Beijing Part 1

The iconic forbidden city!

Like all our flights in China, the one to Beijing was also late night and was further delayed by another 2 hours. So, we ended up at Beijing airport at 2 in the morning and found ourselves in the taxi queue outside the airport. The friendly man who was hailing taxi cabs at the beginning of the queue, bundled us into a taxi driven by a senior citizen. Our experience went south as soon as we settled in and showed him the address. We were already on the motorway and as soon as I mentioned '1 Chunxiu road' he just went ballistic. He started grumbling and I suspect swearing in Chinese. I thought he did not know know the way and so tried to show him way on my phone using Apple maps. He just waved my hand away and continued with his tirade in Chinese. We were quite fed up with this and told him to drop us back at the airport. This quietened him and we rode on in an uneasy silence in his taxi for another 45 minutes or so. As we were reaching the hotel, the driver asked my husband for directions, somehow the app on my husband's phone led us into a wrong lane. The driver promptly told us to get out there and search for the hotel ourselves as if it was a logical thing to do with a young child in a foreign country. We politely asked him to drop us at our hotel instead and we would pay the extra fare. After a lot of back and forth he reluctantly agreed and took us to the hotel we were booked to stay in. When we were safely in front of our hotel I typed my heartfelt "You're the rudest driver ever" onto my translate app for him. I dunno what that translates to in Chinese but his demeanor changed completely as he started to apologize profusely. He also wanted to reduce our taxi fare to 70RMB from 90RMB but we declined. I waved him away as he tried to help me with the luggage and even at the risk of pulling a muscle I wouldn't let him touch any of the backpacks as I clumsily unloaded them from the boot.

As I entered the foyer of the Holiday Inn Express in Beijing, I was ready to burst a vein at the slightest provocation. However, I need not have worried because the staff there was wonderful and made us feel very relaxed within minutes. We got a room with a good view of the city and a comfortable bed and as I plonked down I felt the tension slowly seep away as sleep overtook me.

A view of our neighborhood

We were quite sleep deprived and just woke up for breakfast at around 10, after which we all fell back to sleep and finally woke up around 2 pm. It was a cold rainy afternoon and we stepped out, after some inquiries at the front desk to explore the area around our hotel in Dongzhimen.
We had hoped to do some shopping but alas the malls we visited were either quite lacking in variety or otherwise too pricey for our middle class pockets. However, the food courts inside the malls were another story altogether. As it is my daughter's natural tendency to skip the wonderful options at the included-in-room-rate breakfast buffet and announce she's hungry when the only nearby food available are fine dining restaurants, I was grateful for the food courts and their variety. After she had had her fill.

Heading out in the rain..

Breakfast at the mall

We visited Sanlitun shopping village which was walking distance from our hotel. It had outlets of most expensive international brands and boasted of equally high end clientele. Making a grand purchase of a pair of socks for my daughter we quickly availed ourselves of window seating in the crowded Starbucks and watched the stylish customers walk by below. When we finished our drinks, the cold weather and our diminished purchasing power quickened our steps back to the hotel. Ordering take away from the popular joint next to our hotel. we enjoyed the rest of the uneventful day enjoying a Hollywood blockbuster on the TV.

Mall hopping on a rainy afternoon

 Day 2

The rain spoiled our first day in Beijing so we were determined to make the best of the rest of our stay. We set out early the next day after breakfast to visit the famed Forbidden city. I was very excited as this was one of the first places I had known about in China, having seen the movie 'The Last Emperor' in my early teens. The cab dropped us off at the South gate where while we were clicking the customary entrance pics, a Chinese guide speaking fluent English with an American accent accosted us. He was offering his guide services for a tour to the Great Wall. We kept his card.

Where the taxi dropped us off

Before entering the famous gates, we paused to admire the moat around the city. We also added the hungry crocodiles to it for my daughter's sake.😀

Moat with hungry crocodiles😉

 We stepped through the entrance and walked a few hundred meters to reach the imposing gates of the forbidden city. My daughter had recently seen the movie and so she went on 'knob touching ' spree as in Karate kid. :) In the meantime, my husband went ahead to get entrance tickets on my advice and I soon lost sight of him. This triggered a minor meltdown on my part and my hubby and daughter got an earful for pulling me in different directions in a crowded tourist area. My bipolar disorder kicks in at the most opportune moments!

Knob touching spree

As we made our way inside, we were approached by many guides but we chose the electronic guide instead, which was way cheaper at 40 yuan. It consisted of a head set and a control piece which had language settings and on and off button. The idea was that we could roam around the complex and whenever there was interesting information transmitted at certain points, the receiver would play out that information in our chosen language. The theory was very attractive but the practical experience was quite different. At some places, I circled the same spot slowly, thrice in the hope of catching some historical tit-bits but all in vain. Not a peep was emitted. At others I heard the female voice saying in flawless English "and the fire was" before the sound trailed off and the device went quiet. No amount of backtracking and side stepping would make the device work again. After unsuccessful attempts by all members of the family to get the contraption working, we abandoned it in lieu of reading the boards and notices around each of the artifacts. Occasionally we also resorted to eavesdropping on other guides explaining to their paying customers.

Taking turns to NOT hear

Access to the inside of most buildings were denied or restricted. As a result we were peering into dark interiors of the beautiful but similar looking pagodas while standing in the sunny courtyards. There was little chance of seeing anything worthwhile about the royal quarters from above a sea of heads.

Interiors

Peering inside the halls

It was difficult to sustain our own interest, let alone my daughter's in these circumstances. She started feeling hungry and the only food available to eat was in an overpriced shop next to the museum. She opted for a burger that came prepacked and wrapped in plastic and true to it's appearance was as tasteless as it looked.

What NOT to eat and drink..

We were quite despairing of our Forbidden city tour when we saw an opportunity to get clicked in royal Chinese costumes. The museum shop had an interesting corner with props where we could dress up as the Chinese royal family and get photographed for a 100 yuan. It was an interesting experience and made for a lovely souvenir! We could choose 3 of the photos clicked to get it printed and laminated.

Freshly anointed Chinese royals

We headed out of the Forbidden city after this as frankly we had had our fill of sunny courtyards, crowds and peering inside dimly lit palace rooms from barred entrances.

A fantastic tree near the exit -North Gate

Once outside we decided to visit the Tienanmen square which was adjacent to the Forbidden city but was close to where we had entered. So we had to walk 2.5 km around the city to reach the Southern entrance and proceed to the Tienanmen square on the opposite side. As we started our walk, we realized that we were very hungry and quite short of time for a sit down meal at any restaurant. We then decided to taste the roadside delicacies which were up for offer on our walk.

Walking around the city back towards the entrnce.

Right at the start was a stall selling sticks of some sort of candied berry at 5 yuan each. As I bit into one I tasted the crunchy, extreme sweet of the sugar coating followed by the soft and mildly sweet and sour taste of the berry to my delight. The sourness perfectly complimented the sweetness and I was hooked from the first bite onward! I later on learnt the name of the fruit as 'Hawthorne berry'.

Candied Hawthorne-berry on a stick

As we walked on, we came across a little hole-in -the-wall shop selling Chinese crepe. This crepe had a crunchy topping followed by egg and parsley. It was wholesome and delicious. Further on, we bought steaming dumplings from a man selling them off his cart. Our walk to to Tienanmen square had turned into an impromptu food tour and we were loving it! We rounded off our lunch with the unique Chinese yogurt sold in small pots . They were smooth, creamy and mildly sweet . Absolutely yummy!

Freshly prepared Chinese Crepe!

All our eating made our walk quite enjoyable and we reached the front of the Southern gates which were lined with shops selling dresses, shoes, breads, toys and everything bright and shiny. My daughter set her heart on a simple wooden toy which was being peddled by a few women who looked Tibetan. It was a simple clickety contraption but kept her so absorbed for the rest of our trip. We also fell into the tourist trap and bought shoes from a shop placed right in front of tourist attractions paying twice the price for something my daughter would wear only once and then complain of shoe bite.

The toy that held her attention for the rest of our trip!

I decided to pay a visit to the loo. However, when I saw the open stalls in the ladies loo with women going about their business in full view of other patrons, I did a quick about-turn. This aspect of Chinese culture needed a bit getting used to!

On our way to Tiennamen square from South Gate

Reaching Tienanmen square took quite sometime as we were a bit confused about ticketing . There was a long queue for ticketing, which we realized on reaching the window was not for the Tienanmen square. Apparently there was no ticketing for Tienanmen square as it was NOT an attraction. It was an open square in which soldiers were marching in tandem. However, it could only be viewed from across the street and was barricaded from approach. It almost seemed like the Chinese government didn't want it to be a tourist attraction! Wonder why?😏

Tian'anmen square across the street

I was here.

After posing for a few pics from across the road with the square as backdrop, we decided to take our chance with Beijing Metro and make a quick visit to the Summer Palace. We figured out the destination and route to take from the jumbled maze in Mandarin with help from kind Chinese passers-by and took the nearly an hour long journey. Unfortunately, it was closing time when we reached the gates of the Summer Palace and we could only see the entrance to this much praised attraction!😞

Beijing subway map

On our way to the Summer Palace

Too late for Summer Palace, might as well eat some corn

A token photo at the entrance

 We took the Beijing Metro back to Dongzhimen, the station close to out Holiday Inn Express.
On our way to the hotel, my husband quickly stepped into a local supermarket and my daughter and I went back to our room. I was actually quite puzzled by my husband's detour but as I freshened up  hubby and daughter had a sweet birthday surprise for me! He got a cake from the supermarket and we had a small celebration in our room. Despite early morning messages from family and friends, I had actually forgotten about it being my birthday in the midst of all the excitement and to be reminded of it like this was the best thing ever!
 

An impromptu birthday celebration!

We decided to have dinner at a Muslim establishment we had seen earlier on while my daughter stayed in with take away watching cartoons. Beijing has a considerable Muslim population and their food is a good fusion of Persian and Chinese cooking! We helped ourselves to Naan, chilli beef and rounded it off with delicious, sweet yogurt. There were yummy kebabs too but we had no space for them. Also, alcoholic drinks are served in these restaurants unlike any Muslim establishments anywhere. Each day was a new adventure in China!

Naan in China

Meetha Dahi (sweet curd) with toppings

Dinner and dessert over we pondered about our best which we had saved for the last. Our visit to the Great Wall of China! However, my hubby announced in complete horror that he had forgotten to actually make any bookings for the trip. It was 9:30 pm on our 2nd last night in Beijing. We had only the next day for visiting the Great Wall! Too late was an understatement. My hubby then remembered the guide who had given us his card outside the Forbidden city that morning. Luckily he was one of few people in China with whatsApp and my husband messaged him on it. The smart guy realizing that we were in a pickle to be contacting him so late naturally quoted us exorbitant rates for a trip to the Great Wall the very next day. Hubby decided to do a last minute check on the net, before accepting his rates. He came across a service called MUBUS which was allowing bookings for the next day to be made online! The rates were 1/3 of the ones quoted by the English speaking tour guide we met outside Forbidden city. We made a booking online to reserve seats but the payment was to be made only we reached the bus to avoid the bus waiting for paying customers. The bus would leave at 8 am and anyone who didn't make it would be left behind.
There is nothing more satisfying than being able to rectify our oversights in time and getting a bargain on it too! So finally we conked off mighty pleased with ourselves and looking forward to another exciting outing in China!