Our first experience of Beijing? 4:30am standing out the front of the Beijing Train Station, no idea where we were, haggling with a number of taxi drivers to take us to our hostel. Initially the first driver told us he would take us for a 50 yuan fare, or probably about 60 yuan if he used the meter. We weren't satisfied with this and didn't have to look far for other drivers wanting our business. We were looking for 30 yuan. One driver offered 40 and when he saw we weren't happy with that, he said "OK, 20 each, let's go.." to which I replied jokingly, "We may be white but we ain't stupid!" Eventually we found our guy, 30 yuan. Turns out the hostel was only 2 blocks away and our agreed fare was about 5 times the actual metered cost - and even then it didn't get us to the hostel door, he refused to drive us the extra 200m down the road and kicked us out at the corner! Oh well.. We got there in the end, and let's face it, the taxi only cost us about $1.80 each :)
Basically our entire first 2 days in Beijing were spent in an internet cafe (as is evident by the sudden boom in blog posts during those 2 days), the first day was because we were simply exhausted and the second was because of the rain.. Oh the rain.. A massive downpour and thunderstorm, apparently the Chinese government's doing via the quite controversial method of cloud seeding to wash away the pollution. The morning of this day was cool and cloudy, pretty normal really. We ate breakfast in the outside courtyard area. Within minutes, though, the sky was black and the rain was bucketing down. That is some awesome power right there! Actually, this is not new for the Chinese government, I understand they also use this method to bring rain to the Shaanxi province, essentially stealing the neighbouring provinces rain and throwing that entire area into drought! Not cool!
Anyway, that evening, on our first official venture into the city, we met up again with Tom and Sandy, this time at their luxurious 5-star hotel. Boy was it flash! We had a drink there and for dinner headed to a popular place called QuanJude Roast Duck Restaurant - if you want real, delicious Peking duck (Peking being the local name for Beijing), get yourself to this busy 5 storey mega-restaurant! It was so lovely catching up with those guys again. On our way back we stumbled upon the beautifully lit fortified walls of the Forbidden City, so called because it was off limits for 500 years!
The following morning we got up at 6am sharp in order to miss the crowds at Tiananmen Square, the world's largest and very politically charged public square. We managed to avoid a large number of the tourists, however there were still a few large Chinese tour groups (with their matching caps) out and about.. Are they crazy, at 6am!! At the northern end of the Square sits the Gate of Heavenly Peace, built in the 15th century and hung with a massive portrait of the gentleman that stood atop it on 1st October, 1949 to declare China as the People's Republic on 1st October, 1949, Chairman Mao.
A bit of trivia: Prior to Mao's death in 1976, the currency notes displayed only pictures of commoners - a farmer, a maid, a street vendor, etc. in the true spirit of communism. Today, however, you would be hard-pressed finding such a note as they have all been replaced and now bear Mao's picture (I did happen to come across a few though.. I kept them as souvenirs).
This day Lee and I parted ways for a bit and I found myself wandering around the Lama Temple, the most renowned (and impressive) Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet which was converted to a lamasery in 1744. Within this temple is a chronicle of the lineage of the Dalai Lamas and a 17m high statue of the Maitreya Buddha, carved from a single piece of sandalwood! Wow! Following this I caught the newly completed Line 5 subway to the site of the Beijing Olympics to check out the National Stadium (aka the Bird's Nest) and the bubble-clad, environmentally conscious National Aquatics Center (nicknamed the Water Cube). Now I can say I've seen an Olympic stadium.. I haven't even seen the one in Sydney!
Next up: The Wall!
Basically our entire first 2 days in Beijing were spent in an internet cafe (as is evident by the sudden boom in blog posts during those 2 days), the first day was because we were simply exhausted and the second was because of the rain.. Oh the rain.. A massive downpour and thunderstorm, apparently the Chinese government's doing via the quite controversial method of cloud seeding to wash away the pollution. The morning of this day was cool and cloudy, pretty normal really. We ate breakfast in the outside courtyard area. Within minutes, though, the sky was black and the rain was bucketing down. That is some awesome power right there! Actually, this is not new for the Chinese government, I understand they also use this method to bring rain to the Shaanxi province, essentially stealing the neighbouring provinces rain and throwing that entire area into drought! Not cool!
Anyway, that evening, on our first official venture into the city, we met up again with Tom and Sandy, this time at their luxurious 5-star hotel. Boy was it flash! We had a drink there and for dinner headed to a popular place called QuanJude Roast Duck Restaurant - if you want real, delicious Peking duck (Peking being the local name for Beijing), get yourself to this busy 5 storey mega-restaurant! It was so lovely catching up with those guys again. On our way back we stumbled upon the beautifully lit fortified walls of the Forbidden City, so called because it was off limits for 500 years!
The following morning we got up at 6am sharp in order to miss the crowds at Tiananmen Square, the world's largest and very politically charged public square. We managed to avoid a large number of the tourists, however there were still a few large Chinese tour groups (with their matching caps) out and about.. Are they crazy, at 6am!! At the northern end of the Square sits the Gate of Heavenly Peace, built in the 15th century and hung with a massive portrait of the gentleman that stood atop it on 1st October, 1949 to declare China as the People's Republic on 1st October, 1949, Chairman Mao.
A bit of trivia: Prior to Mao's death in 1976, the currency notes displayed only pictures of commoners - a farmer, a maid, a street vendor, etc. in the true spirit of communism. Today, however, you would be hard-pressed finding such a note as they have all been replaced and now bear Mao's picture (I did happen to come across a few though.. I kept them as souvenirs).
This day Lee and I parted ways for a bit and I found myself wandering around the Lama Temple, the most renowned (and impressive) Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet which was converted to a lamasery in 1744. Within this temple is a chronicle of the lineage of the Dalai Lamas and a 17m high statue of the Maitreya Buddha, carved from a single piece of sandalwood! Wow! Following this I caught the newly completed Line 5 subway to the site of the Beijing Olympics to check out the National Stadium (aka the Bird's Nest) and the bubble-clad, environmentally conscious National Aquatics Center (nicknamed the Water Cube). Now I can say I've seen an Olympic stadium.. I haven't even seen the one in Sydney!
Next up: The Wall!
Photos:
Meeting up with Tom and Sandy again for some fried duck!
The walls of the Forbidden City
Standing in formation: changing of the guards in Tiananmen Square
This guy was intent on getting that photo!
Mao and the Gate of Heavenly Peace
Lee quite excited about the guards
Our local hutong
spinning a prayer wheel at the Lama Temple
the Bird's Nest!
1 comment:
Maybe that's who's stealing all of our rain in Australia???
And that duck looks unnervingly happy for a duck that's just been fried..
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