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!
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