My week on a construction site

China...was definitely not my favorite stop on the trip. Not that I expected it to be, I had been warned, which is why I was only spending 5 days there in my original plan. When Russia didn't happen, I changed it to a week in China.

I arrived Thursday morning, got on a bus, easy enough, from the airport to a central station about a 25 minute walk from my hostel. Then I was trying to get a bus or a taxi to the hostel, not as easy. The taxi drivers either didn't want to take me or wanted 50 yuan, which is only about $7, but I knew it was way too much (I later took taxis twice as far for 20 on a meter). Finally, after 10 minutes not being able to figure out what to do, and knowing my bag was too heavy to walk, I got into this...thing...the driver was on a motorcycle, and me and my bag were in a little metal enclosure behind him. I was more than a bit concerned, but made it ok, am now just disappointed I didn't get a picture!


I get to the hostel, called the best budget accommodation in town by my bible the Lonely Planet, and the hostel is fine, the street is horrible.

After checking in, I set off to explore the city, heading first for the Temple of Heaven. It looked close enough on the map, yet somehow I walked for ages and never found it. It ended up taking me getting lost 3 times on 3 separate days, each morning I left the hostel to find it, and finally on the 4th day I made it. I was planning to just take a taxi, apparently it would have been less than $3, but by day 4 I was too stubborn and needed to find it myself!

Anyway, day one being lost I ended up wandering through poor alleyways, of course without street signs, or any hope of finding my way. Eventually I get to a main road and after walking another half hour, was never more happy to see the golden arches of McDonald's! Although I know China is a developing country, this was more along the lines of what I expected to find in Beijing.

I did not eat at McDonald's; instead tried to find a Chinese restaurant, but ended up in a Sizzler - the unlimited salad bar was irresistible, when vegetables have been hard to find traveling. I can't remember the last time I ate in a Sizzler, but it was great!

Re-energized, I started walking towards a neighborhood recommended in the guide book. This was when I learned that Beijing really is massive, I guess it is obvious, with 15 million people, but its really not a city you can walk very easily. It took me almost an hour and a half to finally get up to this neighborhood.

The next day, after again not finding the Temple of Heaven, I visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The number of people in Tiananmen Square and lined up to visit the body of Chairman Mao was amazing. Again, I passed at my chance to see a preserved body.

That in Tiananmen Square with the entrance to the Forbidden City behind me.

I had an automatic audio guide tour of the Forbidden City, it would start talking whenever you approached the next sight, instead of having to press in the number like in lots of museums.

The Forbidden City was impressive. Huge, with over 900 buildings, you could spend days touring it. It was packed with Chinese tourists, pushing to get views of the palaces, rooms, and museum-like collections. I loved the names of the buildings, the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Palace of Heavenly Purity were my favorites.

I visited the Behai park, where I watched families who had rented paddle boats and little motor boats on the lake. It was interesting, many of them 1 child families, with grandparents out for the day with them too. Since there is only one child, each will end up with 6 older relatives, 2 parents and 4 grandparents. And from what I saw in the parks, the grandparents were very involved.

One of the interesting things about China was the kids - they don't wear diapers. Instead, there are slits in the front and back of their pants - as you can see, its wide open! http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/16/content_349150.htm

I then decided to be brave and took the bus to the other side of Beijing. I was lucky, and the girl I asked at the bus stop for help, happened to be an accountant (for a Swedish company, fluent in Japanese), learning English, and was excited to help and practice English. The bus system was not easy for non-Chinese speakers. I never did find a bus map and at the bus stops, everything was in Chinese, so I had no idea which bus went where. I only braved it one other time, and wasn't as fortunate in finding someone to help point me in the right direction.

I found a soccer stadium, and was surprised by the restaurant right outside the entrance...

The next morning, after my next attempt at finding the Temple of Heaven, I was about to give up for the day. I was lost, yet again, when I saw a Budweiser sign. I had to stop to think if it would be such a bad thing to give up and just go into the bar for the day (it was only (9:30am), because I just couldn't bear to be lost trying to find another Temple. In the end, I settled for coffee and a long, hard look at the map.

I ended up finding a street of shops, and after lots of bargaining, got some souvenirs, and was feeling better.

Of course I was lost again on my way back, but still set out in the afternoon for the Summer Palace. Similar to the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace is unbelievably huge, especially as just a summer residence.

I thought by getting out of Beijing the air would be cleaner, but it wasn't. I hoped the black & white pictures would at least be artist, and hide the glum-ness of it.

This is the 17 Pillar Bridge - very unique name.

The next morning I was up before 6 for a 6:30 bus departure to the Great Wall of China. There are several different parts of the wall you can go on trips, the closest being an hour away, but I heard it is over crowded and mostly re-built. I went further, 3 hours on the bus, to Jinshanling.

There were 4 others on the bus, so we climbed the wall together. We were all disappointed when we arrived to grey skies and rain.

It was still an amazing sight, but the the view wasn't great due to the grey skies. As you can see, it wasn't the most even walkway, and it became slippery in the rain. Luckily I only fell once!

The climb was challenging, lots of steps up and down and somewhat dangerous footing.
I have at least 30 pictures of the Great Wall. At each guard house, the photo opportunity seemed better than the last.

Even though I loved the idea of being on the Great Wall of China, I do have to say I was happy when I realized we reached Simatai, the end of our 4 hour climb. I had had enough. The way down was much more fun!

A zip line across and down! It was the most fun part for me! And not nearly as scary as bungee jumping.

I had arranged to stay overnight at a hostel in Simatai. I was the only one from our van that stayed, but I was very happy I did. In the afternoon, the sun came out and the sight of the Great Wall got even better. And it was also nice to actually just be able to sit, look at it, and think about how amazing it was that I was at the Great Wall of China.

I spent the afternoon on the porch of the hostel with a book, and later a beer. I met the only other 3 people staying at the hostel that night - an Australian guy in his 20's and his parents. They shared some of their big bottles of beer with me and then we went to dinner. They were short on money, thinking that the cost of the hostel was included in the price they paid the tour company, and so were in Simatai, a tiny little village, with no money. It ended up working out for them, and me, since they convinced the restaurant (via hand signals) to give them the local prices for the food. It was a great meal, including a huge plate of dumplings, and about $12 total for the 4 of us. My beer at the hostel was $3, but they managed to get the same bottle of beer for 70 cents.

The next morning, after breakfast on the porch, still loving the view of the Great Wall, I walked back up to the wall. It was a clearer day, so I could see much further than the day before, and I just climbed up to the 2nd guard house. And then of course took the zip line down again!

Back in Beijing that night, I went for Peking Duck with a mother & daughter I met in the hostel, and a Chinese friend of theirs. Afterwards, we visited the night market, and practiced some more bargaining. We each got a Buddha statue for 30 yuan, when the seller started at 240 each. We just kept walking away, refusing to pay more. Sometimes bargaining is fun, but I just found this annoying that they were starting with prices so ridiculously high.

That's me about to eat a scorpion. Why, I'm not sure really. Tara had one and then there were 3 left on the stick, so I figured why not?! It was just crunchy really, and actually with good spices. But definitely not my new favorite food.

Everything comes on a stick!

The next morning I set out on my next adventure, to the village of Chuandixia, a traditional village. The tour book said that this village was worth the journey to get there. It is possible to arrange tours, but I didn't know anyone else to go with me, so decided to be adventurous (or stupid) and go on my own. Chuandixia is known for how much of the ancient village is still preserved. I took the subway as far as I could and then debated between taking the bus or a taxi. After asking lots of people to point me in the right direction, and lots of debating with a taxi driver who wanted to take me, I got into a taxi for the hour and a half drive to the village.

One of the first sights as I explored the village- a donkey carrying bricks up the hill to build a house.

It was true that the village was very historic, didn't look like much had changed, in, well ever. I walked around looking for somewhere to have lunch, but the place was dead, there was no one to be seen. I asked one man where I could get lunch (of course with hand signals), but had to give up after he walked me into the kitchen and his wife just pointed at vegetables and a Chinese menu.

I had planned on spending the night in this village, but quickly realized it wasn't such a good idea. After exploring for only 45 minutes, I decided I should start figuring out how I would get back to Beijing. I was very happy to find that my taxi driver had not left yet. He took me back to Beijing and I checked back into the same hostel again, disappointed with the village, but figuring at least I went and saw it.

Wednesday, still yet to see the Temple of Heaven, and still refusing to take a taxi, I set off and finally walked the right direction and found it. Not sure it was really worth the days of trying to get there, but it was impressive.

I went to find the Olympic Stadium, took the subway to the nearest stop and then it was a 30 minute walk. Like I said, Beijing is huge! I finally got to the stadium, it is still under construction, and the air quality is horrible. It should be interesting to see how it is when the Olympics are there. But, it was funny to see a TGI Fridays next to the stadium and a Subway across the street!

The next morning I left early for the airport, not overly disappointed my time in China was over. It was interesting to see, but definitely a challenge to get around. The air was bad, and the construction everywhere was unpleasant. The Great Wall was amazing, and well worth the trip. I'm sure there are other interesting places to visit in China, but I'll save them for another trip.