Beijing-Day 2

The Forbidden City

Another long walk lol everything in Beijing is miles apart it seems. We arrive at the Gate of Heavenly Peace (admission was surprisingly free) which is a double-eaved gate hung with the portrait of Mao...it is said to be a potent national symbol.The gates divided into five doors and you can reach it via seven bridges running across a stream. Apparently the emperor was the only one who was allowed to use the middle door and bridge.Its impressive and definitely eye catching...not sure why you would charge an admission fee though.This was where Mao proclaimed the people's republic (01.10.1949) so i guess its pretty important then lol! After we walked through you come to the entrance of The Forbidden City. I've seen this place in a few films and was very excited to walk around it even if it is just a bunch more temples (well i have to say it and live up to my new nickname otherwise what ammunition will charlie have to tease me all day!) 

 In case anyone is interested a bit of history and background...The Forbidden City (now known as the Palace Museum) is surrounded by a 52m wide moat and is the largest and best preserved complex of ancient buildings (it was off limits for 500 years...in fact the penalty for uninvited admission was instant execution) so that tells you how old it is. It is also a UNESCO heritage site. It housed two dynasties in its time until the republic demoted the last Qing emperor.

Lots of it is still out of bounds but the place is filled with beautiful temples all of a similar design...some are restored better than others but stunning none the less. The vast size of the place is a shock as it is slap bang in the middle of Beijing....i was not expecting it to be so huge!Inside some of the temples there are original artifacts...furniture and clothes but its hard to get a good look with the hoards of Chinese people inside. It's also near impossible to get a good photo for the same reason...everyone wants to walk in front of you as soon as you get your camera out-much to Charlies despair (he's a photography perfectionist lol!)so don't hold it against me too much. All in all well worth the walk!  

Tian'anmen Square

This is the worlds largest public square (440,000 square meters) and was conceived by Mao to project the enormity of the Communist Party and it still does that today....police presence (plain clothes,in uniform and in big vans) plus the hordes of CCTV towers is very overbearing. As the lonely planet says not an ideal place to strip down to a free Tibet T.Shirt!Lol! On one side of the square is Chairman Mao Memorial Hall...his mummified corpse lies in a crystal cabinet draped in a red flag with the hammer and sickle on. This would have been interesting but was closed so will have to make a trip back to see that one! On another side the gigantic China Museum..i know China has a lot of history but id really rather rip my eyeballs out that walk around that lol! There is also the Monument to the People's Heroes...it's an obelisk completed in 1958...a granite lump not much more to say sorry haha!  All in all i'd say it was a mildly interesting experience to view this place!

On the way back to the hostel we decided to head down to Wangfyjing Snack Street as Charlie was really excited about eating lots of disgusting things on stick(the Chinese will literally eat anything) and i was really excited about seeing him do it...i considered it for all of two minutes and decided my gag reflex would'nt be able to cope with this one! He manged to eat (on a stick and still having a wriggle before it was cooked) scorpions, cockroaches and crickets. The verdict was....

Cockroach tastes vile

Crickets are non offensive

Scorpions are good and taste just like pork crackling! My boyfriend is a strange one people...although i found myself strangely in awe of his ability to just chow down on that stuff for the experience....very impressive!

Beijing- Day 1

We arrive in Beijing around 2am...how can the train be early!Luckily Charlie wakes up just as we are arriving otherwise who knows where we might have ended up! We decide to get a taxi as we are both pretty tired....but the taxi drivers have other ideas.The conversation went something like this....
Lama Temple please....?
50
No....use the meter
No meter...50...I'm tired
go to bed then and don't be a night driver FOOL....
This went on for a while.We got fed up so we started to walk.Yes we argued over 2 GBP but its the principle, that's almost a nights accommodation at the hostel we are attempting to get to. The walk to the hostel may have been painful and long but at least its better than getting ripped off by taxi drivers.

This is how the day progressed!

Beijing Zoo

Yes,ok I'll admit it was my idea to go to the zoo and because of the experiences i have had in the past at Colchester and London Zoo i was excited to see the animals.When we walk through the entrance we head straight to the giant panda enclosure...when in China and all that! The first is an indoor enclosure housing three pandas and its a reasonable home....not perfect but acceptable. The Olympic pandas are in an outside enclosure and we quickly notice a very distressed panda pacing up and down...up and down. The next panda is munching his way through some bamboo and looks pretty content. Maybe the first panda was a misinterpretation?

Next we head off to see the monkeys. They too appear to have reasonable enclosures but in a country like China and a city such as Beijing i'm expecting a bit more for these animals.So far alright though.I've always loved monkeys i think they are hilarious to watch and these are no exception.

However there was one enclosure with a monkey in who proceeded it seemed to try to pass a piece of paper through the holes in the enclosure to us...they are such clever animals...it felt uncomfortable though...the monkey seemed stressed and it was almost like a SOS letter!

We continued on to see the wolves....large beautiful animals pacing...pacing pacing unhappy and stressed out in a filthy enclosure with hardly a 1/4 of the room they needed for the environment to be even acceptable. My stomach started to sink i think my initial gut feeling may have been correct and i was starting to feel a little bit angry about this place.

I knew we were getting close to the tiger and lions enclosure. Anyone that knows me will tell you that tigers are my favourite animal i think they are absolutely breathtaking to see and i was really concerned about seeing this....i was hoping i was going to be wrong. As i walked in i was shocked...the size of these animals..id never realised when seeing them in other zoos mostly because in other zoos the enclosure are of a size that i never really get that close.This was different they were in cells...barred dirty cells where you could literally stand 6feet away from them. They looked edgy, and unhappy and i didn't blame them this is not right!This made me angry. What didn't help was the locals who seemed to find immense amusement in taunting them...growling and clapping hands and shouting at them as if they would pose for their pictures.These are not supposed to be there for our amusement and i really wished the animals in this enclosure would break out and rip the face off these stupid people. It was very very upsetting for both me and Charlie.

As i walked down to the last cage the two lions there took my breath away they were stunning animals and it only made it more heartbreaking to think of them in this place.I was furious!Trust me when i say the photo does them no justice.

Things continued to go downhill from there really....elephants in cells also barely able to move around. Hippo's on display behind glass in the restaurant where the people were given more room to eat than they were to roam around. And a rhino unable to even stand it was in such a state. I'm glad i went if only to have a rant on here and tell anyone if your ever in Beijing or you know of someone who is going to Beijing tell them to not visit this place...it is the epitome of animal cruelty....i hope that if people stop visiting they will rethink the standards of this place and give the animals the respect and life they deserve.

Anyway sorry but i had to get that off my chest.

Summer Palace 

We didn't realise the scale of this place...it is immense. We decided that after the long day we'd had already...and the fact that once you've seen one temple you have pretty much seen them all we would just get a feel for the place. The one thing that really stood out for me was the temples all situated round a massive lake....it was really stunning the photos say it all really! 

XingCheng

When we finally arrived in XingCheng we head straight off to find the hostel we have chosen in the Lonely Planet. However it seems that non Chinese people cant stay in budget hotels or hostels here and we are greeted with 'no room'... no room my arse.Apparently this is highlighted in the Lonely Planet as being for our safety however the only vibe we got from locals is shock to see us in the city nothing sinister.So for all you budget hotels in London please refuse the next Chinese person who darkens your door and send them to the Hilton or Ritz....JOKE of course. We give up and head to a 3* establishment. We faff around pretending the price is too high and get 10GBP knocked off the price. So the room is lovely...bathtub!!!sofa and big t.v all for 10GBP a night...but i'm reminded not to get used to this. In the morning we check out and head off to see the old city wall. The wall was built in 1430 and is 3274m long and 8.5m high and was used to protect the city during the Ming dynasty.Its pretty disappointing to be honest and Charlie reminds me of my new nickname (Karl). Hey im just honest.

 

Next we head to The Confucius Temple. It was built in 1430 and covered 16800 square meters making it the biggest Confucius Temple in Liaoning and the oldest one in the three provinces of northeast China. There were some pretty pictures to be had in here but again it wasnt that amazing. Even Charlie said he was mildly disappointed lol. 

 

On the way back we head into a market with lots of food stalls. Charlie tucks into the hearts of some animal BBQ'd (im sure neither of us want to know which animal) as is the case with my non discript meat on a stick....plus some corn on the cob...all of less than 1 GBP. I also purchase some proper authentic green tea for my mum and we have a short scout for a China Football shirt for Charlie (non successful) and head back to the hotel to collect our backpacks stopping on the way for an ice cream to warm up (weird i know) but China has no bar scene that we have seen yet so we cant pop in for a drink (me a coffee...Charlie a beer). Next stop the train station for our train back to Beijing....the next five days are going to be jam packed but im looking forward to it!!

DanDong and The Great Wall of China

 

Charlie meets a Chinese guy on the train called Yo who is adament he will show us where our hotel is. Not only does he do that but he drags his son out to arrange our reservation for us as he speaks english...very nice man who wanted nothing for his time. The hotel is very nice..feels like we are living the life of luxury in DanDong hehe. I have a shower and the hit the hay as im still feeling a little under the weather. Charlie heads of to see the North Korean border...obsessed!When he gets back we head downstairs to the hotel restaurant for something to eat. I choose a plate of sweet and sour beef fat....mmm mmm GROSS and it really looked like pork in the picture menu,my eyes deceive me!Up Early the next morning to eat breakfast and jump on the bus to the wall. Charlie takes me to see the North Korean border....see obsessed then we head up a stupid route to the highest bit of the wall. It looked like one million dodgy stairs and my chest still hasnt recovered so i have a little strop....iv come to China and i cant even walk on the wall coz of this stupid cold blah blah. 

So after a little hissy fit i retrace our steps and decide to start from the actual beginning on my own while Moonface does the stupid route. It was still hard work with this chest infection and i used my inhaler A LOT but i did it!!!!Before i know it i hear Charlie call my name and id reached the 3/4. I was wise enough to realise that my chest wouldnt be able to get me right up to the top at this point in time but i was pleased with myself for persisting when it felt like crap trying to breathe lol. I did however earn the nickname Karl Pilkington from Charlie a bit unfairly i might add as i found the Wall amazing all i happened to mention is that how can it 1) be a wonder of the world and 2)be the Great Wall if its been rebuilt....the pyramids havnt been rebuilt and they had to fight for their place in the list.Charlie found this very amusing.

 

We grab the bus back to the main part of the city and take a look around the various indoor markets and shops, head back for dinner at the Korean restaurant Charlie spotted in the Lonely Planet. I let him choose my meal as iv not had much luck so far and he manages to order me a very nice dish...thanks Charlois.                                                                   

Ulaanbaatar to Beijing!

Charlies a grumpy little man coz he wants to leave on time and im a grumpy girl too coz the cold i have aquired has gone straight to my chest...perfect cant breathe and have to carry this flippin backpack! All is well and we arrive in time for the train. In our carriage is Wai ( a chinese man who now works and lives in Amsterdam and has been on a train for 8 days from travelling from there to Beijing) hardcore! and a Belgian called Leo who has three degrees one from Beijing Film Academy. We joke that he must be more chinese than Wai who proceeds to tell us he gets abuse from his fellow country men who call him a banana because he is yellow on the outside and white on the inside.lol.On the train i attempt to catch up on some sleep as i have been up most nights hacking away with this cough but its just my luck our carriage is right next to one full of Australians and Kiwis who drink loudly....ggrrrr.

The Mongolian-Chinese border crossing is around three hours as we wait for them to change the wheels on the train while we are still on board...only Chinese people are allowed to exit the train and stretch their legs. It was a suprise how smooth it was i didnt even notice us going up in the air. When we arrive in Beijing me and Charlie grab a bite to eat with Wai, Leo, Johanna and Viktor and say goodbye....head back to the train station and get our ticket to DanDong. Finally a coffee. We board the train, our beds are at the bottom thank god as the sleeper is three beds high on both sides.Very comfortable nights sleep...hardly any coughing although i was occasionally woken up by the man opposite who is carrying a massive cricket in a jar that occasionally chirps up. Lets see if the Great Wall of China is all its cracked up to be.

Last 7 days in Mongolia

So not really a lot to say about the last week. After getting back from the Ger to Ger experience a hot shower was the best thing since sliced bread. Days have mostly consisted of catching up on t.v from back home....yes like X Factor lol, eating and sleeping. Colds in Mongolia are sooo much worse than back home as it is impossible to stay warm. And i have struggled with one for the last few days. I did go to a local orphanage to help out. Doing some drawing with the kids that lived there and teaching them English.But it seems Mongolians are not so good at accepting help from Europeans lol. Tomorrow we are up bright and early...well prob not so bright but definately early to get our train to Beijing. China here i come...and the good news its much much warmer there!!

Ger To Ger- Mongolia

Ger To Ger does not get off to a good start. I forgot my sleeping bag and Charlie has to go all the way back and get it- lets just say he wasn't impressed. Thanks Charlie for stopping me freezing my ass off!

When we arrive we travel by Ox cart for 8km in darkness and it suddenly dawns on me exactly how cold this trip is going to be. The trip was seven days of moving from one nomadic family to another and this blog would be a novel if i went through every experience. It was really tough for me...it tested my boundaries to the limit but i am sincerely glad that i saw it through. I learnt that i can suck it up and get on with it and the things that i saw and did not a lot of people have experienced. I also learnt that i have a very supportive better half who did really well putting up with my Cari tantrums. So to sum up the experience i'm gonna list below the things i learnt!

1) I look like a tool in Mongolian fashion.

2) Pooing outside is a harrowing experience.

3) Picking up animal poo is all in a days work for the nomadic wife.

4) Sharing your Ger with a mouse is not fun. Especially when the mouse catching monster your given is a cute little kitten.

5) Ger's can get very cold when you have no wood.

6) Ox cart is not built for speed or comfort but is much more preferable to a horse. I'll admit I had a little cry when attempting to ride a horse.

7) Nomadic kids are cute.

8) Mongolian food sucks

9) Charlie is number one Ox detective

10) A woodchuck can chuck wood.