Beijing - 16 December 2011

On my own now in this big city. Woke up this morning reluctant to get out of bed, feeling exhausted with a sore throat. Eventually checked out of the comfortable hotel mid-morning and took a taxi across town to my hostel. The hostel is in the hutongs (narrow alleys of Beijing, dating from the Yuan dynasty). The taxi driver dropped me on the main road and pointed down the hutong. I walked down the hutong, past many 'kashgar' (muslim influence) restaurants - happy that I might actually be able to eat some lamb/beef tonight - to a red door that stated my hostel name on it. I peered inside the door into a tiny hostel with a inside courtyard colourfully lined with red lanterns. The super helpful English-speaking staff took me to my tidy 4-bed mixed dorm that I got for 10NZD per night, which because of the low-season here in Beijing, I get to myself. I think I actually get the whole hostel to myself - haven't seen any other tourists here yet..

The day before yesterday we went out to the Simitai region of the Great Wall of China. This was the highlight of my whole trip, totally surreal. It took 2h private bus to get out to this more remote section of the wall. When we arrived we split into two groups; those to take the cable car up to Tower 14 of the wall, or the more physical option to hike the vast amount of stairs up to Tower 10. Four of us decided to hike up; the englishman, scotsman, one of the australian boys and me (token kiwi and token girl). We got to tower 10 and decided to hike further up the wall, climbing the very steep section from towers 20 to 23, where at the top we were rewarded for our efforts with the beauty of the snow lightly covering the wall and the surrounding trees. After 2.5 hours of walking, much of it up stairs, we took toboggan or chairlift down to the carpark where we had Subway.. yes Subway on the Great Wall of China..

On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Beijing Silk Market - paradise for fans of imitation gear - building full of hassling vendors for me. After a stint of asking 'how much?' then walking away before I got harrassed, I became tired and opted to sit in a cafe until the rest of my tour group had finished shopping.

Yesterday we left the hotel at 8am, excited to visit the Tinanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Catching the local bus to Tinanmen Square, our spirits dropped as we stepped out into the large square, cheeks whipped by the icy winds from inner mongolia (the temperature was -3 degrees with the wind contributing to a feel temperature of -10 degrees). Attempting to take photos, but feeling too cold to take our gloved hands out of our jacket pockets, much of our group quickly crossed the square and sheltered in the underground waiting for the rest of our group. We then crossed the road to the Forbidden City, rushing to the coffee shop inside the walls, desperate for anything to warm us. In the coffee shop we got our information from our guide then quickly rushed through the forbidden city, its back palace and gardens; then to the bus, where we travelled to a restaurant to get 'crossing bridge noodles' for lunch. This is just noodles and a few veges and pieces of meat put in a boiling soup to cook in front of you - more of a novelty and tummy warmer than a taste sensation. After lunch, we explored some hutongs and frozen lakes then rushed to a shopping mall of Wangfujing St (the main tourist drag), as this seemed like the only warm place in town. At night we had our last group dinner - peking duck (roast duck in pancakes) - in my opinion expensively overrated, as a cheap chicken burrito offers more bite - but was nice to catch up with the group for our last meal together and say our goodbyes.

Today I am at the hostel waiting for them to book my flight from Hangzhou to Guangzhou on Christmas Day. When this is done I am catching a bus out to the Summer Palace and the ruins of the old summer palace. Tomorrow, a few of our tour group members still in Beijing are doing a day trip out to a traditional village 2h from Beijing. I have enjoyed the sights in Beijing, but I am very excited to get back to Shanghai - modern, fun and quite a bit warmer than Beijing!