China Part 2: Tea Fueled Shame

As I type, I'm sitting with a beer in some sort of street shack as I kill time before dinner. It's like a pop-up cafe in the middle of the street that serves beer (I haven't found a bar yet) and it's great.  Cheap beer, slightly warmer than outside plus I can people watch. 

Also, nothing happened yesterday...not a thing. Nope.  Nothing.  All was good.  Alright dammit, I'll confess. I SLEPT LATE. Are you happy? I set my alarm clock to get up early, then woke up and turned it off. I'm not a machine people.  I was tired *sobs* (aaaand back to the regular program - Ed). After my dramatic awakening, I found out that I had missed the hotel breakfast (hadn't booked one thankfully) and headed to my first stop of the day without breaking my fast. Up first was the Forbidden City and the rather quick moving queue. I entered the first courtyard after crossing the bridge and passed the giant picture of Chairman Mao whilst marvelling at the gate ahead of me. However, before I entered the main area, I decided to spend 15 RMB (about £1.30) plus bag locker fees (you aren't allowed bags) to visit the top of the gatehouse. After queuing (starting to see a pattern here? - Ed), I got up to the top and enjoyed a birds-eye view over Tiananmen square next to flags flapping in the wind. There was a small display but it was all in Chinese and decidedly underwhelming.

After heading back down the stairs, I then entered the main part of the 'City' and picked up an automatic audio guide which I would highly recommend. There are English signs throughout but it's nice to have the voice telling you this history as it allows you to really look over the actual buildings, without staring at signs half the time and it means you can follow your own route, as opposed to having an actual tour guide. It goes into more detail than the signs as well. 

Now, how can I explain the place? A series of buildings and walkways if you really break it down and are somewhat dead inside...which I like to think I'm not.   No, inside the 10m high walls is history at it's purest.  You are actually walking the same route that emperors walked...enjoying gardens that empresses enjoyed...looked into bedrooms that concubines...well that's enough of that.  It is an actual time machine...things have been restored a little but the place itself is timeless.

Now, the guide gives you various routes to follow but due to limited time, I took the main route with only a couple of detours. By following the route, you get to see all the different houses and buildings that the emperors used to use and the history and meaning behind each. It is genuinely fascinating to find out how the emperors used to live their lives behind this once secretive palace plus the buildings are beautiful: stunning architecture and decor that really opens your eyes. After the first few courtyards, I stopped for a quick brunch: a latte and some steamed red bean buns.

Refueled, I continued on with my journey and followed the path that many an emperor took and ended up in the gardens. Here, so I am told, is where the emperors came to walk and to think and to write poems. I could see why. The garden is a maze of trees, rocks and pagoda's that are a great contrast to the stark courtyards you previously wandered through.  A nice way to finish the tour. 

Now, I mentioned that I had took a couple of detours whilst in the palace and one of them was to the 'six west palaces' which included a special palace for the empress and her Buddhist prayers. Interesting enough and a great insight to how the empresses and concubines lived together but very similar to what came before. Now, the second detour (but actually the 1st in chronological order) was a small art and calligraphy museum which was fascinating. Visiting this dark hall, with the only real lights being used to illuminate the art work was a great choice as it really created a sense of atmosphere. In the building, you get to see a variety of different works from artists of past and the present, and was another genuine pleasure to spend half an hour or so immersed in the experience.

After finishing the city, I ended up at the opposite side of the city (worth noting when you are planning your travels). This meant a 30 minute walk down to the National Museum but that was pleasant enough and gave me some time to see some of the backstreets that littered the area: old local areas that haven't seemed to change much over the years but are still very much in use today. 

I eventually arrived at the National Museum of China and, after queuing for my free ticket (you need your passport), entered into the dauntingly sized museum.   Make no mistake: the museum is huge! Thankfully though, it is broken into various bite-sized exhibits which allows you to pick and choose what you want to see. In the two or so hours that I spent there, I was able to see a lot of it: from ancient coins to gifts from world leaders to ancient China. There is a huge range that should please most people. However, there is almost no English in the museum which did kill the experience a little bit as I wasn't able to find out what certain items were.  It removes you from the experience a little but doesn't ruin it completely: it is still worth a visit. 

After the museum, I decided to try and find one of the many parks I had wanted to visit but the taxi drivers all told me that they would be closed. Without many choices of what do, I decided to check out the main shopping areas for a while until dinner, which lead to me eating dinner in a popular Chinese Food Court: noodles with bamboo shoots and pork with beef Jiaozi (dumplings). Of course, this then lead to an incident about paying. Tip: if you pay at the start, DO NOT go back and make sure everything is ok before you leave. Just leave. After this, I got another beer and went back to my room for the end of the evening to blog.

Getting up at 6am on holiday? Can somebody say a tour? That said, as I'm typing this, I'm sitting on the high-speed train to Xi'an which I got up at at 5:15am for, so I can't complain about 6am  (my timeline in this blog tends to jump between me writing the blog and the actual day itself...it's all wibbly wobbly timey wimey). Indeed, Day 3 was my Ming Tomb and Great Wall Tour and I was wondering what to expect as I waited for my guide to turn up (I was dreading a massive 40 person group tour) but was pleased when a mini-van appeared with a total of 8 people...it seemed much more like a private tour and felt more personal which added to the experience a little. 

Our guide, Vicky Lee, spoke to us as we drove to the Ming Tombs and gave us a few facts and stories about Beijing and China which helped to speed up the drive. Finally, we arrived at the Ming Tombs and I have to say, I felt a little underwhelmed by it. It was nice to wander around and a great place to visit for the history of it but we only visited one part and it felt very similar to the Forbidden City plus we were rushed through the actually museum section (hence why I'm not keen on tours). The scenery surrounding the tomb was amazing though and probably worth seeing as much as the tomb itself.

After the tomb, we headed to a Jade Factory for a short tour and lunch which was not expected but was a pleasant detour. Inside, you got to see the jade items being carved and then visited the gift shop. I bought a couple of presents for people but I was surprised to see how heavily the tour guide pushed items onto you and kept menting deals and such. I expected the sales people to be like that but not the guide. After the shop, we had a lunch which was an ok selection of Chinese dishes with some awkward silences: nothing like packing strangers together for an intimate meal to work up an appetite!

Finally, it was time for the star of the show - The Great Wall (the Badaling Section)! It was truly glorious to see and walk along and it was a clear highlight of the trip for me. We were given an hour and a half to walk along it which was more than enough: both ends were barred after a while for safety reasons (you could go both east and west). I'm oddly proud of this but I reached the first end of the wall in 20 minutes, 10 minutes before anyone else from my group and I was also the only one to make it to both end of the wall as well (I didn't rush it either). Ignoring my sad accomplishments, it really was an experience to walk along this monument of history whilst the sun was shining and the air was clear: which allowed me to see for miles around as, just like the tomb, the surrounding scenery was beautiful.  Seeing the wall snaking through the hilltops will stick with me for a long time.  One of the nicest moments for me was just sitting at the end of one of the sections for a while and enjoying the scenery.  It was calm and quiet and it felt like time had stopped. 

Also, this was home to an unusual experience for me: being photographed with strangers. Twice. Walking up and down, I was asked by two different groups if they could take a photograph with me. Who am I to say no? I'm just pleased that I'm now going to be a part of their lives and that years down the line from now, they might be flicking through their photographs and suddenly see me: 'that blonde guy we met once and took a photograph with, who looked rather bemused'.   And that my friends will be the title of my autobiography should I ever get one, or at least be a contender.

It was then time for the final stop of the tour and the site of perhaps my great shame: a surprise tea tasting ceremony.  As we got ushered into the nice building, we got a nice room and were given a tea tasting ceremony which was enjoyable enough.  Then they informed us that we could, of course, buy the teas we tasted and offered us what appeared to be a great deal. Now, I was thinking back to my tasting ceremony in Hong Kong and compared to there, the prices were the same and reasonable so I bought some of their tea. 

Now, this isn't a shame in itself but I then googled the place and got a range of mixed reviews, some saying it was a scam and others saying it wasn't. So I don't know...I suspect that the tea will be fine but that I got royally screwed in terms of the price which has really messed up my head. It's hard to tell...I checked out a couple of shops elsewhere which were cheaper but you never know the quality of the smaller shops and the shop looked well stocked, well maintained and authentic enough (plus Putin seemingly visited). All in all, it has kind of messed me up a bit and I can't get it out of my head. This one incident has put a bit of a dampener on my trip...I thought writing about it would be cathartic but sadly not. Oh well, my fault, my stupidity and my issue.

After being dropped off at the hotel, I grabbed a quick shower and headed to the actual Donghuamen market that was pointed out to me. Once again, I explored the variety of stalls available and picked up a small Chinese street food snack in the form of a thin crepe with beef and fried egg to snack on whilst I wandered around for a bit. After finishing my snack, it was still very early, so I grabbed a beer in the aforementioned street bar and did some blog work. After a while, I headed to a restaurant I had passed earlier for dinner and it was here I committed my final act of stupidity for the day. Having entered, I noted that the prices were slightly higher than I had seen but that still wasn't very high so I sat down and ordered some steamed egg custard and streaky pork with buns. That was a mistake I soon learned, as I was given a massive dish filled with savoury egg custard and a second massive dish filled with loads of pork and buns. The food would have genuinely been enough for 3 or 4 people and not once did the waitresses suggest that this would be too much. I ate as much as I could, paid my bill meekly and slunk off to bed more miserable than I've been on holiday for long time. 

Pick of the Week

Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee - Written by Dee Brown, this is a detailed account of the decline of the American Indians in the American West.  Brown covers all the major and minor tribes e.g. the Dakota, Ute and Sioux among others, and examines the various treaties, battles and losses that eventually defeated them.  Be warned though: this is a hefty read but is worth it for fans of history.

Music of the Week  

I decided this whilst being driven to my Taekwondo class as it is good driving music:  Rammstein - Waidmanns Heil.  This is a foot tapping, headbanging song that will get you moving!

I hope you enjoyed the 2nd part of my China post this week and next week, we will be heading to Xi'an!  See you then!

China Part 1: The order of the day is...duck?

So, I've decided to start my China travel blog a little earlier than I've planned...I've not even left Nepal yet. In fact, I'm sitting at a worn-down table, drinking an over-priced latte with almost three hours to go until my flight. And that's before any possible delays. This followed a fairly insane taxi journey who seemed to have little regard for cyclists... or pedestrians...or other cars...or us.

However, despite my limited journey, it's already been pretty interesting. Not only have I managed to arrange meeting my friend Xin Na for dinner tomorrow in Beijing but I've already had my obligatory Nepal airport special of 'Are you male or female?'! Nice to see I've still got my feminine appeal. Only another two or three pat-downs where I need to convince the guard that I'm male. Maybe I should bring my birth certificate with me next time.   I also got invited to join an Asian tour group which was nice. I don't think I've ever been an honorary member of anything...can't see them now though. *Sigh* such fleeting relationships.

Fast forward 24 hours and I'm sitting with a chilled Tsingtao at the desk in my hotel room and I'm both exhausted and stuffed. Seriously, I may not eat again.   Excuse me, I seem to be getting ahead of myself! Let us rewind a little. After I finished typing the first section, I ended up going through security to find my flight delayed by 45 minutes (this now being past midnight) meaning I missed my nice relaxing breakfast in Hong Kong and instead had to rush around getting something to eat quickly plus my money changed and a Chinese sim card.   I then boarded my next flight to Beijing only for it to sit on the tarmac for another 45 minutes. Not a happy bunny at this point. 

However, I pushed it aside and enjoyed the flight, got through immigration and collected my luggage quickly enough. I then went to get a taxi to the hotel. Being the researched-up, sensible wabbit that I am, I joined the official taxi rank queue and suddenly got ushered into a small mini-bus on my own. Uh-oh. Is that alarm bells I  hear? The driver then got in and made a big show of highlighting his number on his ID card (which I suspect is now fake as it was a series of Xs) but got a little annoyed when I turned over his card to look at the price. What's that? 700 plus RMB to the centre of town? But the internet told me it would be between 100 and 200? EEEEEHHHHHOOOOOOOEHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOEEEEHHHHHOOOOO. I got out of there quicker than something kind of fast and jumped into the next available regular taxi. Lo and behold, 130 RMB to the centre of town! Not a great start.

Then it got awesome.

I arrived at the hotel and started the check-in process. Everything was going fine and normally, when suddenly 'Ah yes, you've been upgraded'. I NEVER GET ANYTHING LIKE THIS. I now have a bigger hotel room with a bath and three, yes three shower heads! I might use a different one for each morning! That cheered me right up, The hotel overall is a little worn but really nice. The room has a great bed, a couple of soft chair, a good shower and a desk for my blogging. On top of that, it's got great staff, it's near an off-licence (can't see any bars anywhere) and is close to major sights. After my bags were dropped to my room I got changed, had a coffee and a shower then headed out to the city of Beijing.

My first impression is that Beijing is large in everything it does. The place itself is huge, the buildings loom over you and the people are animated and bustling: sellers hawk for your attention; tourists snap flashes in your face; police stand silent but watch your every move.  It really catches your attention and keeps your attention. However, it's neither as busy as I thought nor as dirty...in fact it is very clean in a variety of places. As for crowds, unless your near a major tourist sight or are on the underground, it's unlikely the crowds will bother you. Having wide pavements helps but it really isn't bad in places without them. Sadly, the roads are pretty busy but you don't need to cross them much...you can use the underpasses provided. 

After checking in, I ended up wandering round Tiananmen Square in the cold for a while as I took in all the various monuments built around the area and marveled at certain buildings (some of the architecture is stunning). Inside I checked out the gates that still stood and the monument of the people but mostly, I just enjoyed walking around this massive and significant square whilst thinking about all the history involved in the place.  

It is worth noting (as a warning) that within 15 minutes of leaving my hotel for the first time, I got approached by a scam artist...then by a further 4 that day. Sorry ladies, I tend to automatically assume that anyone approaches me to 'go for a coffee' or check out their 'art exhibit' are trying to scam me (if I don't know you anyay), I'm not the kind of person that people randomly approaches. It did help though that I read up on a list of scam before I flew out. Here are few examples:

• Your hotel burned down
• The taxi driver puts you in a mini-bus, not a regular taxi
• They want a coffee and to practice English
• They want you to see their artwork

Before I could do much else, I received a message from my friend Xin Na who had just arrived at my hotel. Rushing along the insanely long wall of the Forbidden City, I made it back to meet up with my friend and ex-flatmate Xin Na, whom I hadn't seen in three years. What followed was a pleasant afternoon chatting and catching up as we wandered around the area, where I got to try some of the local yoghurt. After a while, we decided it was time for dinner. That was a very, very, very good decision. 

You see, she decided to take me to a famous restaurant called Quanjude: a chain of restaurants renowned for its Peking Ducks (you even get a certificate with the code and number of the duck you ate). At this 5 floor giant of a restaurant, we met up with our friend Harry whom was joining us for dinner, so I caught up with him as well. Eventually, our table was ready and we sat and chatted as Xin Na ordered for us and she did not disappoint. After the green tea and the beer came, a deluge of different dishes flooded the table, starting with a delicious pea jelly cube thing (I didn't get the name).  Next up was Snakehead fish soup, seasoned duck giblets and chicken with chestnut. Ohoho, it didn't stop there either.  Steamed vegetable in sauce and a whole roasted fish arrived shortly after. All delicious and all new to me. 

Then the piece de resistance arrived: the duck. The duck was heavenly. You got the roast duck sliced up with pancakes which you build up yourself. You take a pancake and spread it out, pick some duck and dip it in some hoi sin sauce, add it to the pancake, garnish with some vegetable then wrap and eat it.  As a bonus, I did it all with chopsticks!  Utterly amazing, cooked to perfection and a great end to the meal. Except it wasn't over yet. We then also got some of the duck's skin crackled a little and dipped in sugar, some soup made from the carcass of the duck and duck spring rolls. I'm not sure I've ever had a meal like it. It has been a long time since I've used the phrase 'suitably stuffed' but this is one of those times.

This was a great start to my trip and a great way to balance out the delays.  As it was still early, after we said goodbye, I then decided to go for a beer somewhere and start my blog. Sadly, I wasn't near a bar but I did find what I thought was a famous food market: Dongfuman Night Market.  I later found this out to be a different market but let's ignore that for now. So, despite being stuffed, I wandered up and down the street and felt compelled to try a couple of items...as research for this blog.  I hope you all appreciate what I go through to write this sometimes (not sure you're getting away with that excuse - Ed). 

 I decided on two items...deep fried milk and some small scorpions. The things I do...The deep fried milk wasn't as bad as I thought: just like a creamy/custardy doughball served with sugar (I ignored that mostly). I wouldn't go out my way to eat it again but it was perfectly edible. Next up the scorpions which were crunchy and that's about it. Very little flavour and less than a mouthful each. I did removed the stingers though. See for yourself!

And that's that. Day one over. I grabbed a beer from a local shop, typed for a while, skyped home for a little bit then fell into a very deep and food induced sleep. Day two next! Not bad for a couple of hours sleep eh?

Pick of the Week

Red Hood and the Outlaws - A spin-off series from Batman with the recently revived Jason Todd (after being killed by the Joker).  A modern and mature take on a gallery of roguish 'superheroes' that don't exactly get along well as they take on an ancient cult.  Good humour, human characters and good action throughout.  Check it out.

Music of the Week

Recently rediscovered this album which was a firm favourite when I was younger.  Machine head - Crashing Around Me...enjoy!

More China trip next week!  See you then!