18/08/18 This morning is the departure to China. A 54h train trip through Mongolia, while the tracks follow Lake Baikal for a little so the landscape is really nice, not just trees this time. On board, I met Nuria, 39, a friendly Spanish girl from Tenerife, Gran Canaria islands. She is an environmental consultant working freelance, on a 6 weeks holiday. On board, some French people, an Australian from Melbourne, a Brazilian guy, 26 who works with resource management. He lived in 20 countries and travelled to 50 thanks to his work, travelling 300 days per year. Quite a lifestyle! After a few stops, a German guy joined us on board, pretty laid back. He is a teacher and enjoys Berlin above all, the city of freedom as he says. He put some music on and we shared a beer. The landscape from Irkutsk to Mongolia was beautiful, as we go along Lake Baikal for a while.
In Ulan Batar, I say goodbye to Simon and Nuria, and welcome a german couple, a psychologist who works in a prison and a neurologist.
While crossing Mongolia, the landscape reminded me of the Australian red centre, as the ground is flat and in some places full of red sand. I spotted herds of horses and camels.
20/08/18 I reached Beijing Railway station around 2pm. The station is huge and I tried to find the subway straight away. This station does not seem to have automated ticket machines so I queued to get a ticket. They have a dozen counters and there are at least 30 people in each queue, so I probably queued for half an hour. When I reached the counter, I realised I can’t pay with credit card, they accept cash only. But as I came through the rail, not via an airport, I didn’t find any bank ATM or change bureau to get some cash. So with all my luggage I tried to find an ATM. Once I finally found one, none of my cards were working. I finally found an international hotel who has a currency exchange terminal, and luckily I still had some euros and US dollars to take some Chinese Yuans out. I then had to go back to the train station and of course queue again for a subway ticket, then fight the crowd and the heat to reach the security check. Chinese people don’t know the concept of personal space, I understand it, but I found it really annoying and uncomfortable. Even the kids who can barely walk already have the habits of pushing others and make their way trough the crowd. For this reason alone I would never be able to live in Beijing.
I reached the guest house around 6.30, so relieved to finally drop my bags. Their payment machine was not working so they offered to try again later with another machine. They asked me a cash deposit which I just had and got access to the room. It was a 4bedder, only one other bed was used. The room was not clean at all, was really old and full of little insects, especially the flying ones that you often find in places badly ventilated. Under the bed, a nice layer of dust was proof that it not well maintained. At least the sheets looked washed. The joy of cheap accomodation…
As I spotted a mini supermarket at walking distance I went there to buy water and ate leftovers from the train trip. Later I met Hannele, a nice 26 Swedish girl who was already leaving the next day. We chat for a bit and she warned me she suspected bed bugs in the room ?. Well it is time to use that silk sheet I purchased months ago!
She tipped me about a little food shop by the window and that became my go to place for the next few days.
The staff came back to me for another attempt at payment with the credit card machine and it worked, until I realised later that I got charged twice for the room. Luckily the staff did not argue about it and after a check on their end, they were happy to do a refund.
21/08/18 I went to the tourist info centre hoping to find brochures but they did not have anything, except a city map that I had to pay for. On the map, an area called summer palace looked interesting so after 2 subways and a tram, I made it to the beautiful park. I did a lot of walking (about 10km) and when I got back to the guest house I was too tired to go out for dinner. I bought some nice meat (?) crepe and buns.
22/08/18 There was a message on the wall at the guest house that said I should be registered at the local police within 24h. I could not find which one was relevant to my area but found one at walking distance. After a lot of effort to communicate with the agents there, they told me I was at the wrong police station and indicated me the way to the right one. Once I got to the other one, I got told I don’t have to register as the guest house did it on my behalf ? their wall panel was so misleading! I took me so much time that I thought I would just go back to the guest house and plan for my US trip.
23/08/18 Today I visited the famous Forbidden City. I booked my ticket straight when I arrived in Beijing but it was sold out until day 4. It was challenging because of the heat (33 degrees, full sun) and because of the amount of people, but the site is impressive and bigger than I expected. It is made of many palaces and meeting rooms that the succeeding emperors, their families and officers have occupied. Today many of the rooms are used as exhibitions (bronze, wood, porcelaine, paintings etc) or shops where I bought a nice silk roll to hang on the wall. One of the main palaces in the middle is made of wood and is 35m high, and is the biggest wooden building ever made in China. After the Forbidden City, I went to the Jingshan park located just behind it and climbed a few stairs up to the highest pavillon to get a nice view on the Forbidden City. Before taking the subway, I found a Chinese bubble tea to take away.
For dinner, I thought I would try the restaurant recommended by the guest house as I asked where I could get good dumpings, vegetables and Beijing duck. I took the bus there and I thought I found the restaurant. Luckily they had an English menu but I soon realised that there were no dumplings or duck on the menu, I was obviously in the wrong place. But it seemed nice so I decided to stay. I ordered some cauliflower, spicy green beens and some fruits with yoghurt for dessert. As I was eating alone, there was nothing else for me to do but looking around me. And as usual, locals would stare at me like a curiosity, until Ju Li, 26, the lady from the table next to mine, who was on a business trip with 3 business partners older than her, came to my table and started to chat. They were all Chinese from another province and she was the only one speaking English in her group and said that the boys would like to invite me to try their dish. I thought it was thoughtful but as the plate was only made of lamb (one of the only things I really don’t like) I politely declined the offer. She then offered to try tofu instead which I accepted, and we had a conversation like many others about where we are from, our jobs and travel plans. She said that my parents should be worried because I am not married at my age ?. The reason why they are in Beijing is ‘secret’, they have an important meeting tomorrow, but the only thing I could get out of her is that it is in the financial industry and she is an accountant.
One of them suggested that I should check Houhai, a suburb on the east side if I wanted to have fun at night and after a long attempt trying to find it on my map I asked if they were interested to join me there. They accepted and we shared a taxi to the area, which was lovely, by the water, where many shops and pavements are a few hundreds years old. There are a lot of bars and restaurants, music and a nice vibe. The oldest knew a lot of history and culture of Beijing and was enjoying sharing it with me despite the language barrier so he was commenting everything on the way, like historic dates, what objects are made for,… He was like a private tour guide to us and Ju Li translated everything for me. We stopped by a special ocarina shop where I had a demo of how to play it, an expensive porcelaine shop where vases and other deco items are still made using a traditional technique, a shop where they sell glass bottles painted on the inside, used to store some powder that you can sniff like cocaine… so many hidden treasures I would not have found on my own.
Later on, on the way back home, they called a taxi and we all got in but after discussing the price the group decided it was too expensive so we all ended at the subway station. I did not expect a local would try to rip off another one, I guess traps are not just for tourists! They did not let me want to pay for the taxi and I kindly thanked them for the night before taking the subway back to the guest house. That night was so unexpected, going to the wrong restaurant and ending up being introduced to Beijing nightlife by the locals. Ju Li was also warned me about my security in other cities and said I should be very careful as a single traveller (who looked Russian apparently).
