Ni hao from Beijing!
I am now in China in the Imperial City, (I wonder if the national Mint is located here? :-) I arrived here on Monday evening after a 28 hour train ride from Ulan Bator. On the train I met up with a few other 'Westerners' for beers in the restaurant car, which was decorated in the style of some native hunters, (quite appropriate as we were traveling across the vast emptiness of the Mongolian steppes with only the odd tent or wandering camel in the distance). When we reached the Mongolia/Chinese border we had to submit our passports, immigration forms etc, and wait while our compartments were searched for stowaways, weapons and drugs, the whole procedure taking about two and a half hours. During this time the toilet doors are locked, so we had to stay off the beers for a while. When we starting moving again we were allowed ten minutes of toilet use, before they were locked again and we repeated the procedures with the Chinese immigration and customs officials. After this the train was moved into a shed and we were lifted up about five foot in the air and the wheels were changed to meet the requirements for the Chinese track gauge. (In the old days the Russians/Mongolians decided to use a different track width to stop people invading overland by rail). When we finally started moving again it was 2:30 in the morning so we went to bed, having spent 7 hours getting from Mongolia into China). When we woke up we had missed the free breakfast, (7-8am) which we decided they had coincided with the 230am border crossing so most people would sleep in and miss it. On arrival in Beijing a tout met us at the station and took us to a hostel situated in the old part of the city. On the underground we passed an old man playing a strange instrument which sounded like a cat fighting. 'He's blind' , said the girl from the hostel, 'and deaf?' I asked. Its a very nice hostel with extremely helpful staff, book exchange, free pool, free play station, DVD rental, cheap restaurant, and beers for 30p! Plus loads of other services like laundry, Internet, phone calls, tours etc.
I had lunch with an American from the train in a local restaurant. We had to point at some things on the menu and they brought them over to us and we cooked them ourselves with a little stoke on our table, using chopsticks to drop pieces of meet and vegetables in the boiling oil, great fun. After a bit of wandering round the backstreets and getting stopped by every hawker, ("You wan' buy DVD? Good for you mister, good for you. Chairman Mao watch, nice book, come and look, buy a hat, nice dragon chopsticks take to England, give me best price?") we decided to buy some food from a street vendor out side our hostel. The woman was cooking vegetables in a big wok on the pavement, and many strange kinds of meats including the heads of some birds. We brought a massive portion for 7 yuan (about 50p) that was so big we could only eat half of it. We weren't sure what the meat was as it was a strange pink colour, and we kept joking to each other that it was probably dog.
I spent the next morning exploring some more of the city, walking down streets that looked like they were out of a Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee movie, and others with big flashing neon signs, flash shops and Chinese script, reminding me of my trip to Tokyo. I also visited Tienanmen Square, the scene of various celebrations and demonstrations including the mass execution of thousands of student protesters in 1989, (although the official number is less than 10). In the afternoon I met an old friend who studied at Essex University with me, he had said if you ever come to China....so I called him up to say I was in Beijing. For lunch we went to the best Peking Duck restaurant in China, where many famous politicians have eaten here, including former UK prime minister Edward Heath. If its good enough for Edward Heath..... They carve the duck up at your table, then you use chopsticks to dip it in plum sauce and put it in a wrap with some spring onions. It was delicious but again, too much for us to eat. In the evening, back at Tienanmen Square I met a Chinese girl called Lucy who wanted to practise her English and she showed me some very modern trendy streets in Beijing. Then we went out for dinner and eat some sweet chicken and peanut combination with rice foolwed by some strange green eggs, (like in Dr Zeus, although no ham).
The food here is generally very nice, but it can sometimes be difficult for foreigners, or 'white devils' as they like to call us. For example, I was near the Forbidden City today when I heard my name. I turned around and there was a Dutch couple who I had met in Irkutsk, back in Siberia, very strange meeting up with them in a totally different country! We went out for dinner, in a small local place away from the main tourist centre. When the bill came it was 208 yuan which was expensive and we noticed there were more things than we had actually ordered, so we called the waitress who, after our complaining, crossed it off our bill. Then we noticed that some of the other prices were not right, so we asked for the menu and showed her the prices of the dishes. 'Ah mistake', she said and quickly changed the prices on our bill. Then I asked why our 6 yuan beers were 12 yuan each, double the menu price. 'Ah mistake' she said and changed them too, before taking the menu away again. 'Its OK you pay 175', she said, but it still want the right price so I asked for the menu again. This time she couldn't speak English, so I translated it the word 'menu' with my phrase book. She reluctantly brought it back and we wrote down everything we had and the prices, the total cost was 68 yuan. 'OK you pay 68', so we did then left, making sure we didn't leave a tip. An important lesson for us to check the prices the next time we eat out in Beijing. Another thing is that the menus are often mis-translated into really bad, (often very humorous) English. One restaurant boasts a menu advertising 'Wire up stem corruption'??? 'Three wire explosive beans' hmmmm, and 'Wire up its potatoes', alongside a competitor advertising even more bizare dishes such as 'The garlic burns the belly one' and even 'Mushroom rape'??? or 'Fine and soft rape of dish'??????? Talk about lost in translation!!!!
I have two days left in Beijing to explore the Forbidden City and to climb the Great Wall, before I leave for Guangzhou, (where I'll start teaching) on the evening train on Friday, (about 28 hours away). So far my journey from London to Beijing by train has taken three weeks to the day and I have traveled 5071 miles (8161 km).
I am now in China in the Imperial City, (I wonder if the national Mint is located here? :-) I arrived here on Monday evening after a 28 hour train ride from Ulan Bator. On the train I met up with a few other 'Westerners' for beers in the restaurant car, which was decorated in the style of some native hunters, (quite appropriate as we were traveling across the vast emptiness of the Mongolian steppes with only the odd tent or wandering camel in the distance). When we reached the Mongolia/Chinese border we had to submit our passports, immigration forms etc, and wait while our compartments were searched for stowaways, weapons and drugs, the whole procedure taking about two and a half hours. During this time the toilet doors are locked, so we had to stay off the beers for a while. When we starting moving again we were allowed ten minutes of toilet use, before they were locked again and we repeated the procedures with the Chinese immigration and customs officials. After this the train was moved into a shed and we were lifted up about five foot in the air and the wheels were changed to meet the requirements for the Chinese track gauge. (In the old days the Russians/Mongolians decided to use a different track width to stop people invading overland by rail). When we finally started moving again it was 2:30 in the morning so we went to bed, having spent 7 hours getting from Mongolia into China). When we woke up we had missed the free breakfast, (7-8am) which we decided they had coincided with the 230am border crossing so most people would sleep in and miss it. On arrival in Beijing a tout met us at the station and took us to a hostel situated in the old part of the city. On the underground we passed an old man playing a strange instrument which sounded like a cat fighting. 'He's blind' , said the girl from the hostel, 'and deaf?' I asked. Its a very nice hostel with extremely helpful staff, book exchange, free pool, free play station, DVD rental, cheap restaurant, and beers for 30p! Plus loads of other services like laundry, Internet, phone calls, tours etc.
I had lunch with an American from the train in a local restaurant. We had to point at some things on the menu and they brought them over to us and we cooked them ourselves with a little stoke on our table, using chopsticks to drop pieces of meet and vegetables in the boiling oil, great fun. After a bit of wandering round the backstreets and getting stopped by every hawker, ("You wan' buy DVD? Good for you mister, good for you. Chairman Mao watch, nice book, come and look, buy a hat, nice dragon chopsticks take to England, give me best price?") we decided to buy some food from a street vendor out side our hostel. The woman was cooking vegetables in a big wok on the pavement, and many strange kinds of meats including the heads of some birds. We brought a massive portion for 7 yuan (about 50p) that was so big we could only eat half of it. We weren't sure what the meat was as it was a strange pink colour, and we kept joking to each other that it was probably dog.
I spent the next morning exploring some more of the city, walking down streets that looked like they were out of a Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee movie, and others with big flashing neon signs, flash shops and Chinese script, reminding me of my trip to Tokyo. I also visited Tienanmen Square, the scene of various celebrations and demonstrations including the mass execution of thousands of student protesters in 1989, (although the official number is less than 10). In the afternoon I met an old friend who studied at Essex University with me, he had said if you ever come to China....so I called him up to say I was in Beijing. For lunch we went to the best Peking Duck restaurant in China, where many famous politicians have eaten here, including former UK prime minister Edward Heath. If its good enough for Edward Heath..... They carve the duck up at your table, then you use chopsticks to dip it in plum sauce and put it in a wrap with some spring onions. It was delicious but again, too much for us to eat. In the evening, back at Tienanmen Square I met a Chinese girl called Lucy who wanted to practise her English and she showed me some very modern trendy streets in Beijing. Then we went out for dinner and eat some sweet chicken and peanut combination with rice foolwed by some strange green eggs, (like in Dr Zeus, although no ham).
The food here is generally very nice, but it can sometimes be difficult for foreigners, or 'white devils' as they like to call us. For example, I was near the Forbidden City today when I heard my name. I turned around and there was a Dutch couple who I had met in Irkutsk, back in Siberia, very strange meeting up with them in a totally different country! We went out for dinner, in a small local place away from the main tourist centre. When the bill came it was 208 yuan which was expensive and we noticed there were more things than we had actually ordered, so we called the waitress who, after our complaining, crossed it off our bill. Then we noticed that some of the other prices were not right, so we asked for the menu and showed her the prices of the dishes. 'Ah mistake', she said and quickly changed the prices on our bill. Then I asked why our 6 yuan beers were 12 yuan each, double the menu price. 'Ah mistake' she said and changed them too, before taking the menu away again. 'Its OK you pay 175', she said, but it still want the right price so I asked for the menu again. This time she couldn't speak English, so I translated it the word 'menu' with my phrase book. She reluctantly brought it back and we wrote down everything we had and the prices, the total cost was 68 yuan. 'OK you pay 68', so we did then left, making sure we didn't leave a tip. An important lesson for us to check the prices the next time we eat out in Beijing. Another thing is that the menus are often mis-translated into really bad, (often very humorous) English. One restaurant boasts a menu advertising 'Wire up stem corruption'??? 'Three wire explosive beans' hmmmm, and 'Wire up its potatoes', alongside a competitor advertising even more bizare dishes such as 'The garlic burns the belly one' and even 'Mushroom rape'??? or 'Fine and soft rape of dish'??????? Talk about lost in translation!!!!
I have two days left in Beijing to explore the Forbidden City and to climb the Great Wall, before I leave for Guangzhou, (where I'll start teaching) on the evening train on Friday, (about 28 hours away). So far my journey from London to Beijing by train has taken three weeks to the day and I have traveled 5071 miles (8161 km).
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