Beijing

Stuart the guy who adopted me before my trip started, at the Temple of Heaven
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Hey all,

This is my first journal entry in China and Im sitting in a jungle themed Internet Cafe in Xi'an surrounded by people playing weird computer games involving ugly little cartoon animals or killing as many people as possible.

Beijing

I had a very shaky start to the trip but everything seems to be going ok so far. I got to the airport and checked in but was told there weren't enough seats on the plane so I had to wait until an hour before take off to see if I was actually going to get to China that day. It didn't get things off to a good beginning but I ended up getting a place squished between a man who smelled horrible (as predicted) and a v nice lady from Devon. The flight was 10 hours but went pretty quickly and definitely worth it because of the amazing views over Mongolia.

The Temple of Heaven
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I landed at 10am in Beijing and had my first experience of Chinese driving which was interesting. Anyone who has ever said my driving is bad should definitely come to China for a bit. They are completely insane and crossing the street seems to be a military operation. Nobody pays any attention whatsoever to traffic lights or pedestrian crossings and the there are 3 lanes of traffic all trying to turn at once, its complete chaos. If a Chinese person injures a Chinese pedestrian they get a fine, if the injure a Westerner they go to prison for 25 years even if they've only run over their foot so not much chance of actually getting hurt by the car, but more the 50 Chinese people crowding around you when you're trying to cross the road because they reckon it'll be safer.

The Temple of Heaven (bit of a wonky photo)
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The hotel was pretty standard but nice enough. I had my own room and a western on-suite which was probably the best thing about it (more on toilets in a bit) and met up with a couple on a different trip and went out for dinner. The food is really really good but I'm getting unbelievably sick of noodles, rice and vegetables and I would probably sell my soul for a cheese sandwich right now. It's all a bit too healthy over here (no pasty days justine!). The menus have some revolting things on them the best being duck jaws (do ducks even have jaws?), boiled bullfrog, dog soup, mutton reproductive organs, eye balls, beef larynx and various other things along that theme. I'm sort of getting used to it now but I'm still not eating it! I wouldn't say I was a fussy eater but I have had to spit stuff out. I had something that looked like cabbage and tasted like fish skin, some disgusting tofu thing and petrol flavored bread all of which went into a tissue as soon as the chef wasn't watching. On the other hand the beer is fantastic and costs about 30p for one of the giant Grolsch size bottles. We haven't worked out what they put in it but we've found one beer that makes you laugh for hours after you've drunk it. I'm thinking of having it imported to England it's that good.

The Temple of Heaven
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Everything is so cheap that even the best duck resturant won't cost over 5 pounds (there's no pound symbol on this keyboard!) The average price of a meal big enough that you can't eat it is about a pound, lip balm costs a penny, coke is 30p, a rickshaw is around a pound, this internet cafe is 70p an hour, water costs about 20p although in the resturants it's cheaper to drink the beer. Even though nothing costs much you're expected to haggle prices even in shops and resturants and tipping is the most offensive thing you can do so all in all I'm not spending much cash in China!

The Temple of Heaven
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On my first day in Beijing I went with a guy called Stu and his girlfriend Helen to The Temple of Heaven which was apparently beautiful but covered in scaffolding so we had to make do with the other buildings which were scaled down versions. It was I have photos of everything but can't upload them at the moment so I'll put them on at a later date, probably at my cousins. The Temple was built so the people could sacrifice animals for the God of Heaven and the rooms had nice names like 'The killing animals room' and 'The beating animals room' hmm, direct translations are interesting sometimes. The weather has been absolutely boiling since the day I arrived (apart from yesterday morning when it rained...a lot) so there hasn't been much need for the jumpers and scarf etc I brought with me but I will admit that the ugly rain coat was necessary even though I lent it to someone else because they were freezing. I haven't worn my rain poncho I'm afraid but I promise I will as soon as I don't care about looking like a div in front of my tour mates. The walking boots/combat trousers/no make up lesbian look is bad enough right now.

The Temple of Heaven
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In the afternoon of the first day we went for lunch by the lakes which was probably the first I saw of real Beijing. Beijing itself is a really odd place with Houtongs (shanty towns) next to filthy tower blocks and giant office buildings that must have cost a fortune.The main streets are really bland where China is getting ready for the Olympics and cleaning the city up but the lakes had the sort of back alleys you get on Bruce Lee films, very very noisy, dirty, crowed and completely fascinating. I thought it was amazing so lots of photos to come.

The Temple of Heaven
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The first night I met my tour group who are all really nice. There are a few couples, some older people and the rest are lone backpackers like me so a really diverse group. The people on their own seem to be spending their time together which is good because we go out in a group of 8. China is a safe country and the only real problems we've seen are the pick pockets who stand out a mile anyhow and haven't managed to get any of us yet, and the people who try to touch us because we're Western which I find slightly creepy but I'm getting used to. Everywhere we go we're stared at, pointed at or laughed at. People come up to us in the street to say hello or practise their English and everyone wants their photos taken with the weird looking white people. The good thing is that everyone is really friendly and the whole obsession with Westerners is still very novel and kind of like being a z list celebrity. We went clubbing in Xi'an last night and got an entire dance floor of people clapping just because we were. It was a very very odd experience.

The Temple of Heaven
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On the first night we went to Tiannamen Square which is being revamped for the Olymics and was packed with people on their Chinese National holiiday, then out to a Houtong for Beijing duck which was one of the best meals I've ever had.

The second day was the Great Wall. We got up at 6.30 and got to the wall at around 10. I was under the illusion that walking it would be easy and that once you got up to the towers it was flat. I have never done anything so hard in my entire life!! The steps were nearly vertical up, then unbelievably difficult to get down the other side. I honestly thought I was going to die at a couple of the points. There were shortcuts which I didn't take because the boys refused to take them and I didn't want to look like a big girly wimp and I'm really glad I didn't because the views were fantastic. We walked about 7 miles which took 3 hours. The Great Wall is something that nobody could ever describe and be able to get across quite how amazing it is, it's definitely something you would have to see for yourself to appreciate. It was one of the best things I've ever done and I would tell anyone to do it if they have the chance. We had a massive lunch by a lake at the end and got the bus back to Beijing (which took 5 hours because of an accident which in China means someone had shunted someone else so everyone has to stand around and look at both cars for ages until a massive crowd gathers and the police have to come and move people along). When I read my brochure I thought that this trip was the easiest in terms of activity. Turns out it's the hardest trip Imaginative Traveller run in China and the Great Wall hike was the warm up. Uh oh.

The Temple of Heaven
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Day 3 was spent at Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. There was a massive amount of Miltary and Police and we were warned not to sit anywhere because you'd be arrested for staging a silent protest. We saw a guy get taken out in a matter of seconds for crossing a barrier. He stepped into a cordoned off part and 20 or so troops came up from a trap door in the ground and shoved him in a police van. You arent't allowed to talk about the history of the Square in case someone overhears so generally it's a pretty strange place to be.

The lakes in Beijing where we had lunch on my first day
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In the afternoon we went to the train station to catch the hard sleeper to Xi'an. The station is the biggest in the world and totally chaotic. The train journey was 10 hours or so overnight crammed into 3 up bunks with no walls on the front so all the Chinese people could gawk at you. The toilets on the train were probably the best I've seen so far (not in the morning) because the rest are the single most disgusting thing I've ever experienced. If people can install motion sensitive taps and soap dispensers why can't they install a toilet where you don't wee on your feet? Completely crazy, bit like the eating with sticks thing which I'm getting a pro at now.

The street market in Beijing by the lake
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Anyhow we arrived at Xi'an in one piece which is where I am now but unfortuantely have to go and meet my group for lunch and get another sleeper train so I'll have to catch up on my latest adventures at the next stop.

Lots of love to everyone and if anyone can work out a way of posting me some Hovis and a giant block of cheese without it going horrible please please please do it!!!

xxxxxxx