People said China would be a culture shock so I was expecting Beijing to be pretty different to cities I know in the UK, but I was still surprised by the sheer size of the Chinese capital and the number of people there are here.
I was picked up by a Mandarin-only-speaking driver who transported me to my hotel in central Beijing, giving me the first introduction to Chinese (and Asian for that matter) driving protocol. Essentially, there is none. I spent most of the journey wondering why the Chinese bothered spending time marking out lanes on the roads if everyone was going to disregard them anyway and drive in between them and across them, not bother to indicate, undercut, overtake and most of the time play 'driving chicken' - keep going until one person bottles it and pulls on the brakes. More than once this resulted in road rage and angry slanging matches in the middle of the highway. Slightly unnerving.
Beijing is also very odd because it goes from huge roads that are like highways with immense crossroads that are traversed by hundreds of vehicles at a time, but then you turn off one of these huge roads and immediately come into a tiny hutong - Beijing's old style traditional streets which are very narrow. The contrast is striking. It was into one of these grubby looking hutongs that my driver turned and we drove past an array of small dank shops, including one that caught my eye; 'Convenience Store' it said in painted letters on a wooden board outside the shop, which was dusty, gloomy and had no goods on show except a pair of pants and a child's t-shirt hanging from hangers outside. Convenient indeed...
Although initially unnerved by these surroundings for the hotel (not helped by the fact that at first the staff couldn't find my name on the booking list - contemplating 3 weeks untoured in China was a frightening prospect), after some exploring it turned out that this narrow road opened up at one end and became larger and much more tourist-friendly with shops, bars and restaurants lining each side. Having said that, it was in the narrower, more traditional part of the street that we found our best breakfast - steamed dumplings and fried dough sticks (traditionally eaten with soya bean milk but we dipped them in sugar so they tasted just like doughnuts) from a lady on a street stall. So much food for only about 6Y. Bargain!
The first real day in Beijing was spent at the Great Wall - our tour guide took us to the site at Mutianyu where we had a Chinese pancake breakfast at the foot of the wall - this involves a pancake with an egg cracked into it, spring onions and chilli paste. It's an acquired taste, I think. I like to stick to the sweet lemon/sugar/banana/chocolate favourites.
The Great Wall was truly amazing. Opting to walk up the steps to it rather than get the cable car was perhaps an energy sapping mistake, but once you've reached the wall and can see it snaking over the mountains in all directions with the most incredible green countryside backdrop you forget the pain in the thighs! Walking the wall in these restored tourist parts is pretty easy, although it's still effort - lots of up and down and the humidity means the sweat isn't long in coming! It's best when you find yourself in a relatively deserted part without tourists everywhere so you can really appreciate the size of it and the work it must have taken to complete. Our trip to the Great Wall also included an unexpected sight, as we came across an elderly Chinese man who was lying stiff on his back surrounded by a couple of people talking on mobile phones. He wasn't moving and it transpired that he was dead - he was so rigid and transfixed and there was no pulse. It was quite a sobering experience to encounter a dead body on the Great Wall of China, but I couldn't help but think that you probably couldn't find a more beautiful and impressive place to have your last moments on earth than there.
The best thing about the Mutianyu site of the Great Wall is undoubtedly the toboggan ride on the way down. It costs a little extra but is totally worth it, as you whizz and whirl down the mountainside on a little cart, ignoring the shouts of Chinese officials posted along the way to slow down. It's great fun and adds an extra highlight to the whole experience. Try and make sure you're not behind someone really slow though - we saw a girl going down at honestly about 1mph and it took her about 15mins to get down the whole thing. That could ruin your fun if you like going fast.
In the evening we experienced a Chinese tradition - the Kung Fu show. I was pretty sceptical about this as I thought it might just be a lot of amateur fighting but it was really impressive. It was more like a whole theatrical show - a story told through dance and theatre as well as Kung Fu art itself and there were some awesome stunts; a man breaking 3 metal bars on his head, the famous concrete punch and the nail/sword bed were among them. Some of the performers are just boys so it's even more impressive then. It was worth seeing but definitely get the cheaper seat tickets as they give you a more than adequate view of the stage and you save 100Y.