Day 25 – The Temple of Heaven

Sometimes you need to be flexible if you don’t book ahead and plan to buy the train ticket on the day. Since the overnight trains to Xi’an were all fully booked, I decided to just take the fast train there.
This meant a bit less time in Beijing to see the Temple of Heaven and I had to skip the Temple of Earth visit.

Still, the Temple of Heaven visit was a must for me and it was very nice to see it again with a great blue sky.
The park around the temple is also quite big and well visited by people so it’s worth wandering if you have the time to see people playing various Chinese instruments, dancing, and singing.

The roof of the temple is all purple and looks great in sunshine, the round shape (to signify heaven) also makes it quite special to see.

I had to rush through a bit but managed to enjoy the temple and even a stroll around the park to get some shade and do some people watching.

There were quite a lot of visitors around so getting a great shot of the temple was not always possible, unless you also wanted to include them in your picture. While I usually like people in my pictures, I wanted to get some pictures of the temple and had to be a bit more creative with the angles and locations from where to take the pictures.

After picking up my bag at the hotel and getting to Beijing West station, i boarded the ‘bullet’ train for Xi’an North.

Day 23 – Beijing Parks

After the last two rather grey days, the sun was out again with slightly lower, more tolerable temperatures and a rare (for Beijing anyway) clear blue sky, not washed out, greyish blue but proper deep blue.

This was the perfect occasion to finally head to the Forbidden City, Jingshan and Beihai Parks.

It was a very nice days and the crowds were not too bad but I found that while walking through the Forbidden City, I did not have much to add to my previous pictures from 2006.
It is great to revisit certain locations as you can just wander and enjoy them without feeling like you need to document this but it’s also strange to hardly take any pictures of a quite cool place.

But rather than taking the same pictures, just with a different camera (was one of my first GRD I trips in 2006), I decided to just taken pictures of things I did not get last time or where I had anything new or different to add.

This continued on through Jingshan Park, where you have the best views of Beijing and I plan to go early in the morning for hopefully a nice sunrise, and then to the Winter Palace or Beihai Park with the nice white Dagoba, where I waited to capture the sunset baking the lake and Dagoba in warm orange light.

Tomorrow, I have a visit to the Great Wall planned and then I am mostly done in Beijing and will move on Saturday evening to Xian, after going to the Temple of Heaven.

No people in today’s picture selection after having too many people pictures yesterday.

Day 22 – Of the real and fake Beijing

This post would have more appropriately been called ‘People in Beijing’ but here the pictures and text are a bit mismatched so hope you like it anyway.

The weather was still grey an dull so I figured it might be s good a time as any to walk from my hotel to Tiananmen Square, via Wangfujing Street (the Night Market), and then on to Quianmen and see what they have done there. Last time I walked along Quianmen street it was mostly boarded up and scheduled for demolition and renovation for the Olympics.

While Tianmen Square had more security checkpoints, I was glad to see that the ‘students’ wanting to ‘learn/practice English’, show you their ‘art exhibition’ or just ‘have coffee’ were still around, albeit less and not on the square itself. They are kind of a tradition for me and I would have been disappointed not to have them around, not that I would recommend going along with them (unless you want to waste some money) but it’s always a nice enough chat and you can (and should) ask them for useful information, which they mostly provide without problems.

Otherwise, I was not hugely taken by Tiananmen Square and figured I’ve taken all photos of it last time round so there was not much photography to be done here.

Heading on to Quianmen gate, I decided to skip going in an just head on to Quianmen Street and see something completely new for me.

Well, I don’t know what I expected but was certainly not prepared for what was waiting. For  full disclosure, I only walked along Quianmen Street twice in 2006 so it was far from knowing the area but what they have done is just wrong.

It not only feels completely out of place, at first look it seems like a film set or a kitschy Disneyland street depicting China, complete with fake looking (but working) tram.
All this done by someone who has never been to China and less authentic feeling then any Chinatown you will ever encounter around the world. There is no character there, everything looks fake and the expensive boutique shops do their own to make you feel like you walked into some kind of alternate reality.

Baffled and completely confused, I wandered around for quite a while, trying to get my head straight and figure out if this was actually real. Even after being around there for an hour or longer, I could not make up my mind what to think of this. I mean it’s horrible and wrong but in a way you have to experience it yourself to really understand so I guess go there while in Beijing and see for yourself.

Once I wandered into the side streets to the East it actually got worse, a lot worse with empty shops, dead end alleys, fallen down statues, dusty shop windows, faded paint and so on. There was some sort of ‘Taiwan Yes!’ festival going on but I did not quite understand it.

I was ready to turn around and leave this place but then figured I might as well document everything and also check out the side streets and alleys to the West. Imagine my surprise when I stepped back into real China and Bejing and saw the old neighbourhood I walked through in 2006 on the way to a restaurant.
Everything was there, the people, the smells, the noise, even the old cinema and the restaurant I went to. It was like stepping through some kind of portal back to the real world after being in this weird alternate reality.

Needless to say I was quite happy and been taking a lot of pictures around here, before stopping and ordering (way too much) food at the restaurant I have been to in 2006. The place did not change a bit and everything looked exactly the same, the only difference being more tourists there this time. The place is called De Yuan Roast Duck Restaurant but funny enough I did not actually had roast duck there so far.

After a very nice meal, I let them pack some of my leftovers to take away and then headed back to the hotel. I decided to walk off the food rather than take a taxi or the subway.

Day 21 – 798 and 751 D

While looking at Tripadvisor and briefly at the guidebook my travel companion from Ulaanbataar had, I read about the new arty and in 798 street/district in Beijing.

It is quite a bit out of the way so I was not sure it would be worth going all the way there to see some studios and graffiti on the walls. Well, I am glad I did not listen to myself and made the trip there.

The area itself is pretty cool, an old industrial area where the factories have now been converted into studios, caffes and bars or just made into a park or art installation.

As you might have noticed, I like art and love industrial buildings and installations. In the end what was supposed to be a quick checking out of the area turned into a whole day affair with me walking around 798 but also 751 D Park, which is even cooler and in parts reminded me of the High-Line in New York and the NDSM Wharf in Amsterdam.

There were lots of people wandering about, enjoying the free art exhibitions and having coffee. This is also a favourite spot for photographers wanting to shoot models in a more industrial or urban setting.

While it was a mostly grey day, it did not deter me from taking lots of pictures an enjoying myself greatly walking around the industrial area and old factories.

After most galleries started to close and people started going home, I figured it was time to head back, too. On my way I got caught up by a rain shower and got completely drenched, it was so bad that I actually put my cameras away, although I usually tend to use them in rain without worrying about them getting wet.

If you are in Beijing and need a break from the main tourist sights or are like me, someone who likes art and industrial buildings, you have to see 798 and the 751 D Park.

Day 20 – The Palace and the Lakes

After having a late start to the day because of trying to solve and solving the access to Blogger, thanks Tom for your help, I decided to head to the Summer Palace first for a few hours.

The Summer Palace is a bit out of the centre but very nice and a great way to spend the day, there is quite a lot to see and take pictures. The crowds were out thanks to the great weather but due to the size of it, you can always find a quiet spot if you wish.

I enjoyed walking around there so much that I forgot the time and before I knew it some of the things I wanted to see were closed already so I decided to head back to the hotel and lave some stuff there before heading out to Hou Hai.

Hou Hai is probably one of the nicer areas to go out in the evening, although it’s quite commercial it is nicer than Sanlitun. It did change quite a bit from 2006, gone are the small and run down bars, all replaced by bigger and more modern bars with life music in all of them.

A bit higher up away from the bars and crowds the area is quite calm and peaceful with people fishing and sitting by the lakes enjoying the warm evening.
Here as in most other parks and squares in Bejing you will find people dancing or singing
karaoke.

The advantage of going out here with all the bars is the competition so always haggle for the best beer prices or go to the place with the best music.
Despite coming here to have a beer, I ended up walking around and taking pictures until I was too tired to have a beer so just walked back to the hotel and took more pictures on the way.

Day 19 – Arriving in Beijing

When you get up in the morning and loom out the window you’ll be in for a surprise, not only the landscape has changed but the view just feels more busy, more full of people.
It’s hard to explain but where Mongolia felt like a vast but empty country, China feels like a vast country but full of people. There are cities, roads, industry but also some amazing landscape to be seen.
Everything just feels hustling and bustling, even the smallest towns but maybe this is what you feel after a few days in Monglia.

After arriving in Beijing and getting out of the train station, what struck me, aside from the extreme heat and humidity, was that it kind of felt familiar. Sure, last time I have been here was in 2006, before the Olympics, so a lot has changed since then but the overall feeling was not too different from the time I arrived back with friends from Shanghai.

This time it was easier though, I knew what to expect and how to find my way. Part of it is having been here but part is having travelled a lot so in a way everything feels familiar and finding my way is rarely an issue.
This at least made getting to my hotel very easy, also thanks to the over 10 new subway lines they built since last time I was here.

One thing I did not remember or did forget was that the Great Firewall blocks Facebook, which I can live without, but also Blogger, which I can’t. Guess it’s no different than the UK government blocking access to EZTV and Pirate Bay, equally annoying for me.

This means although internet access is available everywhere here, posting might be more hassle till I can set up a VPN or workaround. This will be done in the next day or so, for now it’s time to head out for a walk.

What always strikes me when walking through Beijing, Hong Kong or Hanoi is that although all are big cities with millions of people, they feel quite calm and relaxed. The rush and hectic felt in European cities is missing here. This becomes the more clear as soon as you happen upon people dancing, singing karaoke or hanging out together in one of the parks.
Everything feels more social and fun than in the ‘western world’ and I like this a lot.