Welcome To Beijing
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2011
1
7
26
Trip End
Jul 23, 2012
Where I stayed
A Random Love Hotel
What I did
Beijing, China
Saturday, September 24, 2011
In the morning our street transformed into a busy hustling and bustling area. The Chinese people here looked different to the Chinese people in HK; much darker in skin colour and looking hardened and more wizened. Were these the effects of the hard Mao era? We guess, we must have looked different too as in return they could not stop staring at Asif and then their attention would turn to Yan when she opened her mouth. Why could a Chinese girl not be able to speak Mandarin? However, as nobody spoke English and Cantonese did not work, Yan had to conjure up all her brain power to put all her childhood Mandarin lessons to practice. Surprisingly, over the next 6 weeks in China we got by quite well with sign language and broken Mandarin whilst practising from an 'Introduction to Mandarin' audio class.
Walking around the old Hutong area, some of the Chinese quirks we had heard about beforehand became apparent. The most interesting was the constant throat wrenching phlegm spitting by the majority of men and many women also. ‘It is something we just need to get use to’ we kept telling ourselves. Although every time Yan heard the sound she thought they were aiming at her and on one occasion she actually did get caught in some crossfire much to Asif’s amusement. There were even spit buckets on buses. We soon realised that a traditional home in the hutong area had no toilet facilities of their own and hence utilised public facilities. Asif actually ventured into one desperate for a pee and was welcomed by an open room with no dividers, no toilet paper and no sink with a few men squatting whilst doing their business looking at one another! It was our first real dose of uncomfortable circumstances and all taken in good jest, after all such situations was some of the reason we decided on this venture.
A day was spent at the famed Forbidden City which is a huge complex of 980 historic buildings where the imperial dynasties ruled over China and outsiders could not enter. It was interesting to learn that these Dynasties were not of the dominate Han Chinese origin that now rules and were in fact what is today the ethnic minorities of China. The scale and architecture was very impressive but it was incredibly busy and dusty. We were a little confused why this prized artefact was not kept thoroughly clean and maintained. It was also very bewildering to see "American Express" as the sponsors for the information billboards – could the Chinese not afford their own? Have they really allowed their arch rival to print its name all over their prized relic?
The Great Wall of China is truly great, an amazing sight which meandered over the land as far as the eye could see. We spent a good few hours walking along a remote section mostly alone. It was rather hard work it was very windy and many parts of the wall was surprisingly steep and un-renovated, crumbling away at times. It was a somber moment to think that despite the magnificent achievement of building the wall, it had been unable to serve its purpose as Genghis Khan’s army had literally walked straight over it adding China to its empire.
We also spent the day at the 798 Art District which was a highlight. It is a place which has been transformed from dilapidated factories to a unique area where artists had relative freedom. We say relative because with China being China there are of course still restrictions, stories of artists taking their subliminal messages too far and landing themselves in trouble are common. It was fantastic exploring with all its nooks and crannies, we just never realised how abstract and creative the Chinese can be and were presently surprised. .
Food in Beijing is renowned to be somewhat unusual but there was no dog or cat to be found readily. Indeed there are some strange offerings and Asif sampled vigorously most that was on offer. This included scorpions, silk worms, snake, donkey, chicken feet, ducks beak, stinky tofu and some others which may be best left unpublished. We obviously ate the more traditional, which was fantastic, but were unfortunately let down by the fame Peking duck – dare we say our western version is much nicer! It was amusing to read the English translations off the menus, one example “the adopted son returns to the stepmother” translated to beef with spring onions!
As we had to reapply for Yan’s Indian visa we had no choice but to stay in Beijing for eleven days which in hindsight was great as it allowed us to get accustomed to this incredibly vast city and its culture whilst befriending some fellow travellers. We were lucky enough to meet someone who had lived in Beijing for a year and spoke fluent mandarin. This transformed our experience eating in undiscovered local places for rock bottom prices and sampled deafening Beijing nightlife (earplugs were needed). Thank you our Beijing friends for making our time so enjoyable!
Coincidently we were there during the National Week holidays which meant the city became overrun with masses of people mostly coming to wonder aimlessly and patriotically in Tiananmen Square. It was interesting to see their patriotism for the ultra communist Mao Zedong considering the guy caused one of the biggest famines in recent history. It was as if this sordid past never existed and he was the reason they are as powerful as they are today. Nevertheless it sparks ongoing debate between us and many others we have encountered.
Yan’s mother arranged for us to meet with her friend Hui who had studied in the UK. Over our final days in Beijing she and her husband became our guides and were overwhelmingly hospitable in true Chinese mentality. We sampled a variety of different hotpots and feasted in Ching Dynasty style all of which were unique and gave us and insight into Chinese food we had never had. We even chewed a few duck heads with them as an entree. They explained to us that being quite bony and markedly fiddly to eat, they were the ideal starter as it abided time for the main to arrive. We went Chinese karaoke being a national past time and that evening Hui and her husband entertained us with beautiful Chinese long songs and in return Asif entertained us all with Michael Jackson (dance moves and all). As Hui’s husband (high ranking Chinese Army official) spoke no English and Asif spoke no Mandarin, the boys found a mutual friendship in alcohol, namely in the surprisingly good whisky and green tea. The night finished with the memorable motto ‘fwiends forewver’.
We were also treated to typical Chinese foot massage. This was an experience that we were not prepared for. The foot massage was excellent and just as we thought we were coming to an end they produced a bag of instruments. The proceeded to pound our shins with what can be described as two tendon hammers then and as the finale they created a vacuum in glass cups against our shins (tibial head) by lighting a flame in the cup first – the process in known as cupping. We went home that night a little bruised but with the knowledge that all ailments should improve by rubbing on our tibial heads. A huge thank you to Hui and Choi for showing us a slice of Beijing that we would have never seen.
After 11 days in Beijing we felt much more comfortable with the Chinese, they were extremely friendly if one made the effort and we were pleased with our first dose of the country. We were ready to venture forth to explore more.
