Beijing Part 2

At about 8am the following morning, a rather uncomfortable minibus, packed with American backpackers, and with the heating up far too high, took us to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. A cable-car (which did feel a bit rickety, and Lisa didn’t like at all) took us up to the actual wall. The sun eventually came out and we started to appreciate where we actually were. Like many things in China, it is the scale of the thing which is pretty breath-taking, and it is one of the ‘wonders of the world’ after all – but also, it is just a very long wall, and you can only be so impressed. Perhaps the real highlight was the toboggan slide which we used to get down to the bottom. Inevitably we were accosted by market traders who tried (successfully, I might add) to flog us some souvenir t-shirts and silk robes and hats we didn’t realise we needed. Ha.

That evening back in Beijing we hit the famous outdoor market at Donghuamen to see some crazy Chinese food. We weren’t disappointed. Scorpions, stag beetles, spiders, sea urchins, snakes – as long as you can fry it, you could eat it. I warmed up with a simple spring roll and some fish balls before hitting the snake meat (nice – similar to squid) and snake skin (I can’t be sure, but it seemed reminiscent of trying to eat a foreskin – chewy and rank). Martin took it one step further and tried a fried scorpion – he seemed to quite like it, and I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t bring myself to join him. I felt truly out-manned. 

Sanlitun, Beijing’s western district, was our location for the evening’s drinking. Cue: more Tsing Tao, Tequila, and Long Island Ice Teas (the expat’s favourite tipple, it would seem – perhaps because in Asia they make them so ludicrously strong). We hopped between three or four places before ending at a decent place called ‘Tree’ – a nice expat bar (located with help from the Lonely Planet book), with a Blues Trio sat in the corner playing Doors covers (props to the dope harmonica player!), and watched Martin get quite impressively drunk. Me and Lisa found some excellent post-booze street food (some kind of bacon and lettuce wrapped in egg-fried bread), before heading back to our hostels, nicely-pickled English tourists.

 

So, our last day started quite late, and after brunch - where me and Lisa embarrassed ourselves buying far too many dishes in a Chinese Cafe - we headed to the Temple of Heaven. This was every bit as impressive as the Forbidden City but with a far more spacious, laid-back feel: the Temple of Heaven is actually about half a dozen temples, some of which are mostly ‘outdoors’, spread across a huge park covered in trees and lots of little paths – it used to be the place where Emperors would pray to God for good harvests. 

Its spiritual vibe certainly lingers on: we saw some older people doing some kind of Tai Chi crossed with drunk-uncle dancing – I don’t think it was meant to be funny, but we certainly all watched, bemused, laughing at this weird spectacle for a good ten minutes. 

“My mother thinks you are handsome, can I take a picture of you please?” said one girl to me as we wandered round. A similar thing happened a few times that day. Strange. You’d they didn’t often see effeminate Englishmen in Beijing, or something. So I politely obliged, of course.

Before I left Beijing I was eager to do some shopping. I need more clothes (as my co-workers in Korea often remind me), and I had heard there were some markets in Beijng where you could pick up some bargains, if you knew how to haggle. The most famous place, Silk Street, was closed due to the New Year holiday, so we got a cab to Yashow Clothes Market, and within an hour I had two pairs of (designer/imitation: delete as appropriate) jeans and two pairs of (branded/fake: ditto) trainers, for about £50. I probably could have paid less than that even, but the market traders really know how to squeeze money out of guilt-ridden westerners (“You are so handsome, English gentleman” “Pleeeease...A few more Yuan, because it is New Year, sir” “You drive a hard bargain, clever handsome man” etc. etc.). And what the hell, even if I did pay too much, and these clothes all fall apart within a week, at least I alleviated some of my middle class shame.

One last meal back in the hutongs and the food was really good (and cheap!), but don’t ask me what we ate because with all-chinese menus, it was a case of pointing to the pictures, which caused some amusement when I accidently ordered Dog – sparking a philosophical debate with Lisa about whether it’s any different eating Dog to eating Pig or Cow, blah blah blah. Anyway, Rover, Max, Buddy, whatever your name was, if it’s any consolation, you tasted good.

We said our goodbyes to Jo and Martin, which was a wee bit sad - we had had been a pretty damn good tourist-posse over the last four days, and it will be a long time til we meet again. After another week in China, Martin was to go back to Leeds and Jo to Taiwan to teach English for a year. Oh Well. I was thankful for a great time in China’s Capital with some good friends – there were many, many things we didn’t have time to see, but what we did see really was impressive and truly memorable. 

Beijing is a cool place, and, forgive the cliché, but it really is full of paradoxes – in some ways it is accessible, modern and open, and at other times it feels dirty, backward and almost dangerous. Like the rest of China, it will never be truly westernised, because it doesn’t have to – Beijing doesn’t need western tourists, but if you ever get the chance to check out Beijing, do it, you need it!

(Oh yeah, I lied about the few hundred words thing didn't I - Sorry. Sue me.)