Posts Tagged With: Beijing

Having returned from the Great Wall rather late we didn’t much feel like exploring so Jane, Enid and I just went back to Cafe 1901 for coffee and cake. Joyce meanwhile stayed in the hotel room watching Batman on the TV.
After a better nights sleep we had to be ready again at 7:30am for another packed day around the sights of Beijing.
Today we started our tour at the Summer Palace. This was the Summer residence of various emperors over the ages and was a short distance from the centre of the city. When we arrived there were rows of coaches already lined up and crowds of people waiting to go in. Most of the people are Chinese tourists of all sorts. School groups, olds groups , tiny ethnic minority groups. It was very loud and hectic and really rather unpleasant. Lots of the Chinese tourist guides speak to their groups through blaring electronic systems and unfortunately their voices sound rather aggressive and screachy.
In we went and walked around some old rooms and looked at some brass lions etc. The buildings are very splendid from the outside but nothing much to see inside. An impressive feature here is the long corridor which is in fact the longest painted corridor in the world (official Guinness book of records). It is open to the elements and runs alongside a large lake. It is 728m long and covered in 14,000 scenic paintings. I’m sure back in the days of the Emperor it was very tranquil but today it was packed with rowdy tourists. Still the views over the lake were pleasant enough.
We learned a bit about the various Dynasties (Ming, Qing, Tang, Song, Jin, Liao) and how they’d lived in this Palace. Well, the others may have done but once again I am afraid to tell you that I wasn’t listening. I think I really will have to catch up by watching The Last Emperor when I get home. There was, however, a lot of talk of the Dragon Lady who seemed quite a good character and was famous for keeping the Emperor of the time in check.
To finish our visit here we had a trip on a large Dragon Boat. This was at last a little more peaceful and we had good views back from the Kunming lake to some of the other buildings on Longevity Hill.
After our visit here we needed a coffee break so Yan said we could have one in the Forbidden City. On the drive over here we had a brief stop at a flyover where we got a view of the Olympic Park and the Birds Nest stadium. Then onto the next stop -our official Tianenmen Square visit.
This started in the Public toilets which obviously most guide books tell you to avoid. We braved it anyway and to be fair it was ok. We of course all had to queue to use the one Western style loo with a seat as opposed to the 30 squat style cubicles. The sign that said ‘no sitting’ did slightly confuse us. I imagine they just didn’t want people making themselves too comfortable in here.
Right- into the square we went and part of it was closed off today. We’d already sussed that this was something to do with the Tour of Beijing cycle race and just as we arrived the whole entourage rolled into the square. It was an impressive sight although nobody we recognised. We then walked quickly through the square without any guidance from Yan. I think she figured we’d already visited ourselves and so we could just whizz through. This suited us fine as we needed coffee and were already getting weary.
On we went under the big main road and towards the entrance which is next to the big picture of Chairman Mao. There was a lot of security around here including some very poor undercover detectives.
Once in we then proceeded to go through a series of very large gates and walls moving from the Outer Outer courtyard, to the Outer Inner Outer Courtyard, through the Inner Outer Outer courtyard…..you get the idea? Yes lots of different areas that all looked very similar. Yes this building was bigger than that building but basically….all the same! It went on Forever.
Apparently what was ‘Forbidden’ here was having a cup of coffee until you’d gone into some sort caffeine detox trance. Yan just kept us marching forwards.
Of course this made it all the less likely that I would learn anything about Emperor Ming (isn’t he a character from Flash Gordon?). Apparently there was talk of concubines and eunuchs and all sorts of goings on. In each courtyard Yan invited us to look through the windows into the various rooms. Enid wanted to get her duster out because all we could see was some rather dusty old furniture. Hm.
Eventually we arrived at the Hall of Mental Cultivation. I wasn’t really in the mood for that so it was lucky that it actually turned out to be the Hall of Coffee and Snickers bar. Hurrah… I was human once more. Jane decided to go for the slightly more dodgy option of pink sausage on a stick. Like a hot dog only tasting of Chinese Five Spice. Nasty. Joyce and Enid meanwhile marvelled at the wonders of 40p Sprite.
Fully mentally cultivated we now continued our wander. Finally coming out into the small Emperors Garden. He had a bit of a funny idea of gardening as mostly the garden was full of large volcanic rocks. There were, however, some really beautiful old trees.
This completed our tour for the day and we were dropped back at the hotel nice and early. After a bit of a breather we ventured back out to find a restaurant for the night. Now I know we’d turned up our noses at Burger King the day before but today we opted for Italian. Another of Jane’s recommendations up in the Hutongs in the HouHai area of the City. This involved a taxi ride and we began to wonder about our choice when the first 3 taxis refused to take us to this address. We think it’s just because they get paid a fix amount and this was quite a way out in the rush hour traffic. Eventually the hotel doorman found one who would take us and off we went. We got dropped off on a main street and the taxi driver waved his hand vaguely down an alley. We braved it and wandered in and this was more like the Hutongs I’d expected. It was a dark alley with mopeds and people walking around. Just a short walk along we found the quaint lights if this tiny Italian ‘Mercante’. We had a lovely meal and a couple of glasses of red and all was right with the world. It really felt like could be back in Florence. We made it safely back too which is always a bonus I find.

Off we went in search of Peking Duck. Jane had found a recommendation for the best Peking Duck in all of Beijing in the Beijing Times. It was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel and sounded fairly simple to find.
We desperately needed to stay awake to try and adjust to the jet lag. By now it was dark but it felt very safe walking about.
We walked along Chongwenmen Dajie and then off up Taijichang Dajie which eventually led into the bright lights big city that is Wangfujing. Wow now this was exciting. This was modern, brash, lights, brand names. Crazy stuff. I loved it. It was really busy even though it was Sunday night and had a real buzz.
We walked all along here and finally found the corner on the map that looked as if it should house our restaurant called Xiao Wang Fu. Turned out it was housed in the rather upmarket Crowne Plaza hotel! Still we’d walked along way and decided to go for it. It was actually a very smart place and the food was very decent. Whether this was the branch that had won the best duck award…I doubt it. Still two beers later and the jet lag was drifting away.
Happily we decided to wander back again and got too involved with various groups taking photos. Jane and Joyce even joined in with the flash mob dancing outside the church!
Then we decided to take a detour down the backstreets as I’d read that this turned into a streetfood market at night. It was great, really lively and all sorts of stalls selling all sorts of things. Scorpion kebab anybody?

We have arrived here in China after our flights via Zurich. It was 5:15 in the morning when we arrived and we were ready for bed…so we that’s exactly where we went. Our hotel is the Novotel on Chongwenmen Street and it’s one of those ‘could be anywhere’ experiences. How lovely!
We met our guide for our 3 days here at the airport. She is called Tan and she seems to be a quirky student all dressed in pink and black stripes. She was a bit late arriving at the airport to meet us so that wasn’t a brilliant start but never mind, I’m sure she’ll be a smart kid. Although she needs to stop trying to sell us the interesting Kung fu show.
We had four hours kip and then awoke completely unrejuvenated ready to attack the outside world. We decided that the best thing would be to take a stroll down to Tiananmen Square as it is just down the road our hotel is on. As its Sunday the streets are relatively quiet and although it isn’t smoggy, it was overcast and actually got a bit chilly. It turned out to be quite a way down our road to the square and we passed lots of government buildings on the way down there.
Then having passed through the subway security checkpoint we found ourselves in Tiananmen itself. It is huge and dominated by several monuments and buildings. There were also some really colourful flower beds and a giant flower decoration. There also was the iconic picture of Chairman Mao on the walls of the Forbidden City. I think we’ll learn more about all this on our official tour tomorrow but for now it just felt slightly odd.
It’s just not quite what I’d expected. The area we are staying in is like being in Canary Wharf with giant corporate skyscrapers, tatty looking apartment blocks and leafy streets that wouldn’t look out of place in Paris. Everywhere is very clean with no graffiti or litter. And then the roads themselves I’d expected to be full of bicycles still. But no they’re full of very modern looking cars and, yes, a few bikes and mopeds but not so much as you’d notice.
One thing that hasn’t let us down is the hacking cough of the Chinese people. First noticed waiting outside the ladies loos at the airport and then heard along the way ever since. My particular favourite was the chap who welcomed us to the Spa here at the hotel. He showed us in and introduced us to his female colleague who then led us in to have a look around. As we walked off he had the biggest bronchial hack you have ever heard. I was already starting to go off the idea of coming back for a relaxing massage when we were the shown the women’s Spa Area. Not for us the lovely looking sparkling blue pools. Those were for the men only. Us women had to put up with a tiny, smelly plunge pit. Oh I don’t think so thanks.
On a slightly more positive point the kids are absolutely adorable as I’d expected them to be. Unlike their adult parents who just stare and don’t smile- the kids haven’t learned this yet and are full of shy smiles.
We finished the afternoon by sneaking into an American style coffee bar called 1901 Cafe. It was comforting to be in familiar surroundings I have to say.
Tonight, however, after a little rest, we’re venturing out again in search of the best Peking Duck in Beijing.