So 28 years ago !!!!!!! Pete and his mate Chris flew to Beijing from London for Chris’s first ever Asia experience. We were sat next to an Irish fella on the flight who disappeared after straight after food was served, then came back about an hour later and said “you lads want to come play cards?”. This is how we found ourselves at the back of the plane, in the stewardess area, sat on the floor around a suitcase, playing cards whilst drinking all their duty free whiskey !!!!! 😀 They were doing an organised, charity trek of the Great wall and when we landed they asked if we could join them as 2 had dropped out, but seems the Chinese fixer thought we might be spies so we stuck to our original plan which was to start reading lonely planet China !!!! which we should have done during the flight 😳😳😃😃😃😃😃
Anyway, 28 years on and Pete now has Janet, so things are more organised and smooth now 😎
So we arrived late at night to Beijing Capital Airport and stayed at a Cordis Hotel right nearby so no cash worries or working out the subway etc. We just got the shuttle bus, checked in and then straight to bed (after a fan was acquired to cool our hotel room).
Next morning, Janet got the hotel staff to help with booking Tianamen Square tickets. We got the shuttle bus back to the airport and sorted a chinese sim card for Pete so we could keep in touch at least on We Chat. Realised that Janet’s VPN meant she could still use the international websites and apps but Pete’s local Sim meant he could use the Chinese sites. We found an ATM to withdraw cash and had our first noodle dish, which was yummy. Next we worked out how to get a subway card and took the subway to Chongwenmen station which was right outside our hotel. Checked in and had an afternoon nap.
Refreshed, Pete threw budgetary caution out the window and we headed to a Peking Duck restaurant !!! Mostly because we’d be spending Gel & Jim’s kind easter present money 😉
The place was on the top floor of a fairly dingy looking mall so hopes were low, but the food was amazing, staff friendly and the chef put on a great show slicing up the WHOLE duck. An hour later and we were waddling ourselves out !! Stuffed… 10 pancakes each, a side like a stuffed paratha and a few beers, we were fit to burst.
The old Hutongs are the low rise areas the majority of people used to live. They were kinda shanty towns that evolved naturally into a maze of rooms, corridors but ultimately with China’s growing population they are disappearing to make way for high rises and more modern accommodation. It was cool to look round and see how life used to be (and indeed was in 1997) but it was all a bit touristy with loud music, loud speakers and thousands of people barging through. We detoured down a side street, found a river bank with a breeze and ate our picnic with the local kids staring at Pete 😊
The old bell tower was fun, a really steep stone staircase up to the 60 tonne bell 🔔 and views across the city.
There was a fella in his 20’s clinging on for grim death on the way back down which tickled us both. Maybe he had walked thr Great Wall of China the day before?
Another detour and we were walking along side a lake, again a nice breeze 👌 lots of geshias modelling on the shore.
I made the mistake of sampling a free sample (turned out to be strawberry tea) and then going to the toilet, when I came back Janet was haggling, hard, for a bag of jasmine tea !!! 😱😃
Tianamen Square Flag Lowering Cermeony – back in 1997 you could just turn up and walk around the square, nowadays you need a reservation, made at least a day before, and you have to do a mile walking diversion through 4 police security checks !! Showing passports, ticket and getting bags scanned……. not sure what they are worried about but apparently in summer visitor numbers are so high they need to limit to 80,000 per day !??!?!
Anyway the ceremony was quite good, lots of Ministry of Funny Walks from the guards, flag folded and then they were off.
SAT
Mutianyu Great Wall of China. Pete was very excited to visit a different part of the Great wall. But the journey started badly as we’d gone for a more local option which whilst cheap, meant listening to the very loud Chinese lady giving out advice and then trying to sell different options (at a guess as our Chinese is zero) for 55mins without a breath on a very loud microphone !!!!! We both had earbuds in and music playing but it wasn’t loud enough to drown her out 🙉🙉🙉😭😭
Anyway we arrived, got hearded like cattle and finally we were free to explore. It was way busier than back in Pete’s day and there was even a VIP area serving rich Indians veggie canapés and Aperol Spritz !!!!!! So not 1997 😱
But once we got walking and climbing the beauty of the wall shone through.
The scale of it is pretty incomprehensible but it’s when you walk/ climb it, the reality of how they built it sinks in, one section we walked was called Heroes Hill, as its very steep for most tourists. How they got all the stone up there is amazing !!
Then every peak you can see , you can see parts of the old wall and watch towers, as far as the eye can see !!! It is truly a wonder of the world 🥰🥰
The journey back was much quieter, thankfully, so we had a doze after all the steps and sunshine ( it was 27 degrees) and the the bus pulled up at Olympic Park as an optional stop, so we decided to get off and explore.
There was a pop concert on in the Bird’s Nest stadium so a bit of a party atmosphere. We ate in an outdoor food court and tried a few things we’d never seen before – all were tasty and cheap. Then we had d a walk around the sights, noticed the Beijing half marathon was there the next morning (when we had originally planned to visit !!) So again we’re lucky as that would have been busy. Then the wind picked up and it got chilly so headed home after 25,000 steps 😴😴😴
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