After 5 months of being here, I finally made it to Beijing.
I know it seems like I should have gone sooner, but even though it’s in the
same country it’s so far away – the flight is the same time as a flight from
the UK to Germany or Spain.
I went with a friend of mine who’s been here 6 months who
hadn’t been yet either. We decided to
take the train, which is cheaper than flying but takes just over 5 hours. Taking a train in China is an interesting
experience to say the least. Even booking tickets is difficult. There’s an
official site (like National Rail) but it’s all in Chinese. The English ones
whack a handling fee on so you end up paying a bit more, but most of the time
that’s your only choice as the trains are so busy you can’t just go the station
and risk not getting a ticket. At the station itself there are these big
screens (in Chinese) that show you how many seats are left in each class on
each train. As it was cheaper we decided to go second class (about 50 quid one
way). Have to admit, was slightly concerned what second-class Chinese train
carriages would be like. The answer is absolutely gorgeous. Loads of legroom,
reclining seats, nice toilets, buffet car – I was very impressed. Not sure the
trains to the provinces would be the same, but this was amazing!
The first thing that struck me about Beijing is that it is
very different to Shanghai. Firstly, it’s bloody freezing. I had been warned
but the contrast to Shanghai was quite a shock.
Secondly, the taxis are newer, cleaner and the drivers not quite as
crazy. No-one pushed in front of us in the taxi queue which was a China first
for me, and the people overall seemed much friendlier. The other major thing I noticed was that
Beijing is quite spaced out- everything is a metro or taxi ride away whereas
everything in downtown Shanghai is within walking distance which I think makes
it easier for day to day living. There’s also a lot more history. In Shanghai,
lots of the historical sites have been torn down to make way for skyscrapers,
but in Beijing a lot of them are still intact which was nice and made a real
change.
We went on the weekend of the APEC meeting, which is a
global summit for countries like China, the US, Japan, Australia etc. This year
it was being held in Beijing and to be honest we didn’t think much of it. One
bonus we hadn’t banked on though was the air quality. Because it’s a global
conference the Beijing government had closed the factories, limited the number
of cars on the road and given people holidays. So the pollution score was about
20 – compared to its usual 200/300/500 rating. To compare, London is normally
about 40. This was great for two reasons – one, it made my photos look so much
better. Two, it meant you could actually walk around. Everyone was referring to
the sky as ‘APEC blue’.
So we hired a private tour guide, which I think was the best
thing we could have possibly done, after seeing the hordes of people getting on
and off buses, all wearing matching coloured baseball caps and following a
person with a flag and a loudspeaker. It wasn’t that expensive either – for
pick up at the hotel, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, a couple of factories
where they try and get you to buy stuff, and the Wall, it was 50 quid
each. The only extra cost was 10 to go
up to the Wall in a cable car.
We started at Tiananmen Square, which despite being there at
830 in the morning, was fairly full of people. And soldiers. With guns. Which
is really scary. The biggest queue was
getting through the security check, because of the history of the place they
are very cautious letting people through without checking them first. However,
a lot of the Chinese people that were queuing decided to take the matter into
their own hands and jump the barriers. It was kind of funny, until the soldiers
came over and started telling them off – that was terrifying! Essentially
Tiananmen Square is….a big square. It’s even split by a road, so you don’t
really realise you’re in it to start with. Our guide walked us straight over to
the building at the front of the Forbidden City, where she told us that the portrait of Mao was specifically
done so his eyes follow you wherever you go…
What we didn’t realise was that was it for Tiananmen Square,
she rushed us straight through to go through Mao’s gate and into the Forbidden
City which was a real shame.
Onto the Forbidden City. Seriously impressive, and not that
busy which was great. Just building upon building upon building, the size of
the whole thing is incredible. Some of it is closed off to preserve it, but
apart from that it’s exactly like you see it on TV.
And then to the Wall. There are two or 3 parts of the Wall
that are open to tourists- the most popular of which is Badaling, as it’s the
most accessible and it’s about an hour out of Beijing. By accessible I mean all
the others involve some level of hiking. However this means it is also the busiest
and this was the part we went to. On the drive there you saw glimpses of it, in
particular where roads have been built and so the Wall has been broken and is
now eroding on either side. When we got there, we had to decide whether to walk
or get the cable car -we chose the cable car. Again busy but not that bad – I
think maybe I’ve been in China so long I’m used to queuing now.
When we actually got to the Wall, you have a few options of
which way to go to walk. We decided to go one way, and it was steep. I was
shocked by how steep it was actually. And busy. We got about half way (after
having stopped to take countless pictures and selfies of course, and been asked
to star in a few other people’s pictures too) and looked up to see if we could
keep going. And it was just one big mass of people, not moving, just crammed
in, so we decided that was maybe a no.
I have to say it was one of the most surreal experiences of
my life. It's not every day you get to say ‘I stood on the Great Wall of China’.
Made all the more surreal by seeing one gentleman take a box of KFC with him to
the top, presumably for a picnic. Reminded me of the episode of ‘An Idiot
Abroad’ where Karl eats at Pizza Hut overlooking the Pyramids.
And then of course dinner was Peking Duck, which is the
local speciality, and then Sunday we went to the Summer Palace which is about a
30 minute taxi ride out of Beijing centre. Again, one of those completely
surreal moments when you realise you’re in China, on a lake, in a boat, in the
sunshine.
One of the best weekends of my life – and more things ticked
off the bucket list.
