Beijing and its surroundings

 

Tiam Anmen square

The 7th of October was the first real day of exploration of the "mainland" China. Infact, the day before was used to sleep, in order to retrieve our jet lag. In the morning we woke up very late and immediately went to Tiam Anmen Square. The impact was very strong: these really nice Chinese are like ants. From the outset, we certainly didn't pass unnoticed, thanks to our "sponsored suits" and our typically western physical characteristics. But it is because of this diversity that we managed to attract the attention and the sympathy of younger people (the only one who speak a bit of English) which, in more than one occasion, gave us precious infos.

We took a look at Tiam Anmen Square, which is truly immense. Then we've been stopped by some curious students which invited us to visit their universities. These students were artists, having some kind of gallery exhibition of their works. They have been really nice and, above all, very kind with us. Infact they offered us a small present that we returned them by giving him one of our t-shirt. We went then towards the forbidden city but unfortunately today it was closed for the last day of National Day festivity. We then went to visit the Emperor's Temple that is right there, alongside. As soon as we were leaving, we have been stopped again by three Chinese girls, asking us to go to dinner with them. Obviously we accepted because we promised us to eat the famous Peking duck. The entire dinner was very good, from duck to the different complementary sauces: perhaps the final broth that they proposed as last dish (made with the bones of the eaten duck) was not so good. Painful note the price, a total amount of 48.00 euros (though we also paid for our companions dinners), a real "robbery" considered that the first day we had dinner for three people with only 6.00 euros. As soon as we left the restaurant we directed in a particular tea room. Suggestive, without doubt, especially for the ceremony, made with diversified gestures and rhythm depending on whether kind of tea you ordered. We tried three different types. The tea was good, a little different from ours: served in small cups, which were continually filled by waitresses while repeating the ceremony. And when I say continuously I really mean continuously! We hadn't yet end that the cup was filled again...

Even this time the price was heavy: it is true that we drank a lot of tea, but in the end we spent the beauty of 18.00 euros for 6 people.

A little concerned about how much we spent in just three hours and considering the hour, we thought well to take a taxi to return to our hotel.

Let me open a parenthesis about the hotel: as arrived, in prey of the desperation we booked a room in a 4-star hotel that asked us the beauty of 136.00 euros per night. Thanks to God we were able to contact one of our Italian friends (Luca Gagno) that literally "saved our lives". He said us that such that price was absurd and immediately gave us the address of our current hotel (always 4 stars) for which, instead, we'll pay 35.00 euros per night including breakfast.

However our first day passed up to all expectations, and except for one or two "lemons" we received, this presented China with an exceptional business card!

Super!

Fourth day in China

Fourth day in China; we begin to figure out an idea both of the city and everything that revolves around us. Yesterday morning we were able to visit the famous forbidden city (6 euros each person), since on our first day of stay it was closed for national holiday. The first thing that clearly appears is his majesty, like a city within another. This former imperial residence extends well up to 720.000 sqm plenty of temples and gardens. We passed the beauty of five hours to visit it all. Finally, not much satisfacted, we went in the park in front of it which also featured a temple located on the top of a hill. This was really the final coup de grace, with an incredible series of steps that finally brought us to this super temple. Enclosed in the building there was a splendid Buddha statue that we accidentally photographed even though we could not. Today we had the great luck to spend the whole day with our superfriend Luca (the person who saved our life just arrived). First of all we went to change money, given the fact that we exhausted our resources. Then we took the underground and Luca led us to visit the old part of Beijing: we visited the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. In this last we also went up in the top, thinking to enjoy an excellent view of the city, but instead... We enjoyed only the usual mist (most likely smog). We are then entered in the characteristic hu-ton (I don't know if I'm writing it correctly, and I don't even know if pronounced it exactly so...), low houses, square-shaped with a small garden inside. Originally this buildings were intended for a population with limited economic resources although, telling the truth as explained by Luca, now they are rapidly going under restoration projects, reaching exorbitant prices even for most of Westerners. Our last destination during the day was a typical Beijing market.. It really was something incredible! First of all: we were the only foreigners in the market, second: goods that were sold there were of the strangest kind. It seemed one of those typical trevisan events, known to most of Treviso inhabitants as "Birds fair" even if, instead of birds, were sold: crickets of all types and size, leashed birds, dried snakes, and also turtles, closed in bags as mussels (unfortunately girls weren't available) probably for culinary purposes. There were a lot of really uncommon fishes, among which we were able to admire the rare golden carp, which has always been unnecessarily chased by Sampei Nihira (a Japanese cartoon). However, finally in the evening, our positive impressions on Chinese cuisine have been confirmed. We would really be able to tell you what we ate but, obviously, we didn't know the names of the dishes! There were very thin French fries (spicy at the right point), calf with pepper and onion, pork with chives and a strange sauce, cabbage with tofu and the usually omnipresent rice. Special thanks go to Luca who suggested us the right dishes to be ordered!

Total price of dinner for four people (and we ate both well and abundant!), less than 10 euros.

We went then to see a shopping street downtown around Tian Anmen square, fully reserved to pedestrian traffic and illuminated like feast! We entered into a shopping mall and we caught a juicy ice cream (not exactly like ours, but certainly very good).

Super!

the great Chinese wall

The 10th of October has been for us the Great Wall of China day. The day before, thanks to our irreplaceable (as usual) Luca we managed to hire a driver (with which we agree to the price of 40 euros) to go to SimaTai, one of the best places around Beijing, to admire the Great Wall. The day began with a prohibitive wake, considering that Sunday is always Sunday. At 7:30 we all were standing except one of us: THE BIG MAN (that the evening before had the courage to blame us about the timetable, only to be the first to miss to respect it). we started the daily trip at 8:50, arriving at destination at 11:16. About 2 and half hours of travel, much less than time usually required for this trip, mainly thanks to the crazy taxi driver who unleashed himself and, in more than one occasion, risked a loud bang. During the return trip we slept for almost the time, totally unaware of the danger to which we were exposed.
Once in the Simatai entrance, we paid 3 euros each for the access, but in order to facilitate our not easy ascent we opted for an expensive chairlift (3 euros each person). All things considered really acceptable and gladdened by local music played inside. Once got off from the chairlift, a quite challenging climb appeared in front of us. In 20 minutes we reached the first goal when one of the twelve towers elevated in front of us. Naturally, yet there, the usual local sellers proposed us several souvenirs.
To tell the truth, the Wall conditions were not properly excellent, but the effort of climbing was rewarded. We opted to visit the towers ranging from number 7 to number 12, then coming back from the 12th along the road until the first. What appears more evident, and that left us speechless, is the immensity of the work (as every monument we visited) and the place where it is built, all along the ridge of the mountain. The landscape even if very suggestive, unfortunately suffers for the persistent and inevitable (in the mountains yet) mist. The decision to return with the crazy taxi driver, finally was not too painful, saving us the precious yuans of the chairlift. The return race was a kind of "copy/paste" of the previous, possibly even more picturesque: a near front crash (magically avoided) with a truck, a scary head to head with a bus and finally an avoided padding at about 30 meters from our hotel.
The time to wash ourselves and a fix to two little things and we immediately went to dinner... as suggested by Luca we tried the hotel restaurant. Almost nobody spoke English and therefore we entrusted only to the menu images to choose the dishes.... One thing is certain: the taste did not correspond to the idea that we figured looking at the illustrations. It was hard to say exactly what they presented us, at least for 3 out of five dishes. The result: a real disappointment, given the fact we had hunger, and the fact that we were expecting another pleasant dinner as the preceiding ones!
However... It happens! The disadvantages of not knowing Chinese language! To console us, once in our room, we eaten an incredible grapefruit of an exaggerated size, that literally saved our evening.
At the end, even after all, we are still alive!