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We arrived in Beijing international airport on the 11/07/14, tired and delirious after being awake for nearly 24hours we made an mistake by paying 350yuan (£35) to get a taxi to our hotel after being harassed by a man who met us at the airport! His driving was insane, in fact everyone's driving was! Sudden changing lanes, very near misses, driving on the hard shoulder and a lot of beeping is one way to describe it!
We were dropped off at an alley way and told by the taxi man to walk down it to find the place we're staying! Walking down this dusty road avoiding huge holes with men working on the water pipes and people racing past on bikes, then beeping you once they were past was an experience!
We booked in to our hostel 'Peking yard' but unfortunately our room is not ready until 2pm so we decided to take a little wander around the area. The roads are extremely dusty and my lovely white converses started to change colour! We wandered along this little alley looking at the tiny shops selling anything from water - nails, everyone is just starting at us as we walk past.
The next day (eilidh's birthday) we decided to go to the forbidden city, it looked fairly close by on our map provided by the hostel. We set off walking through the dusty alley streets which after about the fourth one we realised they all look the same. There are no sign posts in English that we could find or any tourist signs showing where the forbidden city was, we must of looked really lost as a elderly Chinese map approached us and offered us help. Well I think he did, he spoke no English but looked like he was asking us what we are looking for so we just said forbidden city and gave him our map! Eventually we found it and walked the length of the lake to get to the entry gate. Again nothing was in English so we had no clue on how much it would cost I just past over a rough estimate and the lady gave me back a ticket! Walking around the forbidden city was pretty impressive, the decoration of the building work was amazing. It wasn't too crowded once we got in as its a fairly large place so everyone spread out but we were told afterwards Saturday was one of the busiest days as the locals also visit as well as tourist. After spending a good few hours at the forbidden city we decided it was way to hot to walk back to our hostel so braved the subway! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, getting the tickets was crazy at first as you have to use the machine we mapped out what stops to get then as we went to pay the lady supervising must of thought we were confused and pulled us aside making us queue again!
That evening for Eilidh's birthday we went for Peking duck as a recommended restaurant by the hostel. This place had Peking duck as its speciality and had won awards. While waiting for our table they sat us in front of the kitchen and you could see them hanging the ducks and cooking them. When our Peking duck came to the table the chef showed us the cooked duck then chopped the head of! Then the waitress came over and showed us how to make the pancakes with your chop sticks then told us to try - we were useless, so useless in fact she came back over and told us just to use our hands! This meal was amazing the Peking duck was so good we managed to eat the whole duck between us (we left the head!) we then got free gifts with our meal which was a caramel and ginger moose, little fruit pastries and a whole bowl of fresh lychee. On leaving the restaurant we thought as it was late we should get a taxi back, after flagging down a taxi I showed him the hostel name and he shock his head and drove off - apparently it's not worth their time if the location is near by so we walked! When we came back we ate the chocolate cake that I had brought Eilidh for get birthday from the local bakery, didn't quite taste like normal cake but it was good!
The next day we went to the Great Wall of china. It was a 2hour coach transfer from our hostel to arrive to mutianyu which we was advised was the less tourist area to view the wall. We got to choose whether we wanted to walk up to the Great Wall which took roughly 40mins or get the cable cart- we choose the cable cart! When we arrived on the wall the views were stunning, out guide advised us to go to the right and walk to point 1 as it took you to the old walk that is currently blocked from tourist but you can still see it. The steps were extremely steep and at some points we were literally climbing up them and with the heat I think at some points we felt like we were going to die!! It was funny as we were struggling to walk some parts from the heat but you had people who had been to the top and were on their way back giving us support! Once we got to the top we took lots of photos plus a few selfies and admired the view. It started getting really cloudy then we could hear thunder in the background but luckily it stayed away. Then on our way back down gave everyone struggling our support of 'you can do it' 'nearly there keep going' the look of death that you get from the people as they are pouring with sweat is funny! After the walk we came back down in a toboggan, you had a leaver that would allow you to go fast or brake. I got to go first and surprised myself in how fast I went! It took about 5mins in total but the twisty bends were really fun! We then had a lovely Chinese as the local restaurant and got to chat to fellow travellers, then transferred back to the hostel. When we got back we decided to walk along the street nearby and stop and get some dinner. We found this one place that seemed very busy with the locals, as we walked in everyone stopped to look at us. We had two waitresses who spoke no English and gave us a picture menu to pick our our food. We decided to go with a meat dish, prawn toast and spring rolls as we ordered they laughed at us and walked off. Next thing the chef brings out this huge stew bowl of meat on the bone and lights it to cook on our table, then followed by the spring rolls. We both picked up our spring roll to find out it was actually chocolate inside!! Then out come our caramel cakes not prawn toast! Total disaster! We ate some of the meat dish but could not work out what it actually was and made a quick exit!
On the Monday we had a busy day planned, we got the subway to go see the lama temple. Again it was extremely hot so we brought a fan each before entering - best purchase so far on the trip! The lama temple grounds were really pretty very green and neat. The detail in some of the temples were amazing, one had the largest Buddha statue which was really impressive to see as a sign of respect you are not allowed to take photos inside.
Next we jumped back on the subway and we to the summer palace, outside the it seemed very busy and people were coming up asking if we wanted a private tour. As you walk through the gates it's a bridge over the little lake playing music. We carried on walking and went to the first temple - more steps and got to see the view from the top of Beijing city. From there we walked down to view the long corridor which was just a sea of people walking along! We walked one small section then decided it was too crowded so stopped of for an ice cream over looking the lake. A small local girl kept coming up to us when we were walking along to leave, she would come up smile then run away, eventually she came up and started practicing her English on us while her mum took photos! Then some other people saw and wanted photos with us too - hello celebrities!
We got back on the very busy Sunday and made it to Tiananmen square watch the flag being taken down and the sunset. You have to go through two security check points to get near the square after the first one there is no signs but to the left there was a big building with people queuing so we assumed it was in there. We queue and up paid only to realise to was actually another temple!! So we left quickly and followed the crowd to the square! The guards were so regiment, they would have two standing together and one would keep still while the other moved his head scanning the area then as soon as he stops they swap!
After we decided to go to the famous night market, its situated in the main shopping area of Beijing which is pretty built up. On arrival to the market we could smell the food as we walked in, people were shouting for us to view their stalls. We went over to the first stall to see live scorpions on a stick, the man shoved one up to me and told me to try but I thought it was a better idea to pass! There was loads of stalls with different things such a starfish, seahorses, and bugs! We decided to have dumplings and banana frittata - was lush!
To sum up Beijing would be that it's very different!! When I first arrived it was a big culture shock with the staring from the locals, dusty alley ways, the crazy bikes and cars aiming at you when walking on pavement or road! However I wouldn't of changed this trip at all and I'm so pleased I've experienced the Great Wall of China, got to have funny situations like ordering the wrong food and to see some of the traditional culture.
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