Well we've had an interesting 2 days or so. The border crossings were
absolutely hell. We were not allowed off the train at all during the
border checks until the last 30 mins of the Chinese one, from about
00:15 onwards. With the last 30 mins being agonisingly tedious, the
train coming in and out of the platform to try and join to another
part of the train, us still not being allowed off. When we were, me
and Lena went to try and find some food, a supermarket was open, they
sold noodles, job done.
We all slept like logs that night, getting up at around 10am which
made a nice change from the other train journies. The rest of the
journey was spent chatting to each other, admiring the beautiful
Chinese hills on the way into Beijing and just generally relaxing
which was nice. I gave Lena my Long Way Round book, as I'd finished it
- she said she had been looking for it in shops and it was a good way
to lose some weight in my bag! Success!
We got into Beijing at around 2:05pm - I don't need to tell you that
it was a punctual arrival. We said our goodbyes to Lena and made our
way to the ticket office to get tickets to Shanghai. Problem number 1:
World Expo in Shanghai. Tom reads that tickets should be OK 4/5 days
in advance but does not put two and two together. Demand for tickets
is obviously up, no sleepers for the next 10 days. Oops. They did
however, have just seats. We needed to stick to our route guide as we
didn't want to start missing days out in other places so opted for the
seat only option. We're not looking forward to it but at least it's
only 10 hours and we will actually make it to Shanghai. It did make me
worry about our Shanghai to Hong Kong ticket though, which I would
book through the agency in our Hotel that evening.
To get to our hotel was quite difficult as it was 2km from the nearest
metro station. We opted for a taxi, and knowning they can be quite
awkward, I sat up front with the driver. He was a strange looking man.
When we left I pointed to the meter to make sure he started it. He
then pointed to it and with no hint of a joke in play he said
"Dollars". I said, "No, Yuan". He just looked at me and said "Dollars"
even slower than before. Turns out he was joking. Ha, ha, funny. He
also made some comment about my beard, then pointed to himself to say
he was clean shaven. I said "Hotel *imitate shaving action*". He then
proceeded to show me he stomach which was completely hairless, like
his arms too. What an awkard taxi journey, I was glad that we were
still alive, had paid the 28 Yuan (£2.80) and had made it to the
hotel.
2nd problem after the tickets ahoy. Our hotel said our room wasn't
available (double standard) and all they had left was a business room
which was cheaper and didn't have a window - they said they'd transfer
us the next day. They would offer us free breakfast as compensation. I
said not good enough as we're paying for the double. Laura went
apeshit at them, I've never seen her fume "It's unacceptable" she
said! According to our guidebook, staff don't like being shown up
which proved to be right, as she gave in quite quickly and looked
genuinely distraught that Laura had challenged her - the poor girl!
But it was all good as they gave us a standard twin instead which is
bigger and cost more than the standard double. 2nd problem resolved
much more successfully and preferably than the first!
3rd problem. After we'd checked in and paid for our room (which is, by
the way, the nicest we've stayed in so far) I headed to the ticket
booking office at our hotel. No train tickets to Hong Kong, or
Guangzhou. In fact, not tickets out of Shanghai for the next 10 days
(the booking advance period). Shit. What will we do? Online booking
companies have confirmed the lack of availability, including ones
recommended by Seat61.com, the website we've used a lot in planning
this trip. Balls, balls, balls - and the air ticket office wanted £250
each for a flight. I looked all over the place, even for flights to
Shenzen, the first Chinese city out of Hong Kong (domestic rather than
international) but eventually found (on Expedia of all places) a
flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong for £150 each including taxes and CC
surcharges. It's not ideal but it's sorted and our plan is still in
tact. Now we have to find somewhere to stay for the extra night in
Shanghai as we leave on the 19th - our hotel for the other 3 nights is
fully booked. An on going problem.
So we really didn't do much yesterday. Running around like a headless
chicken to try and find some solution, we ended up going to a
restaurant on our road of the hotel which was recommended by an
Australian couple staying on the same floor as us. It was pretty good
- we both ate for £8! There was also a supermarket on our road where
we stocked up on supplies. The road our hotel is on is amazing, it's
so authentic, none of this business district rubbish - street stalls,
restaurants - a little Beijing back street - amazing!
Today we got up reasonably late (around 10am) and didn't do much as we
were sorting the flights out (it's only today that I actually booked
them!) and left the hotel just after 12. We headed for Forbidden City
as we knew it was just around the corner from the hotel. We're
planning on seeing the Great Wall on the 13th, we can book the tour
the day before apparently, so that is quite good. The Forbidden City
north entrance is 10 minutes by foot from the hotel (if you go the
right way initally which we didn't so it took slightly longer!) It was
very beautiful, but the downsides were it was very crowded and the
audioguide deposit was so much I couldn't afford 2 for us. We ended up
just walking around it to the south entrance which was nice enough.
Our guide book recommended one particular hall, which was very
disappointing, lots of people queueing up to see a dark room filled
with pillars so you can't see the centrepiece! That said, there were
some quiter areas of the city, away from the main halls and that was
very nice. The weather today was stupidly humid - Laura coped OK but I
really didn't and ended up sweating a lot!
We walked out the south entrance as a heard of people, it was rammed
and proceeded to Tianamen square, crossing the Tianamen with the
picture of Chairman Mao and going under the underpass to the square.
As we walked into the Square we heard "Hey guys" where we turned
around and saw the couple who were at Golden Gobi and got the same
train as us! Beijing can't be that big!! They were heading to
Forbidden City after seeing TS, the opposite to us. The square was
massive and very impressive. It was very funny, whilst there, 2 groups
of Chinese teenagers wanted pictures with me and more importantly
Laura - something that reminded me of Japan very much - it was very
funny and sweet.
After the square it was about 3:00pm and we needed to find some food -
I was getting quite faint - the first sign of a headache. We went to
an area of the city where there was a recommended restaurant and ended
up going into a fast food chain place just round the corner from the
metro. It was absolutely fantastic. It was also very refreshing to see
no coke/pepsi on the menu. We both had 2 lemon teas each - with a meal
each (I had this really good beef, rice and cabbage) for £4.50. I shit
you not, and it was very very good.
After we'd eaten we headed for the Olympic stadium to have a look
around - on the way we met a Chinese lady on the underground who
seemed very curious about our travels, and impressed! She said we
looked so young (like we'd just finished high school) which I thought
was very funny. She gave us some advice on the sights and was
generally very polite and kind, just like everyone else we've met here
really - it's such a welcoming city!
By the time we'd looked around I really had a full blown headache and
when we got back to the hotel I had to take some Asprin (which we
picked up in Mongolia of all places) and a lie down. I felt better by
about half 8 and we went out to the supermarket in search of supplies
before going to a restaurant literally across the road from our hotel.
We shared food and it was the same price as the last restaurant we
visited on the road for half as much (1 main and 1 rice shared) by my
my was it amazing. The food was really really good, we shared a sweet
and sour beef on a sizzler, with a bed of onions and had a mixed veg
rice. Amazing.
World cup final tonight, best get some sleep before it starts!
0 comments:
Post a Comment