C & C globetrotting around the world…

The 3 Gorges Cruise was an adventure! First we had a hard time booking one, then we finally booked a tour recommended by the hostel. The organization was a little bit disappointing and confusing as we never really had an itinerary or even a booking confirmation in our hand but it  all worked out in the end. We drove by bus from Wuhan to Yichang, drove to the Dam and then we were brought to a show called “The 3 Gorges and the Yangtze River in a Flourishing Age”. It showed the history of the Yangtze River, how it used to flood the areas and how they built the dam. It was interesting because you had a screen in the back with pictures, then some text on the side in Chinglish explaining and on stage there were dancers doing dances and stunts illustrating the story. For example, at the part when they were building the dam, there were men in construction gear doing acrobatics. The music was extremely loud and some parts were kitschy, but overall it wasn’t bad. What totally surprised us though is that close to the end, people got up and left while the performers were still on stage and before they had a chance to bow. We think in Europe or North America the performers would have cried! It’s a different culture. We then drove to our ship and embarked.

We don’t know if it was the foreigner bonus but our room was the nicest on the entire ship. When we booked, they asked us what class we wanted (1^st = 2 ppl per room; 2^nd = 4; 3^rd = 6), so we chose 1^st class. What we didn’t know, is that we got a deluxe room with a double bed, a couch, a desk, a wardrobe, washroom, shelf. Others also had 2 ppl rooms, but with twin beds and not all the other stuff. Although the carpet hadn’t been vacuumed in ages and the bathroom was not the cleanest, the rest was ok. We had boxed noodle soup in our room (bring your own) like most other Chinese. Some are actually pretty good and Christoph is an excellent cook. We slept on board and during the night the ship drove from Yichang through the Xiling Gorge, which is 80 km long and the least impressive (according to Lonely Planet).

Our journey along the 6300 km-long Yangtze River began. After the Amazon and the Nile, it is the longest river in the world. We “sailed” through the 200km of gorges which are said to have been carved by the legendary architect of the river: the Great Yu, the first emperor of the Xia Dynasty, 2205 BC. After he conquered the dragons that lived underground and caused floods, he has earned the title of “tamer of floods” and is also perceived as the “great-grandfather of China”.

After a month in China, we finally started having some more interesting conversations with the locals. It certainly helped that we were the only Westerners on the entire boat. A mix of broken English from some Chinese students, Cecilia’s Chinese and Christoph mimicking made it a very nice experience. The students had been very helpful since the staff didn’t speak a word of English and we didn’t know what was really going on. Other people just said hello and wanted to take pictures with us, but everyone was very nice and patient with us.

The first day of the cruise we got an early start. At 6am the speakers went on announcing breakfast and playing “Titanic” music. At 6:30 we took another ship to go up Shennong Stream, a river with a nice canyon and rated as an AAAAA Chinese attraction. In the canyon walls, we saw some suspended coffins that are believed to have been put there by an ancient tribe, but remain a mystery. At Mianzhuxia we then transferred to small traditional wooden boats of 15 people each. There were 2 rowers standing on each side and one in the back steering. There was also a girl in traditional costume as a guide. We went further upstream Mianzhu Gorge, a narrower gorge that was very nice. At some point 2 rowers got off the boat and pulled the boat from ashore for several hundred meters to demonstrate how it used to be done before the dam construction when the water was shallow. We saw pictures with the guys pulling naked, but ours didn’t take they clothes off. After the little boats, we watched a performance about the Shennong Stream and the Tujia minority group living in the area and Christoph and I realized that they have lots of legends and dances that are still very present in their culture, which is very interesting.

Back on the big ship, we then drove through the Wu Gorge, also called Gorge of Witches, which is 40km long and has mountains as high as 900m above the river level. The gorge is mainly covered in trees and shrubs with jagged peaks on the North side. Amongst them, the Goddess Peak and the Peak of the Immortals. It was nice and we enjoyed the views from the deck. We then drove past Wushan, a city built for all the people who were displaced by the rising waters due to the dam construction. A guy told us that the government was very proud of this 1 million inhabitants city that is only 5 years old. Pretty weird to see.

We then finally arrived at Qutang Gorge, also known as Kui Gorge. This is the most impressive of the gorges and it’s also the shortest with its 8km in length. As we drove through it, we saw its barren cliffs and the vertiginous slabs of rock rising on each side. At its narrowest it is 100m wide and it’s said that the water flows faster, but we found the water flows rather slowly, maybe because of the dam (the water rose 160m since).

On the last day, we got off the ship at Fengdu, also known as “Ghost City”. The original one (with nearly 2000 yrs of history) has been flooded due the the 3 Gorges Dam, but they are rebuilding one now up on Mingshan (Ming Mountain). The Ghost City combines the cultures of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism with the mystique of ghosts. A stupendous temple was erected on Ming Mountain depicting life in hell. It displays demonic images and torture devices and reflects the notion that good people will be treated well in the afterlife and that bad people will be punished by going to hell. In the Chinese vision of the afterlife, the dead (or ghosts) must undergo three major tests to enter the netherworld. These tests are taken at three locations – Nothing-To-Be-Done-Bridge; Ghost Torturing Pass and the Tianzi (son of heaven) Palace.

Although from a sight-seeing point of view the Three Gorges Cruise was not as amazing as we expected, it was still very very nice. We got to relax and most importantly we got to talk to Chinese. Being on a Chinese ship, we didn’t understand what the guides were saying, but the young students tried their best to translate and we also really got the experience the locals more than just when they’re spitting and shoving.

After our cruise, we arrived in Chongqing early in the morning and had an ongoing train to Xian in the evening, so we spent the day exploring the city. Chongqing means “double happiness” or “repeated good luck” in Chinese and is often ranked as the world’s largest city with its 32 million inhabitants (that’s right, almost the population of Canada), although the city itself only has about 4.5 million people and the rest are scattered in villages around, part of the administrative Chongqing. The city is growing at an amazing rate as traditional homes built on stilts are being razed to make space for new skyscrapers, which sprout seemingly overnight. The old porters now no longer have jobs, so they carry goods through the hilly streets on poles across they backs (and offer to carry your luggage too). We watched one carefully and it’s a very interesting technique the way they balance it all.

Our first stop: taking the cable car across the Yangtze River to see a different perspective. I am very proud of Christoph for having taken it (in both directions too!). As a reward, he got a haircut in some small barbershop. I think it was the first time the lady was cutting the hair of a Westerner as her husband took a pictures of it. The haircut was good though and only cost 30Yuan (probably 3 times more than for locals, but it’s less than 5$, so we can’t complain). We walked through this small neighbourhood on the hill with small alleys and it was pretty interesting. We then arrived at the top, where we went to the Taoist Arhat Temple (Luohan Si) sandwiched between skyscrapers. Luohan is the Chinese name for Arhat, a Buddhist term for people who have released themselves from the psychological bondage of greed, hate and delusion. Here we saw 500 terracotta arhats all with very different facial expressions and a corridor with intricate rock carvings. We then walked back to the train station and boarded our overnight train to Xian (11 hours). We only got tickets for seats this time, so we had a hard time sleeping, but the young people around us were very nice.

There’s a Chinese saying that “In the Sky there’s Paradise, on Earth there’s Hangzhou and Suzhou”. Hangzhou has been praised by emperors and revered by poets for centuries. Hangzhou is indeed very nice, so we spent a relaxing week here planning and researching the next part of our trip. Since we don’t have a hard-coded plan, we are very flexible at making our plans as we go, which is very cool. However, it comes at the price of spending a considerable amount of time researching and deciding where to go next.

Upon arrival in Hangzhou, we noticed taxis don’t take foreigners. We don’t know why, but we weren’t able to get a cab during the week we stayed there. Luckily the city has a free bike service (like Bixi) and we got around town perfectly. Biking is the best way to see Hangzhou anyway. Our hostel was in a nice neighbourhood and near the historical pedestrian street of Qinghefang, that we explored in its smallest details.

We spent nice relaxing days in Hangzhou, partly also because it rained quite a bit, so we had to stay in and write on the blog, nap watch movies and talk to other travelers. When it didn’t rain, we explored the beautiful area with its lake and green hills. West Lake with its willow-lined banks is in the middle of the city and around it are all the attractions. It’s a man-made lake with islands and causeways, as well as nice parks lining it, being the very definition of classical Chinese beauty. Hangzhou doesn’t only have pretty nature, but the places have all been given very poetic names. We walked on the East Side of West Lake through “Orioles Singing in the Willows” park. After dinner we watched the Musical Fountain show, which was the nicest we’ve ever seen. This also made up for the less spectacular view of West Lake which was kind of hazy. But then again, the Chinese like misty views and consider them (especially around mountains and lakes) to be more beautiful than a clear view.

One day when we went grocery shopping, we were standing in line at the cashier when a father puts his one-year-old son in the empty cart. Moments later we saw pee on the ground. Nobody seemed to care, like it was the most natural thing in the world (the boy had open pants, so he didn’t get wet), except us who changed lanes since we didn’t want to walk around in his pee. Weird foreigners!

We realized that so far, the best (and cheapest) food we had was in Beijing. The food is good in China, but every now and then you feel like something else than Chinese food. People had told us it was going to be like this, but I didn’t think it would really happen. Now after over 3 weeks, we do look forward to change. In Hangzhou we went to a Brazilian Churrascaria, which wasn’t as good as in Brazil (duh!), but still a nice change. What is also good, is that in most cities there are Chinese Muslims (Hui) that have restaurants and offer a variety of dishes.

We used the city bikes quite a lot, and although they are not in good shape, they are for free and get you from A to B (sort of like our car). We biked past the Leifeng Pagoda and onto the Su Causeway all the way to the end. The Su Causeway, built in the 11^th century from silt from West Lake, is beautifully lined with willows, peach and plum trees and has many pretty half-moon bridges, making the bike-ride in this car-free zone a true delight. We also went up the hill to Lingyin Temple (Temple of the Soul’s Retreat), where we visited the grottoes with their Buddhist carvings from the 10^th and 14^th centuries (470 in total). The area was very nice and we walked along the creek with its lingering carvings along the hillsides (Christoph’s favourite was the “Big-Belly Buddha”), visited a monastery and up to Feilai Peak (Peak Flying from Afar) to get a glimpse of West Lake. Up on the hills in temples we saw many large Buddhas, gilded and with people lighting incense sticks for them.

Due to more rain, we visited the Silk Museum, which was very interesting and for free. Then we walked back through a linear park along a little river that serves as a natural sewage filtration system before the water reaches the West Lake, which was very very nice.

Finally a day without rain! Youhou! We took the bus and got off at the Dragon Well Tea Village at the top of the hill. We went to the village well and there an older man let us wash our hands and faces with water from the Dragon Well, which is said to give eternal youth. He then invited us to his place for some tea tasting. We tried 2 different kinds of tea and he wanted to sell us some. There was one kind for $100/500g, one for $140/500g and the most expensive $200/500g. Since he didn’t give us a student discount, we didn’t buy any and just continued our journey. We walked downhill where we saw some tea plantations of the famous Longjing tea. People wanted us to go for more tea sampling inviting us to their homes, but we resisted. The landscape was very nice with all the lush green around. We continued walking downhill, but by the time we got to the Tea Museum, it was closing. From there we hopped on the bikes again past the Lotus Garden to Yue Lake (part of the West Lake) where we saw the cute little bridge with the double-roofed pavilion on top. We left the bikes there and walked on the Bai Causeway to the other side by passing the famous Wailouwai restaurant. Again there wasn’t any student discount, but the building and location was beautiful.

On the 6^th day in Hangzhou, we packed our stuff and decided to check the exact time of our train that afternoon so we know how to plan our day. Big surprise: our train was YESTERDAY! We couldn’t believe it! The girl from the train station had sold us a ticket with the wrong date and we hadn’t double-checked. Another lesson learned. So instead of going to the Tea Museum as planned, we went to the train station with one of the guys working at the hostel who helped us get our ticket reimbursed. Luckily we were also able to get a ticket to Suzhou for that same day (usually tickets are sold out days in advance).

The train we took was a G-train and was the fastest we took so far, reaching a speed of 352km/h. Pretty cool! It was also interesting to see the Yangtze River and lots of lakes and water around. We also saw what seemed to be large fish or seafood farms in the water. Arrived in Suzhou, it was already dark, but we still went for a walk around since we at least wanted to see a bit of the city and take some pictures. Suzhou is known for its nice Chinese gardens and it used to be a nice water town, but now most of the nice canals and streets have been demolished. However, there are still the gardens left that are said to be very nice. Unfortunately they were already closed, so we walked along some canals and got to a touristic area where it was all lit-up. It was nice and Christoph took nice pictures before we sat down for a beer.

We arrived in Shanghai, the most populous city we’ve been to in China so far with its 19 million inhabitants. The city grows at an amazing rate and develops heavily. Just like in Beijing, they are extending the metro network at a fast pace, with 3 new lines in the last 2 years. Currently it is the longest one in the world with more than 400km on 11 lines! Shanghai, meaning “Upper Sea” used to be a fishing and textile town, but grew in importance during the 19^th century due to its favourable port location and was one of the cities opened to foreign trade in 1842. Since then, it has come a long way and is now a multinational hub of finance and business.

Lance, our friend from Amsterdam, and his cousin picked us up at the train station and then took us around the city. It’s was really nice to see him again, and also cool to have a local guide. First we walked through a neighbourhood with small alleys and typical Shanghainese houses (shikoumen). It was cute, with lots of art galleries and shops, but we realized Shanghai was a lot more expensive than the other cities we had been to.

Lance’s cousin Ming-Ming also took Cecilia to a silk shop to show her how to tell the difference between silk qualities. We also walked through the French Concession (old quarter occupied by the French) and saw some nice old European style buildings. In the evening, we went on The Bund, the famous boardwalk of Shanghai. All the beautiful old European buildings nicely restored and lit-up at night on one side and the amazing view of Pudong with its sky-scrapers across the river was really really impressive to see.

Last but not least, in Shanghai we had our first window-less room! That’s not completely true since we had a window overlooking the hallway, but no contact to the outside. It really wasn’t that bad since it’s hot outside, you wouldn’t open the window anyway. Not to mention that at least it was dark enough for Christoph to sleep. Totally unrelated, but Christoph had to check out Chinese hospitals. He conducts a study of hospitals on our trips and so far has visited one in Mexico. Now it was Shanghai’s turn. This is where Christoph had his first severe diarrhea. Of all places, he had it in Shanghai! The good thing was, we had Lance there and so Chris got VIP treatment in one of the best hospitals in China. Thanks again Lance!

Shanghai also has very many museums and since it rained, we went to the Shanghai Museum, which was really interesting. The museum as such is in a nice building and the exhibitions were very well-made. The building looked pretty new, so we asked Lance if it was new. He told us it was old, built in 1996! Yeah, I guess we have a different concept of old and new… In the museum, there were different sections: Bronze figures, pottery, paintings, jade sculptures and the Ming and Qing furniture. Along with the art, we also got a feel for China’s history. The pottery was probably our favourite exhibition, with the famous white and blue china.

Lance’s dad invited us to a restaurant and really spoiled us. He ordered a gazillion dishes for us to try local delicacies such as swamp eel and fish belly. Chris ate fish belly, but did not eat the swamp eel (which is why he had diarrhea, Cecilia jokes). After having drunk a large glass of rice wine, Cecilia got herself to taste the swamp eel. It was delicious! Of course, it was with garlic, hehe. On the second evening with Lance’s dad, Cecilia got to try “elephant-trunk clam” aka geoduck. It’s a very weird animal. It’s a clam, but its body is huge and protrudes. It really does look like an elephant’s trunk. They had it brought in from the kitchen (alive) for us to see. Pretty interesting.

One of the main reasons people come to Shanghai is The Bund. So far we have seen it at night, but Lonely Planet has a little “Walking Tour” explaining the various important and interesting buildings on this famous street. The view of Pudong is very nice during the day as well and the old HSBC building on the Bund is really worth visiting with its beautiful ceiling. We also went into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and that was elegant as well.

We also visited the Yu Garden and its pedestrian area. The 9 zig-zag bridge was fun to cross with its million fish and turtles underneath. The Yu Garden, which belonged to the Pan family, a rich government official during the Ming dynasty, was interesting. What we realized is that Chinese gardens are nothing like our gardens. There are no flowers, instead just artificial lakes, little hills, plants and odd-shaped stones. There are also a bunch of different pavilions given very exquisite names.

In the evening we went to the Bund, from where we took the Bund Sight-seeing Tunnel to Pudong. It’s such a scam it’s not even funny, but at least we were in Pudong and got to walk around the promenade there and see The Bund from the other side. It is also very nice and the promenade reminded us of Old Montreal and the Vieux Port. We also went closer to the Oriental Pearl Tower which looks pretty cool. We did like the Bund and Pudong very much, so it was nice to see it over and over again, either by day or night.

Our next stop: Nanjing, a city of over 5 million inhabitants on the lower stretches of the Yangtze River. It briefly served as China’s capital twice and is now also a famous university city. We visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (the Japanese invaders massacred 300,000 people within a few weeks after they took the city of Nanjing in December 1937. During that time there were also gang rapes and mass executions since the fleeing Chinese government encouraged the citizens to stay). At first it was kind of weird because there is a statue of a raped woman holding a dead child in her arms and it’s very touching. Nonetheless the Chinese were taking pictures of it (they even put their little kids in front of it!) and we thought they don’t really know what it represents. The entire grounds are very well-made. At the end we went to a section where there was the entire history of this Massacre and how they tried to reconcile their relationship to Japan. It was very interesting and certainly a must-see for every Nanjing visitor.

In the evening we went to the Fuzi Temple area, a centre of Confucian study for over 1500 years and now also a pedestrian area with lots of little shops and plenty of kitsch. But it’s also nice, especially around the river, with its illuminated dragon and the boats drifting around.

The Ming Palace Ruins were kind of disappointing, but at least the main gate still stands. As Christoph says, the Chinese don’t really maintain anything… They don’t seem to have a midway thing: Either something is completely destroyed (such as this) or they tear it down and re-build it (such as Christoph’s “Disney-hutongs” in Beijing). Afterwards we went up Zijin Mountain to the Ming Xiaoling Tomb, the only Ming emperor to be buried outside Beijing. There were some buildings leading up to it and especially a wide bridge and the large Linghun Pagoda. Behind the pagoda there was a hill, so we climbed it looking for the tomb. We went down on the other side and hit a wall, so we circled back to the pagoda. That’s when we noticed some inscriptions on some stone slabs behind the pagoda marking the tomb. This is actually where the tomb was! The Chinese believe that opening a tomb brings bad luck, unlike in Europe where they seem to have less superstitions.We then walked through some of the gardens in the area and finally headed back down the mountain. At the city gate, we climbed on the city wall (large parts of the Ming dynasty wall still stands) and walked along it for a nice view of the surrounding area. Since the city was heavily bombarded by the Japanese, there are not so many old buildings, instead there are lots of chic apartment blocks and office buildings and is said to be one of China’s more prosperous cities.

All paths lead to Beer… I mean Qingdao. This is where the famous Chinese Beer “Tsingtao” comes from, which was first brewed by the Germans around 1900 when they built this settlement. The architecture in the city really testifies to the German times and it’s nice to see. Although some buildings are not in very good shape, some of them are really nice. There are also a Catholic Cathedral, a Protestant Church and the former residence of the German’s governor’s which is a replica of a German palace now called Qingdao Ying Binguan. The legend says, that when the German Emperor received the bill for this luxurious mansion he sacked the governor!

The weather was also better (blue sky! and breezy). Here we finally gave in to the temptation: KFC. It is the sign most often seen since we got to China and today we were hungry, so we didn’t feel like searching for a restaurant and gave in. The alternatives we came across were all very fishy (literally!), there is fish, dried fish, live fish, ugly fish everywhere. We also went to the Zhanqiao Pier and its Huilan Pavilion (which is now the symbol of Tsingtao beer) and walked along the boardwalk. It’s funny to see people bathe in water where we wouldn’t even put our little toe, but I guess it’s all relative. Walking further along the water through Lu Xun Park we got to Little Qingdao (an artificial island built by the Germans in the bay) and its Lighthouse (the old symbol of Tsingtao Beer). From here the view of the city was very nice and Christoph was able to take his panorama pics again.

We must say so far the hostel in Qingdao was the best. The atmosphere was great, we met lots of people and in the evening there was a dumpling-making party. We made jiaozi filled with pork and some with carrots and eggs. It was hard making the round shape (Christoph’s had no shape at all) , but it was fun and they were also pretty yummy. The next day we headed with our new “dumpling”-friends to the Tsingtao Brewery for a tour and beer. We got to sample an unfiltered brew and then the original one. The funnest part was the “drunken room”, a room with an inclined floor. Unbelievable, but it really did feel like being drunk. We then chilled at the brewery bar, had the stout and saw kids drinking beer with their parents. The following day the Tsingtao Beer Festival was starting, so a lot of people were in town for that. We had our own little party at a small street “restaurant” in front of the hostel to have cheap beer and food ($8 for food and drinks for both of us all night!). Good times! The funny thing about Qingdao is that people buy and carry beer in plastic bags.

Qingdao (and the beer) certainly helped to lift our mood after 1 week in the middle of nowhere. We also got some good tips from other travelers and the good air of the coast certainly helped our lungs, too.

Jinan was another forced stopover because of the train ticket situation. We have been warned that traveling in summer could be a little difficult, now we know why. Anyway, from Jinan we went to Qufu for a day trip, where Confucius, the great scholar, and his family come from. We visited the Confucius Temple but there was not that much to see. The architecture is the same as the Forbidden City although it’s 2500 years old. The town itself is quaint and I guess if you follow Confucianism it’s like going to Mecca, but for us it was too little time to investigate more of the many sites.

In Jinan itself, we walked through the Botanical Garden (which is actually a nice park and does not have so much in common with the botanical gardens we are used to) and hiked up the 1000 Buddha Mountain. There were sooo many Buddhas, all very different one from the other. The hike up the mountain was strenuous (we really have to get in shape!). There were lots of small temples along the way with Buddhas and smoking incense. And as the reward for getting at the top, there was a temple with Buddhist monks chanting. According to Chris certainly a highlight of our trip.

During our stay in Jinan we realized that traveling in China is a lot harder than we expected. We went on this world trip not only to take pictures with us in front of famous buildings and amazing landscapes but also to experience the country’s culture and to exchange our thoughts and ideas with the “locals”. Arrived here we found out that it’s actually hard to find people who speak English (except the occasional “Hello, can I take a picture with you?” we get from people on the street) and Cecilia’s Chinese skills are too limited to make actual conversations. But we are also only at the beginning of our trip and till now her language skills got us food, bus tickets and hotel rooms, which isn’t nothing. We have at least another two months in front of us here in China and we are probably now in the phase of “learning to travel” as we expected before we left. So we are looking forward to what the future brings us.

We chose to go to Shijiazhuang on our way to Qingdao since all tickets to Qingdao itself were sold out. The train was actually quite nice (hard seats aka 2^nd class, which is the lowest class, after that comes only standing) and Cecilia had a little girl play in her hair along the way. I guess she was not used to curly hair. Arrived in Shijiazhuang, we were surprised to find out that the hotels we had in our Lonely Planet were not accepting foreigners. Great! We finally found a hotel though and stayed in this city which we had never heard of before for a few days visiting the surrounding area. Initially we thought it was a small town, but it actually has over 3 million inhabitants (which makes it a small city in China). For now. We thought they were building a lot in Beijing (as it turned out half of the subway lines (14 in total) were not yet in our 2009 Lonely Planet) but Shijiazhuang is one big construction site. If we could time travel, we surely would have founded a crane or cement company in China 15 years ago.

We went to the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Mausoleum Park where there is a statue and some articles about the Canadian-born Norman Bethune (a doctor who came here to help during the war against the Japanese), apparently really famous in China.

According to Lonely Planet, there was a cute little village where everything was made of stone and everyone stems from the same family “Yu”. So we decided to go and see something different, not just big smoggy cities. Had the bus ride only been bumpy, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But the landscape was not very nice (smoggy, dusty, stinky) with lots of coal trucks and plants along the way. When we arrived at the village, one of the ladies from the “tourist info center” walked us through the village and unlocked doors for us and showed us English boards, although the translations resembled more Chinglish than actual English. There was a tower that a guy built without mortar and with uneven stones that still stands, which was nice to see and lots of little shrines with various gods and goddesses that were nicely done (some angry, some green, yellow). At least the toilets were interesting… And then the fun bus ride back.

Another lesson learned. Do not always rely on your Lonely Planet.

Our first time in Asia! Once arrived in Beijing, the heat hit us. What we learnt on our first day is that distances are HUGE. What looks like a small square on the map and would only take 5-10 minutes to walk in any other place we’ve been, took like 30 minutes here. So the tour we made was 5 times longer than expected and the heat paired with the humidity totally killed us. So we went to the Gate of Heavenly Peace and Tiananmen Square (which didn’t seem quite that big, probably because of Mao’s Mausoleum in the middle). We then walked to the Front Gate (Qian Men), which is very imposing and kind of out of context since the city wall has been demolished, but nevertheless very pretty.

After the first day, we must say that we are not as shocked as we thought we would be for our first time in Asia. I think it’s mainly the heat that overwhelms us and not so much the amount of people. That just feels like rush hour in Montreal. What is a little different though is the fact that people spit everywhere, kids have a hole in their pants (so they can quickly pee on the street) and the toilets are squat toilets. It’s difficult to find some old-fashioned normal bikes these days in Beijing. It seems like they were mostly replaced by the motor-scooters and electric bikes, even the grandmas and grandpas in the hutongs drive one of these new soundless vehicles. I guess for the huge distances, we don’t blame them, hehe. The good thing is, they have bike lanes everywhere, but crossing the street is always a challenge.

Due to a downpour, we stayed home during the next day and only went to the Dong’anmen Night Market where there’s lots of interesting little animals to eat: fried or still live scorpions, grasshoppers, snakes, and who knows what else. Since it was only our second day in China we didn’t feel brave enough to try some of that “exotic” stuff, but maybe eventually we will get around to it. Or maybe not. To be seen.

We also visited one of the major attractions in China: The Forbidden City which was built by the Ming dynasties at the beginning of the 15th century and was off limits to ordinary people for more than 500 years. It is the world’s largest surviving palace complex and covers 72 ha. We walked through the various courts, passed many pavilions and wondered through the maze of walls. The architecture is very beautiful and impressive, especially by its vastness, which we then also admired from the top of Jingshan Park. This artificial hill was made from the earth excavated to build the Forbidden City’s moat and it is said that it should protect the Forbidden City from the evil spirits of the North (as well as sand storms).

Every town has a Drum Tower and in Beijing we visited it since there was a performance, which we enjoyed very much before finding our way back home passed Beihai Lake and through the hutongs. Hutongs are the traditional Beijing neighbourhoods with little picturesque alleys off the main streets. Each house then has a courtyard with the rooms around it. Life is being lived in the courtyard and on the street as the rooms are too small and too crowded. Unfortunately a lot of these are being torn down to make room for apartment buildings. Our hostel in Beijing was also a courthouse in a hutong (Red Lantern House) and it was really really nice. The courtyard was the common room where people ate and met to chat. It is really surprising how quiet it is in the hutongs even though there’s the hustle and bustle just outside.

The Summer Palace, where the emperors came to withdraw from the heat and noise of the city, was really nice and great escape from the concrete for us as well. We walked through the woods past pavilions, through the Long Corridor with its interesting wood paintings, up Longevity Hill to the Buddhist Fragrance Pavilion and took nice pictures from the Cloud Dispelling Hall. We then took a boat ride on Kunming Lake from the Marble Boat to South Lake Island and the Dragon King Temple.

Probably Beijing’s most famous dish is Beijing Duck, so we had to have it. It was good, but nothing to rave about. Maybe our expectations were too high. What we did love eating though were small dumplings and kebabs. They were easy and always very good. Actually all dishes we had were delicious with lots of peppers, onions, hot peppers and garlic.

Another must-see of China: The Great Wall. We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall, which is renowned for its 26 Ming dynasty guard towers and stirring views. A little bit of history: The original wall was begun over 2000 yrs ago by the Qin dynasty when separate segments were linked. Later during the Ming dynasty, the wall was rehashed with brick and stones. Today most parts open for tourists are restored or being restored to their original state. That is why there are now cable cars to bring you up. We did it the old-fashioned way and hiked up. The stairs were really steep and when we got to the top we were exhausted, but it was nice since it was in the forest and you better appreciate the Wall. After having hiked up, you really wonder how they were able to build such a huge construction at the top of the hill and for such a length! Once you’re on the Wall, your hike is not finished though! The Wall has very steep sections and you are constantly going up and down on the Wall, making it quite a hike. We did a large part of the Wall and several guard towers and had beautiful vistas, but unfortunately because of the mist, the pictures might not show the full beauty of it. Nevertheless, it was a fun adventure. We also finally got to buy some cheap t-shirts (3 CAD each) with “I climbed the Great Wall”, etc. It’s really funny how they start off with a price of 15 and then they do sell it to you for 3 telling you they are losing money. Good one! But for $3 for a t-shirt, we really can’t complain, especially since in Beijing prices were as high as in Canada, if not more. Chris was even thinking of starting a business importing t-shirts from Wal-Mart to Beijing, ;-).

We also went to the Olympic Park to see the “Bird’s Nest” and it was interesting to see where the 2008 had been held. We met up with Lydia, an old class-mate, so we had a mini AvH reunion in Beijing, far far away from Baie d’Urfe…

We found out that travelling by train is not as easy as we thought since the trains are already sold out a few days in advance. Other travellers we talked to are also amazed by how hard it is to get things done here and said that other countries they’ve been to are much easier to communicate in. So we started in the hardest country, but that means that it’ll only get better. Plus, by then we will have a bit more experience travelling and backpacking. We’ll see about that.