Beijing

My trip to Beijing with my girlfriend begins with a 1300km train ride from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing South Railway station, luckily the ride travels at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour so the ride takes less than 5 hours. It was nice to show her what the Chinese are able to build. The Chinese have been busy over the last few decades to build large landmarks that prove Chinese engineering and moral. The Bullet train ride only costs 65 euro’s each way, the seats are like an airplane and all face in the forward direction, they are turned around as the train stops to face the other way on the journey back. It’s quite an experience with all the Chinese surrounding you carrying their packets full of meat and treats for friends and family in the other of the two cities.

In Shanghai we had been so busy visiting sights, meeting friends, going to clubs and along all of this studying. We were so exhausted that the first two days we spend relaxing and enjoying being together after so long. We ate at our hostel and the next days just walked around the city center. The first thing we visited was the Olympic City. The Watercube after the Birdsnest were very impressive and it was nice to see it up close. It was hard to imagine it being packed with so many people from all over the world for the opening ceremony. It’s a shame that the huge stadium is no longer in use, apart from being a tourist attraction. After the Olympic city which is only accessible by tuk tuk, because the metro line to the city is closed and therefore no longer in use, we visited the center of the city. Walking through the main shopping street which, after seeing East Nanjing Road in Shanghai, is a little disappointing. But the food market is one of a kind. Live scorpions on a stick along with a wide variety of other bugs which can be eaten after being deep fried alive.Arriving at Beijing we notice instantly some of the main differences between Shanghai and the Capital namely the price and the crowdedness. Firstly tickets for the subway are half the price of what they are in Shanghai, 2RMB which boils down to €0,25 and for students its only 1,2RMB, too bad we found that out once we got back in Shanghai! Secondly, in Beijing it does not matter what day or time of day it is, it’s always busy in the subway. We thought that we knew what crowded meant when we saw people pushing and elbowing their way in the subways at rush hour in Shanghai but that just a normal ride in the subways of Beijing.

The third day went a little more according to plan; we left early on a prescheduled tour of the city and the wall. We had booked a small group tour but because we arrived out of season we were the only participants. This meant that we received a private tour of first Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and later the Great Wall. All of which were equally impressive, our guide spoke slowly because his English was not all too great. The Forbidden City is overwhelming; buildings are huge and show the vastness of the Ming Dynasty. Along with the huge Tiananmen Square which in China, in contrary to the rest of the world, is famous for being next to the final resting place of Mao Zendong, not at all for the reasons the rest of the world knows of its existence. These phenomenons are a constant reminder of the influence the Chinese have on their people.

After the square and the city we drove a long way to the wall, stopping on the way to look at a jade factory. The wall was even more impressive than the previous two sites. We visited the original wall in Inner Mongolia, but this was something completely different. This wall has been restored and maintained and is a very impressive sight to see. We had 3 hours to walk up and down the wall so we had to hurry, it’s a long way to the top and we needed a few rest stops which were more than welcome to enjoy the sights. Once at the top we were however more than rewarded by the beautiful views and finally some fresh air!

It was a shame that our visit had to end the day after, our train would leave at 3pm so we decided to take all of our stuff and visit the Summer Palace before left. It was a big mistake, I had to carry our 20kg carry on all the way up the summer palace hill and then through the sights to the subway and then finally sleep in the train. The Palace was quite impressive and beautiful its located on a hill next to a lake. It includes a more than 700m painted gallery, several temples, halls and other recreational buildings. The most impressive thing about the 2,2 square kilometer vast lake is that it is entirely man made! The soil used to excavate the lake was used to build the large hill on which the palace is build. As mentioned before these large and extensive builds just keep showing the power of the Chinese.

We enjoyed our time together; it was much needed after being apart from so long. After our trip to Beijing we had a few more days in Shanghai but then her time here in China also had to end.