The People’s Republic of China
Posted: November 4th, 2012 by Courtney
With our visas in our hands on Monday afternoon, we jumped on a plane to Beijing Tuesday morning. We arrived to a bit of a culture shock. We were feeling pretty good in Hong Kong, with familiar Cantonese food and English spoken everywhere. Well, not in Beijing. We were overwhelmed by the scale of city. Millions of people, bikes, motorbikes, cars, taxis, buses, you name it. We also weren’t used to the stares we were getting and people bumping (or pushing) into you to get around you.
But we were in Beijing to do three things: 1) visit the Forbidden City, 2) walk the Great Wall, and 3) eat some Peking Duck. Well, I am happy to tell you we did all three!
Courtney in front of Chairman Mao
On our first day out we visited Tiananmen Square which is a massive, heavily guarded square with a number of notable sights surrounding it including an original city gate, the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, and the the Great Hall of the People. Our next stop was the Forbidden City, which is no longer very forbidden (there is a new forbidden walled complex near there though). After you pay your entry fee, you find it is swarming with Chinese tourist and loud tour guides with microphones.
Forbidden City
The “city”, which in fact the imperial palace from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, was very large and impressive. Well worth a few hours exploring the pagodas, living quarters and gardens, but in the afternoon we were glad to get back to our little guest house for a quiet beer and some spicy peanuts on the rooftop lounge.
The next day we rose before the sun came up for a long 3-hour drive to the Great Wall. We had arranged a private car and driver to take us to the Jinshanling section of the wall, which worked out great.And although he didn’t speak any English he was able to gesture exactly where we needed to go and where we would meet him when we were done walking the wall.
We got this shot on our first try!
We spent about 3 hours walking the wall and exploring its towers. I found it to be very impressive and a great escape from the city.
The drive home was an adventure on its own. Firstly, our driver was pretty drowsy from waking up, like us, before the sun so was struggling to keep himself awake with tea and various excuses to stop “so we could take photos”. Secondly was the madness that is driving in Beijing, where our driver didn’t seem to follow any rules including driving the wrong way down a parking/bicycle for about a quarter mile. And lastly, and I though the most interesting and creative use of the road we’ve seen yet. The corn farmers in the areas on the way back from the wall had taken over one entire lane of a two lane highway in order to dry their corn in the sun, directly on the asphalt.
Neither our car, nor the approaching car slowed at all.
And after the long drive back to Beijing we headed out for a dinner of Peking Duck. Yum!
Some of the strange treats at the “Snack Street” market
After another day in Beijing exploring the markets, I had really had enough. The pollution was getting to me with a constant runny nose and headache, so we decided to take a train to Qingdao on the northern coast.
Before we left though, we did get one last experience. Beijing rush hour in the subway!
Rush hour transferring trains.
And if you’re interested, have a look at some other pictures of Forbidden Palace, The Great Wall or the rest of our time in Beijing