Back to Beijing

The train ride home from Harbin was relatively uneventful and we arrived back in Beijing at about midnight. This time we're staying at Leo Hostel just down the road from the last place, still near Tianamen Square.

We didn't do much sightseeing during the first 3 days in Beijing, so this time we're doing a bit of running around.

We had a quiet first day back, but one thing we did do was visit a gorgeous little tea shop where I ordered 'Chrysanthemum 8 Treasures' tea. Up until now I'd stuck with Jasmine tea, but Chrysanthemum had been recommended and '8 Treasures' sounded intriguing. This is what I was served:

How stunning is that?? It smelt and tasted amazing too. Unfortunately it's a special mix and I couldn't find half the ingredients afterwards. Methinks I'll be googling and then scouring Chinatown when I get home!

The morning of the next day we go to see Chairman Maos' embalmed body in the mausoleum on Tiananmen Square. I've taken a liking to Saras' term for him, 'Pickled Mao'. Having seen Pickled Minh whilst I was in Hanoi I have now decided that a visit to Moscow is in order. Visting Pickled Lenin in the Red Square would finish off my Pickled Commie Dictator Trio. I wonder if there's a t-shirt for that? Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside the mausoleum, they make you check your bag in at a locker room across the road first. Lighters and matches are also banned. I suspect that the glorious Pickled Mao is highly flammable given the quantity of formaldehyde he must have absorbed over the years.

There was a sign at the entrance saying 'Please be quiet and remove your hat'. Rather like laughing at a funeral, whilst doing the Mao rounds I had a slight smirk on my face and the almost irrepressible urge to don my frog hat and beat at the glass whilst howling at the top of my lungs. Thankfully I managed to refrain and made it out of the mausoleum in one piece and without handcuffs. He looked very peaceful....if a tad plastic, surely there'd be no harm in giving him a poke to see if he wakes up? Apparently not, he's in a glass case surrounded by glass walls with 2 guards.

Shame. Maybe next time.

Tiananmen Square

Having oogled Mao, we moved onto the Forbidden City. A few people have told me how they were a tad disappointed with the city, but it's quite incredible when you think about it. It's name comes from the fact that the common people were forbidden to enter the city, only those given permission by the Emperor were permitted to enter. It housed the royal family, high ranking officials and 'admin' staff. There are 5 entrances to the city, the centre entrance to be used by the Emperor only (and presumably the poor sods carrying his sedan chair, I very much doubt he walked anywhere), the two inner entrances for the royal family and highest ranking officials, and the two out entrances for the rest. Even today, the central entrance is cordoned off all the way through the city, probably as much to do with preserving the intricate carvings on it as maintaining tradition.

Construction on the city began in 1406 and it remained the seat of power in China for over 500 years, through successive Emperors and Dynasties. I can understand why some may find it a bit of a letdown, it can be a bit 'same same' if you stick solely to the central paths, but Sara and I amused ourselves by looking around the galleries at the sides where many of the artefacts are displayed. Then we paid an extra quid to get into the treasure galleries, SPARKLY STUFF!!

It always amazes me how people of money and power just like to surround themselves with stuff. Just, loads and loads of expensive stuff, some of this jewellery was incredible. I can't deny that I wanted to smash the cases and steal some for myself.....dangerously alluring stuff, this 'stuff'.

Empresses Head-dress

We visited the Imperial Garden on the way out and bought far too much stuff in the gift shops and then headed to Beihei Park for a walk and a coffee. Beijings parks are stunning in the summer, it was much less crowded and leafy at this time of year, but it was great to watch kids playing on the frozens lakes and sit in the coffee shop watching the sun go down....Sara and I, we're WELL romantic!



Back in the hostel we stayed up until 1am drinking beer and playing Liars Dice!

This will be my last broadcast from chilly China. Today has been quiet, with an 11pm flight to look forward to I didn't really fancy doing anything strenuous, you know, like walking or moving in general. I've watched Prince of Persia, Pirates of the Caribbean and Zoolander on the DVD player in the hostel and spent some time chatting to Liu, a girl who works here. She was talking about her boyfriend and how she keeps breaking up with him, but then takes him back whenever he turns up crying at her.

After a while I realised that her boyfriend was sitting right behind us, well within earshot. She just said 'It's ok....he doesn't speak English!' Turns out that she's actively discouraging him from learning English :o). Good girl :D she makes me laugh!

Ok guys, I'll be leaving for my flight in about an hour and a half. Thanks for following if you have been. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can blog here again :D. Big loves xx

Heads Up

Rolling around in bed until lunchtime would have been much appreciated this morning, but it was up at 9am in order to ablut before going to meet Sara's mate Kenny and his girlfriend Cindy, Kenny isa lovely guy from the Phillipines who lives in Beijing, Sara met him in Xinjiang when she travelled in China previously.

We're visiting Harbin to see the Annual Snow and Ice Festival in all it's glory, but you can't buy train tickets outside of China without paying through the nose, arse and any other orifice you care to name. So Kenny came to the rescue and secured a couple of sought-after tickets to Harbin for us. The trains were already pretty packed, so we were lucky to have Sara's connections!

We trundled over to meet Kenny on the subway and he suggested we all go out for some lunch together. He took us to what he considers the best restaurant in Beijing for Chinese food Schezuan-style.

As we walked into the restaurant and were taken into the back dining room, we realised that there was a wedding going on. There was a lovely poster of the happy couple up just as we walked in, and red chiffon everywhere, the bride was dressed in red. About ten minutes after we sat down (on a table just behind those of the friends and family), the groom made his entrance, splendid as a strutting cockerel sporting his amazing hairdoo. It must be all about the hair for Chinese grooms this year. He then proceeded to walk around the room with what I imagine was either his best man or brother, taking a drink with every male guest. I hate to think what state he must have been in afterwards.

Back to the food, it's what's important after all! Forgive me for not remembering the Chinese names but I'm afraid that's far and beyond me. To start with something easy we had Kung Po Chicken, a plate of lightly battered prawns, a chicken soup and a fish dish which is basically fish sliced and then cooked and submerged in chilli oil. Rice and jasmine tea to finish off.

All sounds quite normal right? Yus.

The Kung Po chicken was amazing! But knocked your socks off if you unknowingly munched on a peppercorn.

The prawns were equally delicious, you eat them with their crunchy jackets still on.

The chicken soup was yummy, however, it's not like our chicken soup. The Chinese do not believe in waste. Hence the following picture of Kenny....

......about to partake in a lovely boiled chicken head. This is after he offered it...and feet to everyone at the table, but before he prised the closed eyes open with chopsticks to see what he'd find.

And the fish was gorgeous, it just melted in your mouth. However, Sara found that having his big fish eye staring out the bowl at her was a bit too much to stand. I was repeatedly ordered to bury the fish head because 'He's staring at me again!' Personally, the accusatory gazes I felt most were those of his mates in the tanks we walked past on our way out. It was only made worse by the fact that they had actually visited the table with him in a plastic bag so that we could nod our approval before his demise. That just made it personal.

The experience could only be improved by the swivelly table centre, tug-o-war over the last fish-eyeball has never been so much fun :o)

It was a lovely lunch and I enjoyed meeting Kenny and Cindy, you see the fire light up in his eyes when he talks about travelling. Then you look over at Cindy and she's watching him closely, then rolling her eyes, they make a great little couple.

I wish I could say more exciting things about this day, but the truth is that we came home, took a little walk down a nice street with a Christmas tree and trams, and then retired to the hostel for rest, food and an early night, we are hardcore in the extreme!

I'll leave you with a mission:

Can anyone ID this for me? We bought it thinking maybe fishcake....chicken? Potato?

None of those, it's a strange, stodgy, red, sweetish......stuff, deep fried in breadcrumbs. Sara reckons it might be some kind of red bean paste. Can anyone shed some light?

No disgusterising haphazard guesses either people! Thanks muchly :o)

xxx

Peking Duck

So, after rolling around in bed until 11:30am, Sara and I decided that we should get some ‘breakfast’. I played the role of reluctant tourist and ordered an English breakfast, whilst Sara went for a more traditional stir-fried egg and tomato.

The english breakfast was cute, it came on an absolutely humungous round plate, and on the plate were 2 pieces of toast, 2 fried eggs, one tiny sausage, a quarter of a tomato, the smallest dish of beans you ever did see, and a pile of fried shiitake mushrooms. All items had a little section of plate all to themselves. It was also delicious, though I could have done with a bigger sausage!

After breakfast we ventured out to the Silk Market. I was expecting a market similar to those I’ve seen in other parts of Asia, and so was unprepared for walking into what appeared to be a department store. It was unmistakeably a market (Nicki, Mum, Dad, think Poole Market), but it was on separate shiny marble (marble-esque?) floors connected by escalators. This is where Sara and I picked up our most important souvenier. The much-coveted, ‘I (insert heart symbol) BJ’ t-shirt. Most Beijing-ers have absolutely no idea why western tourists scream in delight, buy up and pose for photo’s in these T-shirts whilst peeing themselves laughing.....but they do and it certainly helps their revenue, and so presumably order them in by the barrel-load.

Yes...I'm in the toilet....and what??

Sustenance was soon required after doing battle with the stall owners, Sara’s bargaining skills leave nothing to be desired, she haggled a painting I bought down from 1500 yuan to 300 yuan.....well, to 500, I said I wanted to think about it and as we were walking off he shouted ‘300! Last offer!’, so that was about the level of skill I brought to the plate. None.

We visited a restaurant just a few doors down from where we’re staying and had......

General sights on wandering around Beijing at night

Peking duck. It was delicious! There is a dish of the pink/brown meaty meat with no fat, a dish of the meat closer to the skin with skin and fat, and a dish of crispy skin that has been fried. You put a bit of each in the pancake (after dipping in hoisin sauce) and top with veggies.....om nom nom nom. It was exceptionally filling and delicious! *Hunting ducks*

It had already been decided that we were going out for some beers that night, so after we’d waddled ungainly back to the hostel and rested awhile, we headed out to San Li Tun, the club and bar district. After a bit of a wander in the freezing temperatures we finally found the area that Sara remembered from her trips to Beijing before, and installed ourselves in Bar Blue. Sara had taught me a game called ‘Liars Dice’ earlier in the day and we spent most of the evening playing this. It involves 5 dice and a beaker each. I’d explain it, but it might not make sense, I’d be happy to explain to anyone who wants to know when I get home.

It’s a Chinese bar game, and so they’re interested to see Westerners playing, a few people came over at various times and joined us for a few rounds, mostly attempting to thrash us. As is the travelling way....whoever loses has to drink. So we were both the worse for wear having ordered some very strong cocktails when we left at 4am! Not the best idea when we were meeting Sara’s fried Kenny who lives in Beijing at 11am that morning.

Our ideas are always the best ideas! Oh Yes!

Big loves to all at home, hi to Nicki, Mum, Dad, Nanny, Jo and any other family who may be reading (Auntie Pat, Maz) xx

You know when you're in a Hostel when.......

The interior design is comprised mostly of beer bottles (*insert local brand name).....

.....and the incoherent outpourings of many a beer-enthusiast.

You sleep in bunkbeds....thanks for that drunken rocking of me to sleep last night Sara, twas most soothing.

The local dishes are pushed to the back of the menu, whilst burger, pizzas, pasta and cocktails are front and centre.

There are so many more, I'll have to think about it!

'Operation Beijing' went smoothly, apart from some initial trouble which I'll label simply as 'digestive' and let you imagine the rest for yourselves.

My first experience of the Chinese people was on the second leg of our flight, Doha to Beijing. The fellow sat next to Sara and I took one look at us and decided he was off to sit elsewhere. Actually, it was after I took my jumper off. After extracting a reasonably believeable promise from Sara that I didn't stink like a ferret, I decided that he must be an undercover monk, and that sitting next to me in a low cut vest would be too much for him to bear. Let's face it, it was for both of our sakes that he moved......fact.

We arrived in Beijing on time and Sara managed to find the hostel very quickly thanks to her carefully copied down instructions! It's a bit cold here.....when I say a bit cold I mean it's quite (very) cold. Who knows how I'm going to cope in Harbin, though I'm itching to get those skipants on. I think I'm going to put on every item of clothing I have and mince around like some horrendous Michelin lady, the best impression to make to hundreds of Chinese people who have probably never met a Brit yet.

I've forgotten one very important item for this cold weather, lip salve. I currently look like I've been snogging a rusty old lorry chassis, it's a sexy look. I finally found some lip salve today and shall be applying with wild abandon, most likely only exacerbating the hue issue in the short term....adding a nice dash of orange for good measure.

So....we braved this icy weather to set off to Wan Fu Jing, the streetfood area where I was promised all kinds of weirdness and wonderment. I wasn't disappointed.

Wan Fu Jing Road

Starfish? Scorpion? Cricket? Grub of some non-descript origin?

Yes, those are tarantulas.......delicious no?

No? Really? Ok.

Unfortunately the aformentioned problem kicked in big stylie, and, feeling as though my stomach was about to drop into my arse, we fled the scene soon after indulging in some rather nice fried dumplings. I'm wondering whether I can convince myself to return at some point and try something small.....maybe a cricket? Or a scorpion. It's less than likely, but you never know! I'll be sure to get a picture for posterity if I do.

Here are some pictures of nice buildings I took on the Magical Squit Journey Home.

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Pagoda in Tian'anmen Square

After an early night I woke up the next morning absolutely parched. I felt like a strip of beef jerky, drying in the wind of the heat coming from the AC unit. With a mouth feeling like the Gobi desert, I staggered off to buy 2 bottles of water at the hostel café and gave one to Sara as I walked throught the door.......downed mine in about 2 minutes, and then promptly stole Saras back off her.

It's the thought that counts. Speaking of which, a big thanks to Sara for pretty much single-handedly arranging this trip! Whilst I've been blogging all afternoon she's been looking up train times! Thank you Sawa!!

Feeling dehydrated again tonight...but for entirely different reasons, delishiz alcoholic reasons! :o). That's for the next blog post I think.

Big snogz xxxx

Random Pancake Picture

This is basically for the benefit of any good-cook mates of mine who are particularly susceptible to subliminal messages. Call Armadillo's at Gatwick, I want the recipe perfected by the time I'm home.

Kthxbai!