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Trip Start Mar 23, 2010 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 11, 2010

  Beijing, Beijing, China
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The end is nigh!  We've spent the last week of my trip in Beijing and it's been a great place to finish off.  But first, going back to where my last post ended.   The day traveling to Chengdu via Kunming on a sleeper train was a doddle.  We didn't do a lot in Chengdu but what we did do was great.  Most of our time was spent in one of the numerous tea-gardens that were dotted around the city, and one morning we got up early to go see pandas.  They were incredible.  I just wanted to jump into the enclosure and cuddle them all.  You can check out lots of pictures of them (and read about our travels from a different perspective) here.  The pictures say a lot more about them than I would be able to. 
We left Chengdu pretty content and headed for Xi'an, a city made famous by the discovery of the nearby terracotta army some 70 years ago.  Although the army is the city's claim to fame it's a pretty nice place itself, if you ignore the heinous layer of smog that constantly covers the sky.  There are a lot of old imperial buildings left standing (a rarity in china) and there was a cool Muslim quarter where we bought some weird Chinese/Islamic foods.  The day we choose to go see the terracotta army it happened to pour with rain, which luckily wasn't too much of a problem because they are all kept inside these giant hangers.  The army was vast.  It was just row upon row of soldiers, cavalry and archers.  Amazingly, not any two soldiers have the same face.  Again, I think pictures do a far better job than I can and they can be seen here.  
From Xi'an we planned to go to Shanghai for a few day to see the World Expo but unfortunately due to massive demand for train tickets it was impossible so we adjusted our plans and headed for Beijing instead.  Looking back this was probably a good thing because it's allowed us to do Beijing properly (even though I feel like there is still so much more i could see here) and it meant that my last week here was spent at an easier pace.  And also because Beijing is sweet.  
The hostel that we're staying at is right next to Tienanmen Square, which is almost impossible to get in to because it's surrounded by fences and at the few entrance points everyone had to go though a pointless security check.  We went to the Forbidden City, which is overlooked by a huge picture of Chairman Mao.  It was insanely crowded but amazing to be in.  Although the aggressiveness of all the Chinese tourists kind of ruined the vibes a bit.  We bought these ice lollies that people sell off the street.  They have no way of keeping them cold but somehow they don't melt.  It definitely left a distinct taste of chemical burn in my throat.  The next day we went to see the Bird's Nest.  It's so much more impressive than it looked on the TV.  My only issue with it is that it needs one more gate.  I had the brilliant idea of getting a picture in front of Gate N only to walk around it and find that it goes up to M.  I was very disappointed.  
The Great Wall of China truly stood up to it's name (It was definitely on a par with Frosties).  We were lucky enough to be there at a time when very few others were and seeing it snake off over mountain ranges into the distance was an amazing sight.  I was only slightly disappointed at one point when I found human faecal matter decorating the floor.  In a way it made me question the greatness of the wall...
This morning we got up extra early to go to see the zombie corpse of Mao (may he rest in peace) which required waiting in a queue for one hour and a half.  Standing in a queue with thousands of Chinese people is a pretty awful thing (sorry if that's racist).  It was fair game for people to push past us if we left the slightest space in front of us unfilled.  Needless to say we found this lack of queuing annoying so to make ourselves feel a bit better we chose one guy and decided that we wouldn't let him push in front of us.  So for a whole hour and a half we blocked this guy every time he tried to push in and we got to see dead Mao before him.  Victory for us I believe.  After all that hard work we got to see Mao for about a whole 20 seconds before we were back outside again.  Totally worth it.  
Lots of people had asked me what the worst thing that I'd eaten during my travels was to which the answer was fairly boring, bad eggs, crunchy squid and chicken that tasted of dog food.  I decided to make amends so after our last meal of delicious Peking duck we went to a less appetising restaurant to get some barbecued lamb eyeball, testicle and penis.  The balls and eyes were surprisingly edible but the penis was not.  It wasn't even the taste that bothered me, I just felt bad noshing on it.  It was veiny!
It's now almost 4 in the morning and any minute the alarm will go off to get us up to go to the airport.  In 24 hours time I'm going to be home.  

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