lot more intense than shopping in Thailand or even India as they barter but grab you which was rather confronting. The Australia game was also on that night so we headed, of course, to the Irish Pub to watch the game along with every other Expat in Beijing although due to severe frustration at how badly they played we headed home at half time!
The Great Wall of China was planned for 6am the next day which we both just couldn’t wait for although in hindsight when you walk 8kms its best to eat something for breakfast. Anyway the tour bus picked us up along with 6 others and in 3 hours we arrived to a heard of Mongolian farmers standing at the site where we were going to start climbing up to the wall, all pointing at us through the van window. As we got off the bus, each farmer kindly assigned themselves to each tourist as a self appointed guide that didn’t necessarily do anything other than follow you around like a hawk. Walking up to the wall was a mission in itself and was really hard, to which we found out that the 50 yr old Mongolian farmers do everyday... that made us feel real good. One lady even demanded she went back as she just couldn’t climb up which we later found out she had a good sherper as he took her on a shortcut! The wall itself was breathtaking and just the vastness of it all just can’t be explained. We decided to go to the less touristy part of the wall and hike the old parts rather than the newer parts as well so walking was often more climbing up and down broken rocks/steps. After about 8 towers and getting to the Chinese border, our sherpers decided that they have had enough of us and pulled out their souvenirs which we were guilt tripped into buying although we did get a good price compared to some of the others in the group! We then headed to lunch and back home after a really long but rewarding day of walking.
Next day we HAD to get our visas lodged so we made sure we were there on time as we were heading to Xian that night so didn’t have any other option. Luckily we were one of the first in the what seemed like a queue and even met a Swiss girl who we later found out was going to be on the Vodkatrain with us to Moscow. That day we were rather tired so just hung around the hostel trying to recover from 3 months of travelling which we reckon hit us all that day.
That night we had booked an overnight sleeper train to Xian to see the Terracotta warriors which ended up being very nice and we got a great night’s sleep charged and ready for a full day of sightseeing or so we thought. Unfortunately as our Passports were with the Mongolian Embassy our hostel in Xian wouldn’t let us check in without proof of whowe were and our visa so gave us the only option of going to the Police and get them to print out our Visa details. So we arrived at the police station finding no one really speaks English and trying to explain our situation was a mission in itself. Finally we found the right floor and someone who vaguely understood English who once heard our story, insisted on telling us we were breaking the law, we were wrong and the penalties were fines, jail and kicking us out of the country to which Jason then laughed at the police officer, which didn’t go down well! After a while and us having to read the rule book on illegal aliens he printed out our details and called the hostel so we could check in and after the 12 hour train ride, we were gagging for a shower. So we checked in and surprisingly we weren’t very motivated to go sightseeing so just did the local sights like the City Wall and Goose Pagoda just so it wasn’t an entirely wasted day.
Next day we headed to the Terracotta Warriors by local bus, trying to do the budget thing, and went to the sites which were packed with tourists but just amazing to look at. I must admit we were really surprised at how large it all was as well as how it was only found 30 years ago and how did anyone not know where it was. The soldiers themselves were great to look at and the detail of the faces was incredible. That night we had arranged the night train back to Beijing as we had one more day left before we started on the Vodkatrain and also had to pick up our visas. Didn’t sleep as well as the first train and again encountered the check in issues without having our passports on us so had to walk around Beijing smelly and wearing the same clothes we had slept in until 4pm when we picked up our passports from the Mongolian office. We were cutting it fine as we had a Welcome meeting with our Vodkatrain guide at 5pm but surely an hour would be enough to pick up a passport and get back to the hotel??!?! Well yes you would think so but of course the pick up office decided to open 30 mins later than expected and all the cab drivers decided to go on strike just as we needed a cab! We arrived 30 mins late to the meeting, which of course made a great impression, checked in and then went out to dinner with our honcho and group to get to know each other. Must admit we had the best Chinese food in Beijing with the local ordering everything and then went for a quick walk to the night market to see all the weird and wonderful food that they eat including Starfish, seahorses, scorpions.
