During a wander about to find a bar after exploring the Forbidden City, a chauvinistic English speaking Chinese man accompanied by two young (and very cute) Chinese girls struck up a conversation with us on the footpath. Our trust level lowered by the experience of a couple of days before, we were instantly suspicious. This time the pretext was slightly different - he was the head of an English language school, and the girls were his students, and he wanted to use this opportunity for them to get some practice.
“Which country are you from?”
“Ireland”.
“Ah! Ireland! I’ve been there!”
“Really?”
“Yes, I like Drogheda a lot”.
(Surprised laughter). “We’re from Cork, do you know it?”
“Yes, I have been there”. (Changes subject)
….(brief chat about something else)…
(Returning to subject) “So did you like Cork? What did you see there?”
(Changes subject without answering question)
The bullshitting above ended any thoughts that this guy was genuine. After more small talk, he asked did we all want to come to a bar for a drink and more conversation. It’s not often we turn down a drink.
Showing posts with label Beijing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beijing. Show all posts
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Enjoy the Cold While it Lasts
One of the problems with Beijing for visiting travellers is that it has too many things to see, especially for a casual Chinese history enthusiast like myself. There were still a few items on our must see list, and fear of guilt over not visiting them while we were in Beijing (when would we be here again?) initially overcame sightseeing fatigue. My own personal excitement over our next ‘sight’ also helped - the Forbidden City.
If you want a real taste of the power and might that China’s rulers wielded in the past, look no further than here. The entire complex conveys a grandeur and opulence unmatched by anything else I saw in China. Having recently been given a good scrub before the Olympics arrived, we were able to marvel at the halls and palaces in a pristine state, how they would have been kept when only the emperor, his eunuchs and concubines inhabited the area inside the complex walls.
Later that evening we stumbled upon a large night food market whilst looking to satisfy the hunger built up from exploring the forbidden city - one that had plenty of the more unusual Chinese delicacies. Fried centipede anyone? How about fried scorpion? Silkworms on a stick? Who would eat such things?
John ate them all.
Rising the next morning it was a case of another day, another unmissible sight to see - the Temple of Heaven. We were all getting tired of sightseeing at this stage, but it was nice to explore the park surrounding it’s main monuments, a refreshing break from the uniform drudgery of big city China. To be fair the Temple of Heaven complex itself is impressive, and perhaps we should have taken a break from sightseeing before this point, but we had already been in Beijing for almost a week and there was so much more of China to see!
In the two months since we left a chilly winter Ireland, my body seemed to have forgotten how to cope with cold weather (it was below ten degrees most days in Beijing). Perhaps all the rushing around to see things contributed too, but whatever it was, I had caught a cold. I spent the final day in Beijing feeling sorry for myself in the hostel. As our train departed from Beijing's station that night, I was able to comfort myself with the fact that this would be the coldest weather I’d see for at least a year and a half (or so I thought).
If you want a real taste of the power and might that China’s rulers wielded in the past, look no further than here. The entire complex conveys a grandeur and opulence unmatched by anything else I saw in China. Having recently been given a good scrub before the Olympics arrived, we were able to marvel at the halls and palaces in a pristine state, how they would have been kept when only the emperor, his eunuchs and concubines inhabited the area inside the complex walls.
Later that evening we stumbled upon a large night food market whilst looking to satisfy the hunger built up from exploring the forbidden city - one that had plenty of the more unusual Chinese delicacies. Fried centipede anyone? How about fried scorpion? Silkworms on a stick? Who would eat such things?
John ate them all.
Rising the next morning it was a case of another day, another unmissible sight to see - the Temple of Heaven. We were all getting tired of sightseeing at this stage, but it was nice to explore the park surrounding it’s main monuments, a refreshing break from the uniform drudgery of big city China. To be fair the Temple of Heaven complex itself is impressive, and perhaps we should have taken a break from sightseeing before this point, but we had already been in Beijing for almost a week and there was so much more of China to see!
In the two months since we left a chilly winter Ireland, my body seemed to have forgotten how to cope with cold weather (it was below ten degrees most days in Beijing). Perhaps all the rushing around to see things contributed too, but whatever it was, I had caught a cold. I spent the final day in Beijing feeling sorry for myself in the hostel. As our train departed from Beijing's station that night, I was able to comfort myself with the fact that this would be the coldest weather I’d see for at least a year and a half (or so I thought).
Sunday, 5 July 2009
The Beijing Tea Party
Beijing’s metro is excellent. Spotlessly clean, almost foolproof navigation (even for English speakers) and very regular trains made navigating to other parts of the city a breeze. Our first destination on it was also the most famous - Tianamen Square.
There’s plenty to see around the square itself, which is why we went there, but this was the day we learned that Monday in China is the day museums and other attractions are closed. Wandering about the square wondering what to do, two Chinese students, who weren’t much younger than us, started up a conversation, with the pretext of practicing their English.
Offering to show us to a temple that was open (and free), and with nothing better to do, we decided to take them up on their kind offer. The temple was quite good, something we would never had found ourselves, and I genuinely learned a lot about Beijing from the lad I was talking to. Then we suggested getting a drink somewhere, and they suggested some tea. We agreed, and followed them to a nearby teahouse.
Showing us into a small room with no windows, they suggested that we go for a pot as it works out much cheaper. All of us felt a slight sense of unease at this stage. It was Gearoid who noticed, on the barely legible price board on the wall, that a pot of tea was 300 yuan - about 30 euro! On Gearoid’s words of “Lads, this is exactly what I read about”, we all promptly leapt out of our seats, grabbed our bags, and scrammed. They even had the cheek to yell “well won’t you buy us lunch at least” as we paced down the street. This incident was a shame as all it did was destroy our trust in Chinese approaching us on the street - I’m sure some of them genuinely just want to talk.
We had read about this particular scam in Lonely Planet - we would have to foot the bill for all the expensive tea. The tea-house was in cahoots with the scammers, who I assume would have got a cut.
Still reeling after almost being duped out of a lot of cash, we calmed down with some cheap noodle soup and wandered about for a while - stumbling entirely by accident across Qianmen Dajie. A historical market street about a kilometre long, the entire street had been knocked and was being entirely rebuilt - keeping the traditional architectural style of the original. It reminded me of Main St. USA in Disneyland - everything so clean and perfect that it doesn’t look real. This surreal sight of brand new old buildings epitomizes modern China for me, something I don’t think I could have witnessed anywhere else on the planet.
There’s plenty to see around the square itself, which is why we went there, but this was the day we learned that Monday in China is the day museums and other attractions are closed. Wandering about the square wondering what to do, two Chinese students, who weren’t much younger than us, started up a conversation, with the pretext of practicing their English.
Offering to show us to a temple that was open (and free), and with nothing better to do, we decided to take them up on their kind offer. The temple was quite good, something we would never had found ourselves, and I genuinely learned a lot about Beijing from the lad I was talking to. Then we suggested getting a drink somewhere, and they suggested some tea. We agreed, and followed them to a nearby teahouse. Showing us into a small room with no windows, they suggested that we go for a pot as it works out much cheaper. All of us felt a slight sense of unease at this stage. It was Gearoid who noticed, on the barely legible price board on the wall, that a pot of tea was 300 yuan - about 30 euro! On Gearoid’s words of “Lads, this is exactly what I read about”, we all promptly leapt out of our seats, grabbed our bags, and scrammed. They even had the cheek to yell “well won’t you buy us lunch at least” as we paced down the street. This incident was a shame as all it did was destroy our trust in Chinese approaching us on the street - I’m sure some of them genuinely just want to talk.
We had read about this particular scam in Lonely Planet - we would have to foot the bill for all the expensive tea. The tea-house was in cahoots with the scammers, who I assume would have got a cut.
Still reeling after almost being duped out of a lot of cash, we calmed down with some cheap noodle soup and wandered about for a while - stumbling entirely by accident across Qianmen Dajie. A historical market street about a kilometre long, the entire street had been knocked and was being entirely rebuilt - keeping the traditional architectural style of the original. It reminded me of Main St. USA in Disneyland - everything so clean and perfect that it doesn’t look real. This surreal sight of brand new old buildings epitomizes modern China for me, something I don’t think I could have witnessed anywhere else on the planet.
Taking the Capital
Beijing is a city that’s been invaded numerous times in it’s history, and now it was the turn of three inquisitive Irishmen. Emerging from the train station, our first impressions were that it looked very similar to Xian and Chengdu. I had heard that after a while big Chinese cities begin to look the same - we had encountered this on our third stop in China. Still, the long taxi journey showed up the difference in size - Beijing is enormous.
The hostel proved more difficult to find than size 10 shoes in Nepal (we had more trouble finding it than any other hostel in China in fact). Hidden deep within a clutch of hutong (traditional residential Chinese streets), we eventually located it with the help of a hastily drawn map from a local.
The first day was spent visiting sights in close proximity to the hostel - the Lama Temple, the Confucius temple and the old imperial college. All three were excellent, the outstanding highlight being the 18m tall Buddha statue in the Lama temple.
Thankfully only a ten minute walk from the hostel (which served awful food) was a street packed with restaurants. With such a huge selection, we had some of our best meals in China here, and really started to perfect our chopstick skills.
The hostel proved more difficult to find than size 10 shoes in Nepal (we had more trouble finding it than any other hostel in China in fact). Hidden deep within a clutch of hutong (traditional residential Chinese streets), we eventually located it with the help of a hastily drawn map from a local.
The first day was spent visiting sights in close proximity to the hostel - the Lama Temple, the Confucius temple and the old imperial college. All three were excellent, the outstanding highlight being the 18m tall Buddha statue in the Lama temple.
Thankfully only a ten minute walk from the hostel (which served awful food) was a street packed with restaurants. With such a huge selection, we had some of our best meals in China here, and really started to perfect our chopstick skills.
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