Hello from Beijing!
So 3 hours later than we expected and a very bumpy flight (!) we arrived in Beijing, to be met by a lovely driver holding a 'Tom Hampson' sign! It was such a relief to find him and quite funny when we realised he didn't speak a word of English! But he got us to our first hotel safely and in the pouring rain! We were met on a street corner as the streets or 'hutongs' as they call them here are so small the cars can't even fit through! A guy from the hotel was ready with an umbrella and led us through a small alleyway to our hotel - Courtyard 7. After checking in we walked though many courtyards to our room... a lovely 4 poster bed and a beautiful bathroom, perfect!
After settling in and freshening up we decided to head out in to the monsoon armed with our rain coats and brolly for some food. We walked up and down the Main Street and decided on a very busy restaurant that was full of locals! All tables had a strange bowl in the middle and people were dipping sticks with raw meat on the end in the bowls to cook their food! After waiting for a table it was our turn to pick the food out of the fridges and return to our own bowl of soup to cook our dinner. It was a strange experience but we got used to it and enjoyed tucking in to what we think was beef and chicken but was probably dog and cat. The lady at the restaurant was really nice and helped us a lot in her broken English, our Chinese is shocking as you can imagine. After the meal we returned to the hotel in the pouring rain walking up the flooded streets. We unpacked a few things and then got a good nights sleep before exploring in the morning.
Next day...
Today was our first day exploring the city of Beijing and it has been a fantastic day. We started with our breakfast in the hotel and were delighted to see that the rain had passed and the skies were clear. It has been a really nice temperature all day at about 20° with a nice breeze. This morning we headed straight to Beijing train station so that we could collect the tickets that we will need in a few days time. After heading the wrong way in a taxi with the taxi driver that can speak no English at all we finally managed to pull over and ask a local to tell the driver where we wanted to go. It certainly is very difficult to get around when you cannot speak a word of Chinese and the locals cannot speak a word of English. At the train station we managed to get our tickets pretty smoothly and then decided to head to the Temple of Heaven Park. We enjoyed walking around the park through all of the trees and visited the Echo Wall where it was hilarious to watch people trying to shout messages round the edge of the wall through an echo that didn't really echo... but the highlight was the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest which was a huge temple apparently of 'Ming dynasty architecture'! We exited the park through the north gate and then walked forever to a pedestrianised street called Qianman Dajie. Here we jumped on a little local tram for 20 Yuan and went the whole length of the street enjoying looking at the shops on either side. Tara couldn't believe it when she saw a H&M and a Zara! We enjoyed a lovely lunch before walking further north to Tiananmen Square via a number of gates and security checks. Finally we made it to the Palace, the Forbidden City, and paid our entrance fee before walking with thousands of Chinese tourists around the gates, buildings and sites of the city. Each of the buildings had a golden roof and was intricately decorated. At this point though we were tired and the crowded streets and path's were not what we needed. After exiting the Forbidden City we spontaneously decided to walk up the only hill in Beijing in Jingshan Park. From the top we got amazing 360° views of Beijing and the view that we have been waiting for over the Forbidden City. It looks miles better from above. After walking down the hill we took a tuc tuc back to the Hutong near our hotel and enjoyed walking around the little shops before having a beer outside in our very own Courtyard.
It's now 8:36pm and we are sat in a back ally, on a plastic stool outside Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant.
Apparently when you made a reservation for 8:00pm here you reserve a duck and not a table, which you have to wait up to an hour for!
Around us are many Chinese tourists who we guess have seen the same write ups and recommendations on Lonely Planet! It better be a good duck!!!
Good evening... it's now 11:53pm and we're tucked up and shattered after an amazing first day! The duck was indeed well worth the wait and we enjoyed tucking in with our new friend Mike from Argentina! He is travelling on his own so joined us for dinner...
It was a great evening and although in possibly the dirtiest restaurant in Beijing, it was a really good experience!
Trying to get home afterwards was a little challenging as we couldn't find a taxi but we eventually got a tuc tuc most of the way! We made it in the end!
The language barrier is proving to be very difficult, as we expected, and we seem to constantly be using hand gestures and pieces of paper with directions written on to get around! We have also noticed that without a VPN Facebook, Google and Instagram don't work at all! This place is crazy and very different!
Tomorrow we are very excited to be going to The Great Wall of China! How cool is that!
Love to all,
T&T x