Beijing: Lama Temple - Forbidden City - Great Wall

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The train journey from Xi An to Beijing was not too bad. We had (lower) hard sleepers, but contrary to what the name suggests, these sleepers were very comfortable so we did manage to get a bit of sleep in the end, despite the heating being on all night..

From the airport we decided to take a taxi to the Far East International guesthouse, as recommended by an Irish couple we met in Laos, as it was too early to get on the underground.

The first encounter with Beijing was not a good one. The taxi driver did not even know where he was going and at some point we got out of the car to ask people on the street for directions. When this did not work, J got the Beijing map out and told the driver which way to go. We made it clear that we were not prepared to pay any more than the 27 Yuan (Eur 2.7/GBP 2) on the meter - he stopped the meter.

Jinshangling to Simatai
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At first sight the area where the guesthouse was in looked pretty run down and depressing, but it soon turned out to be a very lively and convenient place to be.

We checked in and were lucky to get the only 2-bed dorm in the hotel across the street where the guesthouse was for only Yuan 45 each.

The next couple of days we visited the Lama Temple (the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet), the Forbidden City (the largest and best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China which was home to two dynasties of emperors: the Ming and the Qing) and Tiananman Square (the world's largest public square - apparently you can fit 1 million people in it).

J and Tal on The Wall
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The highlight of our Beijing trip by far was walking the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai, some 10 kms in length (about 4 hrs). The Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus stretching approximately 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles) from east to west of China, it is 180 million cubic meters. The construction of the orginal Wall was begun over 2000 years ago and took 10 years and hundreds of thousands workers to complete. The Wall was meant as a defensive fortification by the three states: Yan, Zhao and Qin, but was more used as an elevated highway to transport people and goods. In fact, it did not become the "Great" wall until the Qin Dynasty.

Tal on The Wall
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That day itself we were lucky as the weather was gorgeous, contrary to all the previous days when it was grey, cold and smoggy. We booked a bus which took us to Jinshangling and would collect us from Simatai, some 110 kms north-east from Beijing. You pay Yuan 30 for the entrance at Jinshanling and another Yuan 40 for the Simatai part of the walk. We were quite annoyed by the locals (mostly Mongolians), who walk with you along the Wall, trying to sell you books and postcards. But we managed to get rid of them after a while... (in all fairness, we bought some postcards from them). The walk was one of the most exhilarating experiences of our trip, and we wished we had spent more time walking other parts of the Wall (apparently you can walk the section from Simatai to Jinshangling and then onto Gubeiko, which would take you two days).

J and Tal on The Wall
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The Irish couple who recommended the guesthouse also recommended Liqun Roast Duck restaurant, not far from our hotel. Our previous attempt to get there failed as no taxi driver was willing (very unwilling I would say) to take us there. Our second attempt was on foot and although not easy to find between all the to be demolished buildings (presumably due to the huge amount of construction work going on for the Olympics in 2008), we did manage to get there. The search was worth it, we had the most delicious Beijing roast duck and accompanying side dishes. All for Yuan 200 for the both of us (GBP 14 or Eur 20). Upon leaving the restaurant we noticed, on the wall, a number of famous faces of people that had eaten at Liqun before: Al Gore, the Prime Minister of Greece etc.).

Entrance to Lama Temple
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Finally, we also had our long-awaited Starbucks coffee (in 4 different locations, including the Forbidden City...).

We also visited Donghuamen food market (selling snakes, silk worms, scorpions, cockroaches and many unidentified insects, the Silk market and Workers Stadium market (where you can find copies of outdoor brands such as The North Face, Canadian Goose etc. and where they have a huge collection of gems and freshwater pearls - bargaining compulsary, you can walk away with something at least 30% of the first quoted price).

Lion at Lama Temple
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Although Beijing was a great experience we were quite happy to leave after 5 days. The continuous spitting and general lack of hygiene (I am sure you know what we mean by that!) were getting very tiresome. So on the 25th we took the 8:15pm train (Yuan 430 per person - Eur 43) to Guilin, in the South-East of China, a journey that would take us 27 hrs and 1600 kms further...