09.02.2018
The Emperor Qianmen Hotel is located in a side street right in the center. Check in was quick, they even spoke well enough English. It seems post modern. In the corridor you seemed to be floating and the room keycard had to be swiped at avery door and elevator, everywhere.
My room on the 3rd floor had no number, but a Chinese character. It was small but functional and there was even some English speaking channels on TV.
After a quick shower I went off to explore. -8°C said the Hotels weather forecast, so I dug out my warm winter clothes for the first time. I brought lots of layers as I expect it to get colder as go on. My yellow jacket – given to us on an Antarctica cruise with Quark Expeditions once – might look funny, but it is very nice and warm.
The hotel is right in the pedestrian area of Qianmen where most shops were still closed since it was still early. I walked towards Tiān’ānmén Square. Huge boulevards, wide roads and everything fenced off. No jay walking in Beijing! Coming out of a pedestrian tunnel you are automatically led towards a security check. Locals have to present their ID and register it on a machine. Foreigners seem to be waved through directly to x-ray. A rather lax check, but a huge smile at least from the lady officers. Later I just had to cross the road – on a traffic light! – and I was at the very windy – freezing cold – Tiān’ānmén Square. While taking my photos my city map was blown away by the stiff wind and ended up way beyond the fences right at the feet of a soldier standing guard. But his colleague was friendly enough to help out the stupid foreigner and brought it back to me – no smile though.
I wanted to see a Peking Opera and had read something about the Cháng’an Grand Theatre. So I jumped into my first big Beijing adventure and took the subway. Found a station easy enough, security check! – then looked for tickets.The ticket machines are plentyful and they speak English. I punched in the station where I wanted to go and it costs CNY 3.
Seems all very new and efficient and 4 stations over I found the theatre easily. It has a statue of an opera mask out front. Unfortunately I could not find a ticket desk or somebody speaking English, so off I went again on the subway to the next theatre. At Húguāng Guild Hall I had more luck and got a ticket in the center floor for the 18:30 performance for CNY 180. The good thing was, the theatre is not so far from the hotel and I could walk there.
I tested the way and walked through the Hútòng Dashilar back to Qianmen. I suppose in summer those lanes and alleyways of Beijing’s old town are much more interesting. Now in winter not much was happening and most of the shops seemed to be closed. Getting closer to the shopping street of Qianmen Dajie it got more lively, however. In the alleys a lot of people were going on there scooters. Those scooters sneak right up on you, because you cannot hear them. They are all electric scooters! I already noticed that in Lhasa. No noise and no exhaust fumes either. And you can tell it is winter, because the scooters have funny jackets on. Like backwards jackets, the arms are attached to the handlebars, the drivers stick their arms through and wear it on their front.
Back in Qianmen I went in search of some food and I was determined to try roast duck. It seems there are restaurants that serve nothing else but roast duck. Ducks hang in den window of every restaurant anyway. I wanted to try it in a small, local place rather than in a huge restaurant. In a small side street of Qianmen Dajie which was also lined with restaurants I picked the one with the friendliest tout and a photo menu on the wall. It had maybe 10 tables and was well filled with local people. The menu was in Chinese but it had photos and the duck was easy enough to pick. I motioned I wanted only half a duck, not the whole deal and the waitress wrote down half the price CNY 55. Fine with me. For something to drink I went to the shelf in the back of the restaurant and pointed to a beer. That got me a big grin. I sat by my table near the door and did not have to wait long for my food. It came nicely set on a plate in duckshape and had side dishes of sauce, cucumber and leek as well as small, very thin crepes.
Having absolutely no idea how to eat it, I poked mit my chopsticks – at least I very well know how to use those! – on it and tasted everything separately. It was all very good! After a few minutes watching the stupid foreigner, the waitress came a long chatting in rapid Chinese, took the chopsticks out of my hand and showed me how to eat roast duck. Shake one crepe loose of the pile, take a piece of duck, dunk it generously in the sauce, put it on the crepe and add cucumber and leek. Then – still chatting rapidly in Chines – she put the chopsticks down, grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back of the restaurant, I could not get up fast enough. She pulled me in the back room and motioned to the sink to wash my hands as she did. OK! Done! Now she pulled me back out – all the people in the restaurant looking, laughing at the foreigner being handled and all the while chatting away in Chinese. At my table she showed me to make a wrap out of the crepe and motioned me to now bite and eat. Aha! This is how to eat roast duck! Now everybody – and I mean everybody – was watching me do it by myself and they smiled satisfied when I did it almost as good as she had done it. Some old men 3 tables over found it funny I drank beer and every now and then they would lift up their cups of plum wine (I suppose) in a toast and I had to toast back. When I had finished my meal and paid, everybody waved cheerfully good bye. I guess, I made their day!
Before it was time for my Peking Opera I went on a mission to find new deo spray. I visited every little supermarket and mini market in the area but nowhere they had anything remotely related to deodorant. Not even in the pharmacies. Oh well, I guess, I have to stink for the next week before arriving in Russia! With all those layers of clothes on, it will be probably OK, though. I did however find Great Wall Red Wine in the supermarket, which I had to buy a bottle to take home with me. And I visited the Red Star Museum and bought a small souvenir bottle of that as well. It is a white alcohol, apparently the „drink of the people“. I just liked the blue bottle with the red star on it.
Just before 18:00 I reached the Húguāng Guild Hall again and was let to my seat. It is a beautiful historic theatre. It is rather small, all wood, dark greens, reds, golds, with tables and chairs, high ceilings and a beautiful stage. I was led right in the center table and served tea, cookies, bananas and dried fruit. Except for me there were only 4 more foreigners and 4 Chinese people here, nevertheless the performance started on time. An announcer introduced the story even in English and on the side there was a display of a few caption in English as well. It was as story about a king and his queen and a battle. Peking Opera definitely needs getting used to, but it was interesting and easy to follow. The costumes and masks were stunning. The performance lasted a bit more than an hour including a short intermission.
Walking back to my hotel the Qianmen area as still hopping, more lively than all day. I found a food and souvenir hall to look around and decided on a stick of sugar glanced fresh fruits for CNY 15 for dessert which was very good.
10.02.2018
This morning I was picked up by a guide and driver for a tour to the Great Wall. The weather forecast – put in my room at evening service together with some cookies – said -10°C and windy.
My guide Demi spoke very good English and the drive out of the city to the Mùtiányù section of the Great Wall took approx. 1.5 h. We had blue sky and blinding sunshine, but it was colder here than in the city and the wind was very chilly.
The driver dropped Demi and me off at the visitors centre where Demi got our tickets. All transfers and the Great Wall tour was part of my package deal with Monkeyshrine. We walked along a row of souvenir stalls to the shuttle bus stop. The bus ride was some 10 min or so to the lower entrance to this section of the wall. I had the choice between a cable car up and down or a chairlift up and a toboggan ride down. I choose the second option being a bit more adventurous. The chairlift up was very scenic, if not very chilly from the wind.
And then I was standing on the Great Wall! A dream come true!
This here is a 3km restored Ming Dynasty part of the wall. It snakes up and down over the top of the hills with many stairs and watch towers. I wanted to see as much as possible and made Demi walk with me almost all the way to the cable car at the other end of the section. She said, she has not been that far in a very long time, because usually guests did not spend that much time on the wall.
The views on the wall and the wall itself were spectacular! Soon I was not cold anymore from walking up and down all those stairs. This Mùtiányù section is a less touristy part of the Great Wall, apparently, but now in winter there were even less visitors and we were also relatively early. We met however a bunch of Chinese teenagers filming an impromptu flashmop video on the wall, which was rather fun to watch.
I took so many photos, unbelievable. I probably would have spend even more time up there, but it was cold and there were more sights waiting in the city for me. After all I had only 4 days.
Down from the wall we took the toboggan ride, where you sit in this plastic sledge thing sliding down a mettle pipe. The first sledge I got was too small for me, my legs being to long. But they found a bigger – „They have sledges for foreigners, too!“ – which was basically just longer so I had more room for the legs. It was easy to drive – stick forward go, stick backwards stop. Once I got the hang of it, it was fun. I got kind of slowed down by a lot of leaves in the pipe that had collected under my sledge, though. Unfortunately, it was over fast.
We had to take the shuttle bus again to the visitors centre, then I haggled for some fridge magnets. Ridiculous prices they have for stupid tourists. The seller wanted CNY 120 for 4, then CNY 25 for 1 and in the end I got 5 for CNY 50.
On the way back to the city we stopped for lunch in a restaurant. I had spicy cow tongue and thick noodle soup, which was all very good.
I ask Demi to drop me off at the Lama Temple in the city rather than by the hotel. Traffic was heavy but we got there just after 15:00 with enough time before last entrance. I found the entrance quickly and paid CNY 25 fee and then did a quick walk around. Having been in Nepal and Tibet recently, there was not so much new to see here for me, but the different halls were interesting with some huge Buddha statues. The main standing buddha is even the tallest standing buddha carved out of a single piece of sandalwood in the world. It is 26 m high, says a Guinness Book of Records plaque outside.
The surrounding buildings and gardens are very nice as well.
However, I wanted to see the nearby Confucius Temple as well and had to hurry to make last entrance. Here the fee was CNY 30. It had as well a nice ambiente and some Confucius statues and peacefully gardens. I walked around and then made my way through the Hútòng around the temples to the closest subway station and went from there to Oriental Plaza.
They had a nice sign for the upcoming Chinese New Year outside.
The mall itself is just another huge shopping mall with all kinds of famous and expensive shops. Felt just like in Europe, so I did not spend much time there, but walked straight through to Wángfūjīng Dajie. That is a pedestrian street lined with shopping malls and department stores. The decoration for Chinese New Year was nice, though, and was just starting to be lit up fort he evening. Like everywhere in the city the have bronze statues of everyday life as decoration here. I had to sit in the rickshaw and be a real tourist here!
On my way back to the subway I noticed some snack stalls and went to check them out. Turns out it is an entire snack street lined with stalls of food of any kind. There were sugar glaced fruits, noodle soup, ice cream, fish and seafood, sausages and grilled insects of all kind. I started out with taking photos of grilled silk worms, cicadas, spiders, geckos and scorpions.
I was not sure if I wanted to try any, but the sellers obviously were used to tourists ogeling the displays and started chatting. I was drawn back and forth, should or should I not try? I walked away and 2 stalls over there was the same display. In the end I would have been gutted if I had not tried, so I bought a skewer with 3 small grilled yellow scorpions for CNY 25. I carried it around for a few minutes, taking photos of and with it contemplating if I should try or not. I was not going to throw it out, though. I finally took the plunge and ate the first scorpion of my life!
Well……it tasted definitely better than the grilled grasshoppers we had in Thailand once. Did not taste like scorpion, then again I would not know what scorpion taste like, but now I know. I had to eat the second one to determine the taste and since it was not bad at all, the third one was eaten as well with gusto. Not that I need to do it again, though. And I draw the line there! No grilled spiders, silkworms, cockroaches or big black scorpions or such for me! As dessert I took another sugar glanced fruit skewer, to settle the scorpion.
I walked from there all the way back to the hotel past the nicely lit up Tiān’ānmén Square. The square itself seem closed for the night, but I had to go along it to the hotel and all the buildings around it were well lit up.
11.02.2018
Today I went to visit the Forbidden City. After breakfast I wandered off, passing the security checks and across Tiān’ānmén Square once more. Finding the ticket office was a challenge. Once through the Gate of Heavely Peace and the Meridian Gate there were huge signs on how to get your online ticket. Fat chance with no data roaming or wifi….. So I went searching. Even though I was relatively early – I thought – at 09:30 there were already many people. It was Sunday. Eventually I asked somebody for the ticket office and was pointed into a corner to the side where there was a very nondescript little hut with a couple booking windows. I just had to present my passport and pay CNY 40. No ticket I was given, but I suppose they did an online ticket. I had to go to the entrance and just present my passport and in I went.
It was very cold and windy today.
There were so many buildings and alleyways, a huge complex. I got lost a couple times in back alleys and court yards. The Imperial Garden was beautiful even in winter. The Ceremonial Halls were all impressive and I also looked at some of the small museums.
I did spend the extra CNY 10 for the Treasury Gallery, which was very awesome. Had I come in the Southern Gate I did go out the Northern Gate. That Forbidden City is just massive. I am sure I did not see half of it, though.
However, I wanted to see the Jingshān Park as well, which is located north of the Forbidden City. I needed a rest and a coffee first, though, and went in search for a café. Did not find one and then fell for one of the stupidest scams ever. As I walked towards the entrance of the park – which was some 500 m along the road – that E-rickshaw guy stoped next to me and motioned 3 and straight ahead to the park. So I think, whatever and get on. CNY 3 for 500m is fine. He takes me then on the next corner around the park and kicks me off at the corner furthest away from an entrance and wants CNY 30! What the heck! Oh well. Made some noise, but then gave him his 30 and walked off shouting at him. Probably made his day. Had to walk around the whole bloddy park again to get to the entrace. The fee was all of CNY 2! Printing the ticket probably costs more than that …
Jingshān is a beautiful park and I walked up all the steps to the top of the hill which was apparently created from the earth dug out to make the Forbidden City’s moat. Since I like view points – preferably however, in form of a nice bar on top of a highrise reachable by elevator – I had to go up there. It has a Buddhist Temple on the top. The view around the city was magnificent. Contraire to what I heard before about the air pollution, I did not notice much and the visibility was very good. Maybe I was just happy after tll the dust and smog in Kathmandu, but even my guide told me the day before that the air pollution rate has much improved recently. Or maybe I was just lucky, I guess. It was very windy and cold on the top, so I did not stay long, but went back down soon.
Along the road near the entrance to the park I stopped in a small local restaurant for lunch. Ordering was easy – I just pointed to the noodle soup the people on the next table were having and was done. It was good and cost all of CNY 20. Hot water (no tea) came with it to drink.
I walked through the alleys of a Hútòng towards the nearest subway station and went on another ride this time for CNY 5 to Pānjiāyun Market, the biggest antiques and flea market. Unfortunately, now in winter it was a mere shadow of itself even on a Sunday afternoon. There was not much happening, but I did walk around and they did have some cool stuff, but nothing to take home with me.
I did not spend much time there, but took the subway back to the hotel and had a little siesta before going off in search for dinner. All that walking around in the cold wind on the city’s pavement makes tired, I tell you!
And hungry! I went to one of the bigger restaurants near the hotel this time. But I did want another roast duck! Same procedure here – motioning to get half a duck with all the trimings and a beer. I have to say it tasted exactly the same as the other day in the little restaurant …. Or maybe that is my imagination because it came on the exact same duck plate …. It was more expensive, though …. Nevertheless, roast duck is now one of my favourites – but only in Beijing, I guess.
12.02.2018
My last day in Beijing and I wanted to see the Temple of Heaven. After an early breakfast again I wandered off. It was an approx. 20 min walk straight south to the western gate of the park. Like the last few days, the sky was blue and the sun was shining, but it was a crisp morning with -10°C.
The Park of the Temple of Heaven is huge. I bought the through ticket for CNY 28 (winter price) to not only see the park but the temples as well. There was already a lot going on in the park. First I walked past a dance class, or however you want to call it. People just meet in the park, somebody had brought a speaker and they were playing tango music and dancing! Couples, but mostly 2 women together, just for the exersise, I guess, and the fun in the sun. Next there were several groups practicing Tai Chi.
Now, that is what I associate with China and parks! Tai Chi as morning sport! But then there was also a group doing dancing to traditional Chinese folk music. Another one doing just gymnastics. All very fascinating to watch. I chickened out of joining in when somebody motioned to me. I had too much clothes on, I could hardly move, and I had to get back to the hotel in time for check out. But not before seeing the Temple of Heaven!
most impressive was of course the Hall of Prayers for Good Harvests, the huge round temple so often seen in photos.
The sky, the sun, the colours – beautiful. I also found the Echo Wall – but believe me, I did not hear an echo whatsoever. There were definitely already to many people around. I did walk all around the park and even found the 7 meteorit stones.
12:00 was check out at the hotel and I put my luggage in storage before taking another walk around the Qianmen area. I had lunch at the same small restaurant like the other day. They recognized me of course and everybody waved at me. I took noodles and some pork dish and a beer. The group of locals was there again and started toasting me again. I guess, I made their day once more. Waving good bye after lunch I just had time for a quick Black Tea Icecream in the sun and then to do some repacking in the hotel.
I put another layer of clothes on because Harbin – were I was going – was a touch colder than Beijing.
I was originally going to take the train to Harbin, but unfortunately my Agency could not score a train ticket for me. The holiday season of ChinEse New Year is in full swing and train tickets are scarce considering everybody wants to go home for the festivities. And the Harbin Ice & Snow Festival is also happening. So about 4 weeks ago they told me to better see about booking a flight, because also going on a bus is not an option and I did have onward travel from Harbin, apart from the fact I wanted to see the Ice Festival! I looked at a lot of different flights, some criss cross around China overnight, but nothing less than €300 and I would have to stay in a hotel somewhere. There was direct flights, though, and looking at it closely it turned out economy cost exactly the same as firt class. So what the heck! When will I ever get the chance to fly First Class again? I invested the € 475 for the evening flight with China Eastern and booked an extra night at the Harbin hostel I had selected to stay there.
Monkeyshrine sprang for the airport transfer as small compensation and I breezed through priority check in and fast lane at security check. Again I had to go and sign for my big power bank, but being in the priority line that went fast. At the lounge entrance they did look funny at me, but after the ticket check gave me a big wave through. Nice, Great Wall wine as much as I could have! So I could finally try it without opening the bottle I wanted to take home. The flight was scheduled at 19:40 and it was a good hour delayed, so I had a nice buzz going by the time I got on the plane.
Harbin – here I come!
