September 23
We arrived in Beijing around 12:00. David had sent a
chauffeur to pick us up at the airport and given me the
code to come in to the apartment (they did not use keys to
enter the apartment, instead one had an 8 digit code). We
were quite tired and forgot to take any photos of the
impressions we got the first day. When David with family
arrived (they had been to a bike competition which the
children had been participating in) and they had brought a
bunch skewers of lamb. They cost 1 RMB each and could be
bought more or less around the corner of the apartment.
Johanna then followed us to an ATM so we could get some
money. We walked around the area close to the apartment to
just get a feel for the area. When we got to the apartment
again, David insisted that we should go to a restaurant
called Alfa. A really really nice restaurant and bar. I
regret that we did not take any photos of this place. It
was really cosy. A side note: they had really good Long
Island Ice Teas here.
The day after we arrived we met a Norwegian friend of
David with family and ate ate lunch at a Norwegian Pizza
restaurant franchise (which is pretty bizarre in the first
place). We then went to the silk market which is nowadays a
large mall (more or less). It is pretty boring comparing to
the days it was an outside market. What is somewhat scary
is that "shopkeepers" do not only know English nowadays,
they even know Swedish good enough to understand prize
discussions between customers.
Afterwards we we went to the lakes Qian hai and Hou hai.
After visiting Qian hai and Hou hai David took us to a
chinese restaurant.
After the children had gone to bed, we went out to a bar.
The bar was located in a building full of bars, which
mostly varied in the kind of music played. We went to the
top with a bar on the roof of the building. The bar was
nice and all, but the drinks were more or less awful. They
had a Marharita made from leeche, which was so awful we
could not finish the drink.
We decided to find the tea house we went to the last
time we were in Beijing. All we had was a business card.
The chinese were friendly and pointed us in a direction.
All we asked did point us in the same direction. We never
found the place though. When we gave up we entered a
restaurant we passed while looking for the tea house. No
one spoke english and there were no english menus. Jessica
pointed at pictures they had in the restaurant. The food we
got was not really bad, but it was not extrordinary tasty
either. We got full, payed and went. We decided to just
stroll around the area.
This was a very interesting day. It was the day we used
bikes to get around in Beijing. We started off quite early
and after a few wrong turns, fighting with cars, busses and
other bikers, we go to the destination. The destination was
the calm and beautiful Bei hai park.
The story behind the photo above is that me and Jessica
sat down to rest. A few minutes later the old lady in the
middle and the woman on the left came to rest as well. Me
and jessica moved over to make room for the old lady, but
she refused to sit down. We refused to accept a no as an
answer and she slowly moved towards us to sit down. After
she was seated she started talking to us in chinese and I
quickly said "bu dong" (as in "don't understand"). They
started talking and laughing and I heard the phrase "tie bu
dong" (or the like) several times. Moments later the old
man in the picture came by. He stood in front of her, and I
stood up to make room for him. The lady showed with
gestures that there is room for both of us. I suppose they
were talking about us, because they talked and I yet again
heard the phrase "tie bu dong" and they laughed. I sort of
asked if I could take a picture of them, and they did not
seem to mind. After I had taken the picture I said "xie
xie" and they once again was amused about me saying chinese
words (or simply amused of the chinese). We sat there
resting a few more minutes and they got ready to leave.
They said "Bye bye" and left and I quickly replied with
"zai jian". The old man suddenly stopped, turned around and
looked at me somewhat confused. I repeated "zai jian" and
the man clapped his hands once. Filled with joy he replied
"zai jian", turned and walked away. We never saw them
again.
We went to the Jingshan park after Bai hai park. We
rushed through the park, went to top to get something to
eat in the cafe. We were really hungry and were really
dissappointed in so many levels when the building was
closed for reconstruction.
We gave up finding a place to eat close to Jingshan
park. We walked for a while. Got tired of looking and took
a cab to Qian hai to grab something to eat. We knew there
were restaurants by the shore of Qian hai.
On the way back, we had gotten used to the traffic and did
not feel the bit nervous to cycle in the somewhat chaotic
traffic. We managed to get lost on the way back as well,
but got safely home in the end. We were not smart enough to
take any photos of us cycling in the traffic, so you will
only find photos of parks.
We got up late this day. We were supposed to shop, but
got out late. We first went to Wangfujing with Johanna,
Evangelina and Fridelina. It is supposed to be the
shopping street in Beijing, but we were not that impressed.
Apartment Area
Wangfujing Dajie
Johanna with children went home and Jessica and I continued
to Qianmen Daijie, which too is supposed to be a shopping
street. Not the street as is, but the surrounding streets
crossing Qianmen Daije. We went to the street called
Dazhalan. Dazhalan was very interesting and is definitely
worth a visit. We got hungry and stopped at a small
restaurant with a few seats outside. The restaurant was
more or less only a hole in the wall. The food was
delicious though, and lots of it, and very cheap. we
ordered a spicy chicken dish and a vegetable soup. We had
no chance finishing either of them. The restaurant had an
interesting menu with such delicacy as dog and cat. I have
never tasted any of them and wanted to order both dog and
cat, but Jessica more or less forbid me to. On the way back
Jessica bought a scarf by a really funny and interesting
sales girl.
After Dazhalan we went to Tianmen. Tianmen by night is a
sight worth seeing.
Yet again we got out late. It was a vacation after all.
We decided to go to Guo Moruo's home and then continue to
Prince Gongs garden. Finding Guo Moruo's home was easy.
Prince Gongs garden seemed to be close. Just a short walk
in the Hutongs. It was not as close as we thought, though.
We did not actually find it at all and walked and walked.
The hutongs were nice, although we did not plan to spend
any time there.
After half an hour we gave up and went to Hou hai. It
was close and we had not seen a lot of Hou hai yet. We
walked along Hou hai's west shore. We found a park which
was filled with people playing games. We then moved away
from Hou hai, walked around and came to a crossing with a
lot of traffic. We were aiming for Xi hai. At the crossing
we saw a large building we had no clue what it was. We took
a picture and moved on. We later found out it was
deshengmen (the north gate). If we had known we had
probably taken a closer look.
Xi hai was different from Qian hai and Hou hai in that it
seems to be used more by the locals, rather than being a
tourist attraction. There were a lot of fishermen, but we
also saw fish farms in Xi hai.
We then had to hurry. We were to meet up with David, his
family and a friend of his at a restaurant at 19:00. We
looked for cabs but found none. We walked fast and aimed at
Qian hai. We walked a good 50-60 minutes before we found a
cab.
The restaurant was a muslim one with belly dancers and a
band. The band played all kinds of music though and their
singing were more annoying than good. As long as they only
played the instruments it was fine. The restaurant had an
excellent lamb roast. Jessica who normally hates lamb, just
loved this dish.
Ah. The day we were fooled by two english students. Our
plan was to go to Tianmen, the Mausoleum and the Forbidden
city. We started with the Mausoleum, but never got in. We
had to leave our bags somehwere and we had difficulties
understanding where. When we finally understood and were
thinking of leaving the bags and go through the Mausoleum,
two english students contacted us and started talking.
After a while they asked us if we wanted to come along to a
traditional tea ceremony. Blue eyed as we are, we tagged
along.
We went to a place on Dazhalan. The entrance was quite odd.
We entered through an optician store and the entrance to
the tea house was located in the back. We were lead to a
private room where the four of us sat down. A young girl
entered, went to stand in front of us and the ceremony
began. We were told this tea house was very old, but for
all we knew it could have been built yesterday. We would
not have known the difference. We tried 8 different kind of
teas and with each tea they told us about the ceremony as
well as when and why to drink the tea. The teas was
delicious and in the end we decided to buy four different
kind of teas. I was a bit suspicious and wanted to by only
two, but Jessica wanted four kinds. When they handed us the
bill, the amount was 5300 RMB (which is about 590 EUR). I
panicked. The two chinese english students quickly said
they could pay their share. In the end we paid 3300 RMB for
the ceremony and 4 kind of teas. 2000 RMB for the teas and
1300 for the ceremony. Expensive? Yes. Too expensive? Not
sure. The teas are good and thinking back, the tea ceremony
was really nice and a nice experience to look back at.
They followed us back to Tianmen and from there we went
separate ways. I am quite sure they returned the tea they
bought and got a nice percentage of what we payed. We went
home and left the teas. I was upset for a while, but once I
settled down we went to the drum and bell tower.
The drum and bell towers were interesting. It was quite
high towers and no elevator. The stairs were steep and
long.
After we had visited the towers we had no real hurry
anywhere. We walked around in the area around the towers.
After a while we go to a larger street. We could see the
Drum Tower and started heading that way in order to be able
to catch a cab. On the way back I saw game stores next to
each other. It must have been a dozen stores in a about 100
meter. The prize for PSP games seemed to be around 200
Yuan, which is not really worth it. It is interesting that
you can just come to an area where you see the same types
of stores next to each other, while it is virtually
impossible to find that type of store anywhere else. The
same is true for Shanghai.
I think this was the evening Johanna and David had
invited a Swedish diplomat, who worked at the Swedish
embassy in Beijing, with family. They were really nice, but
bad as I am with names I have no clue what their names
were. The diplamat, and his son too for that matter, were
really passionate about Athletic Madrid. We talked fotball
for quite a while.
In the evening we went out to clubs. We started at Hed
Kandi club, but since they refused to let any of us in to
just check it out, we left the place. When they refused to
let anyone of us in to check it out, we gathered it
probably was not interesting in the first place. We then
went to a place we had been to earlier. I do not remember
the name of the bar and the first time we were there they
music was great. We were only there to chill and drink a
few drinks, which is was perfect for. This time around the
music was somewhat different. In lower level it started out
great with nice house music, but turned to the heavier
side. We went upstairs and ran in to remixes of 80's music.
I was not that impressed and I think that Shanghai is a
better place for clubbing. David and Johanna left quite
early. I cannot remember when. Me and Jessica left about
3:30, I think. If I remember correctly we got home around
4:30 and we walked home from the bar. I think it must have
taken about an hour or so. We had nor rush home, really. It
was warm and nice outside.
Since we went out in Beijing the night before, we did
not get out until late.
Johanna wanted to show us an outside market only open on
weekends. I more or less got up only to come along to the
market. I was very tired. I would not have liked to miss it
though, so I was grateful they woke me up.
In the evening, the evening before we went to the Great
Wall, we went for foot massage. Included in the price (100
RMB per person) free drinks and snacks and a DVD. The foot
massage was really something and watching a DVD at the same
time as getting a foot massage is something to long for.
China´s national day was the day we went to the Great
Wall. What a trip it was. The weather was close to perfect
(as good as it gets I'm told) and the Great Wall was
amazing.
We had planned to walk from Jinshanling to Simatai which is
about 10km.
The distance was not an issue. The weather was perfect, the
views were awesome and I was impressed by the Evangelina
and Fridelina. The entire journey from Jinshanling to
Simatai took about 7 hours of going up and down on the
wall.
Beware: There are a lot of images from the Great Wall
(200+). I took a total of 330 photos that day. Not all are
published, though.
China's government really showed us what it is all about
this day. China stopped all internet traffic to any site
which might publish bad information about China, due the
national day. I thought the net was down, but I was able to
contact my computer in sweden. I never thought the reason I
could not access newssites or my webmail was due to China
blocking the traffic. They blocked all such traffic for
about a week. The reason, I was told, was to avoid riots or
the like on the week chinese were on vacation.
We planned to go Tianmen, the Forbidden city and walk
again in Jingshan park, but got up quite late. We were
beaten after the day on the Great Wall, so we only
eventually went to the Forbidden city and no more. Johanna
had planned Fridelina and Evangelina to start decorating
Davids office. The plan was that Fridelina and Evangelina
would paint a wall each. Me and Jessica tagged along, just
to see the office with the view and later go to the
Forbidden city.
We stayed a few mintues, got coffee at the office and took
a few photos of the girls hard at work. We then continued
to Tianmen and to the Forbidden City.
Tianmen by day
The Forbidden City
In the evening we ate at a Sichuan restaurant close to the
apartment. We ordered a chicken dish, among others, which
was strong enough for the whole mouth to go numb. Even the
lips went numb when eating that dish. We had no chance of
finishing it.
Yet again we got up late. Why rush and get up early on
vacation? It is a time to take it easy.
We went to the Temple of Heaven. Temple of Heaven is a
temple surrounded with a very large park. We did however
spend little time in the park and instead look at all the
attractions. Afterwards we went to a large mall close to
Temple of Heaven. We had a single mission. Jessica and
Johanna wanted to find the place which manufactures Snow of
Sweden jewelry. Johanna had heard it was very cheap. We did
however not find it and no chinese understood what we were
searching for.
Waiting outside the apartment area
Temple of Heaven
When we stopped searching for the jewelry, Johanna and the
children went home. Me and Jessica continued to the Grand
View Garden. A lovely park with magnificent views. In the
garden you can experience some of the beauty of Suzhou
without leaving Beijing.
Grand View Garden
Apartment Area
Yet again we got up late. Surprised? You should not be.
We decided to visit the lama temple and the konfucius
temple. It was a hot day and jessica tried to hide in the
shadow. Luckily for her there are a few houses in
temples.
After we had visited the Lama temple we went towards the
Konfucius temple. We managed to choose the wrong way and
went passed the temple, but managed to get on the right
track when we encountered a larger street. We walked for a
while only to understand, once we had gotten to the temple,
that it was under heavy reconstruction/restoration. It was
a real shame and we never payed the entrance fee to get
inside. We saw from the entrance that all of it was more or
less a construction area.
On the way to the Konfucius Temple
We took photos of the apartment area every now and then.
Here are a few more.
In the afternoon/evening we went to see the Blue Zoo.
Evangelina and Fridelina wanted to come along, while
Johanna had other errands.
Blue is more or less only an aquarium, but it has Asia's
longest underwater tunnel. A somewhat common thing happened
to us when we arrived at the Blue Zoo. In order to enter
you had to stand in line, which is not exactly odd. We
naturally go in last in the line and patiently waited.
Shortly after we arrived in the line a girl, standing at
the entrance and I assume she was an employee, started
waving and yelling. She obviously were waving for us and
wanted us to come to the entrance. We went passed the line
to her and she immediately let us in. Why? I do not know.
Probably only because we were westerners.
The Blue Zoo were nice and all, but nothing really special.
What was kind of special was a somewhat odd lottery.
Included in the ticket prize you apparently was part of a
lottery. At the end of the Blue Zoo you could go to a place
where you exchanged your ticket to a possible prize. Unless
Johanna has told us about this, we would have had no chance
of knowing. There were no signs, no english text describing
this on the ticket or the like. Evangelina won a ring,
Fridelina a bracelet and Jessica nothing. I "won" a rebate
on a painting. We bought a large chinese painting for 100
RMB, which were sold for 650 RMB.
We had decided to this time around actually visiting a
park in the morning. We missed out on that on the previous
trip to China. We went to the Dongdan park, which we had
read about in a guide book. It was really cool. From 6 in
the morning it was quite some activity in the park. The
activities made by all kinds of ages can be viewed in the
movie clips in the album.
After the early "walk" in the park, Jessica was really
tired. She went to bed a couple of hours and then we headed
to the Summer Palace. It was not the best day to visit the
Summer Palace, since it was foggy and it felt like it could
start to rain any minute. It did not start to rain, but all
the fog made the views less impressive than they are. It
was really really crowded, for being the Summer Palace. You
are never alone in the there, but it usually are not that
many around. This time around there were people everywhere.
Waiting outside the apartment
The Summer Palace
The day before we were going home, we decided to go to
the Fragrant Hills. The children did not want to go, so
they stayed at home. We were hoping to see the burning
hills, which is really all the mixture of autumn colors
making it look like the hills are burning. We did not
however, although I suppose we were only a few weeks
early.
The Cloud Temple
The Fragrant Hills
In the evening we went to a Hot Pot restaurant. It was a
different kind of Hot Pot restaurant, I am used to. The
ones I have been to there is usually a big pot in the
middle of the table which holds the "soup". The soup has
been either a really really spicy one or a fish based soup,
but at this place it does not seem you could really decide
what kind of soup you had in the pot. It was not really
spicy, which was a bit of shame. The food was very good of
course, just not what i was expected. That is although not
necessarily a bad thing. Just a different experience.
After we had been at the restaurant we went to David's
office to look at the result of the decorations.
The last day in China. I have never gotten tired of
China in any of the times I have been there. We had a
little time in the morning and went to the Hutongs around
the area of the apartment.
Hutongs close to the apartment
The end of this trip to China. The day to travel home has
always been a sad day, and this was no exception. I started
to long back the time we sat down on the flight home. I am
sure I will go back. Olympics 2008 in Beijing here I come!