Ni hao from Beijing

Beijing presents a fantastic contrast between China’s rich history and its rise to its current economic prosperity.  The city is vast (being the total size of Belgium), with its distinctive landmarks occupying massive areas in prime central real estate.  It is also incredibly vibrant, clean and safe (there are even x-ray machines at every underground stop!).  English is now taught in schools, so although not necessarily easy, the population knew enough English to make it sufficiently simple to get around, order food and otherwise navigate the city.  

We flew into Tianjin (Beijing’s port sister city), which is 30 mins by bullet train to Beijing.  The bullet train in itself was an experience, where we were smoothly accelerated to speeds over over 320 km/hr.  It was easy to navigate from the train to the hostel.

We spent the first 4 nights at Qianmen Hostel - an authentic, quaint and boutique experience which was more similar to staying in a hotel (whilst maintaining affordable prices).  The staff were also very helpful (with good english) providing us with all the necessary information to tour the city.  Thanks to Adam and Kelly for the recommendation as we really enjoyed our stay there. 

Day 1 we visited the Forbidden City and Zhongshang Park, as well as Tian’anmen Square.  The Forbidden City (now known as the Palace Museum) was spectacular to behold.  Constructed hundreds of years ago as the government buildings and the home of the emporer, empress, eunuchs and concubines - historical China did nothing in halves - in total the Forbidden City occupies an area not dissimilar to the Domain in Auckland city - with hundreds of buildings and just under 10,000 rooms.  The Forbidden City is probably the most well known landmark displaying the building and architecture we all think of when we think of historical China.

Day 2 we went to the Temple of Heaven Park, a huge expansive park designed around giving thanks/praying for good harvests etc.  Everything is designed precisely and in accordance with strongly held beliefs.  Buildings are set clearly at the positions of north, South, East and West at perfect 90 degree angles.  Whilst the park was amazing, we were also very amused by the Karaoke Folk Dancing and sword folk dancing sessions taking place within the park.  After this we headed to a huge market full of counterfeit electronics, bags, clothes, shoes etc.  Matt was really proud of himself for buying an awesome SD card for the camera, until he realised the chances of it being legit were slim to non-existent.

Day 3 we went to the Great Wall at Jinshanling.  This was probably our best day to date, being blessed with a gorgeous clear blue sky and mild temperatures - ideal for hiking up and down about 2.5km of this steep section of the Great Wall.  As the Jinshanling section is more remote (about 130km from the city) and takes about 3 hours to get to we felt like we virtually had the Great Wall to ourselves, with hardly any tourists in sight.  The surface is hilly, we’re talking steep staircases every 50-100 metres up and down with undulating path in between.  There are sections that have been restored but there are others that are in a state of disrepair, it is great to see the Wall in its original condition.  However, it is pretty hard going, and we slept well that night.

Day 4 we got up early and headed to Tian’anmen Square to watch the flag raising ceremony at sunrise.  Every day at dawn and dusk the flag at the northern end of Tian’anmen Square is raised or lowered by about 50 Chinese soldiers who march at a perfect 108 paces per minute at 75cm a pace.  As you would expect, this is a very popular event among Chinese tourists (of which there are many).  Traffic stops as the soldiers march through the Gate of Heavenly Peace (the one with Mao’s picture above it) and across the road to the flag pole.  The flag is raised to the sound of the National Anthem playing from the speakers built into the square.  

That afternoon we joined our tour (now just Matt and I) and moved hostels.  We headed to a chinese acrobatic show - think Cirque du Soleil but at a fraction of the price.  Awesome.

TO BE CONTINUED...