If I were young, I'd flee this town

I arrived in Beijing 23 days ago. I had someone meet me at the station so it was a stress free ride to my accommodation. No trudging through the rain, no misinterpretations of my phrasebook, just plan sailing...makes for boring reading really...However the sights were pretty amazing for me. It all seemed so foreign at the beginning, little did I realise that I'd be making my own way there on foot in the not to distant future.

Looking back, most of what happened in Beijing is a bit of a blur. I guess I was very much caught up in the life there - too caught up to blog at least. The hostel ( 9 Dragons Hostel) is one of the best I've styed in to date. The staff were super. Really friendly and happy to cook me my required 3egg breakfast. I sucked up all the sights from the city and have to say that the vibe on the street is what made Beijing special for me. Walking through Beijing as the rain lashed down was a great experience. Warm rain and Chinese people doing everything humanly possible to get avoid it( let them taste an Irish sumer and see how they like it. Actually given the service most of them give in the shops in Dublin I reckon its pretty obvious how they feel bout Irish weather).

I was stunned at how easy it is to get by in a city where I know only 2 words of the language (thank you and hello) . The Metro makes it easier I guess - that and obscene amounts of smiling and nodding. The Beijing accent is quite unique, loads of rrrrrrrrs - imagine a growling dog sucking on a marble - I love it. Most everyone I met hated it. I think its the Chinese equivalent of the Dublin accent ( except I don't love the Dublin accent).

I took a 10km hike on the Great wall with two Chinese speaking Americans. It was a great day and although I wasn't that excited about the trip the night before I was euphoric by the time we finished up - looking back over that vast expanse of wall. We celebrated by taking the flying squirrel back down the mountain side. I did my bit for global marketing and drank a Coke Cola(thank Microsoft for that particular dependency) on this thrilling ride.

The excitement wasn't to end there. On the way back to Beijing our taxi driver managed to make a friend on the road. He cut someone off, the person he cut off weren't none too happy about this so they decided to over take us and then pull in front of us and start jamming on their breaks. This drove our driver insane and well the nutty driving that ensued was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. What was initially just a display of Chinese bravado soon turned into a James Bond'esque car chase - without the Austin Martin, instead we were travelling in the equivalent of a breadbin on wheels. It was surprisingly nimble, which added to the terror. There were some classic maneuvers such as - the triple car overtake - so at one point there was 4 vehicles driving down the same road( not a motorway!!) in the same direction heading towards the same crane/truck/bus. Take your pick as the quadruple was just going to be one of many he'd pull. There was also the undertaking a crane on this inside as we came round a bend - I call that the tickler, because I'm pretty sure we tickled the cranes front wheels as we finally shot out past its massive berth. This went on for about 20 minutes. Not even the drivers wide could calm him down( yep she was there too, this fool was ready to take us all to hell with him). He eventually caught the other driver by ramming him off the road. They had a polite exchange of words and fists as we sat in our mini van facing oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road. At one point the police appeared and then simply rolled by. Didn't seem to be enough of an issue for them......possibly on the trail of some free thought that they needed to suppress.

Another highlight of my time in Beijing was Bei Hai park. It is simply beautiful and a definite must if you are there with a partner. Beijingers congregate there(as they do in other parks) and socialise like no other culture I've experienced. There is singing, game playing, talking, walking, people sitting together holding hands, kissing - all in all a really precious place to be.

In total I spent 10 days in Beijing - third of my entire day budget for China. Its hard to put into words what I liked so much. I think the best word to summarise would be alive - hot, humid, cheap, smelly, busy, crazy. these words simply don't do it justice and only give you pointed definitions for such an experience rich place. Could I live there? You betcha! Do i recommend it as a place to live? Most certainly! You've not lived until you've taken to the streets of Beijing on a bicycle!

I'm not sure what you are waiting for - this city has it all and is far more accessible than you think. If you get lost you can either get the metro to a station you recognise or just grab a cab( worst case it'll set you back 5 euros....not exactly Dublin rates!!)

Onwards to Shanghai! ( oh wait I'm wring this retrospectively - I'm already in Shanghai!!)

Memorable things I saw/did/experienced in Beijing-

• A short movie( propaganda) featuring Mr. Mao projected onto a fine spray of water outside the Forbidden city


• A trip to the White Rabbit, arriving at 2am, bopping about with more ex-pats than locals and leaving the next morning more worse for wear that I'd care to admit. Music (although techno) was dull. Not something I would recommend to the true affectionado


• Staying in an old Brothel which is now a hostel


• Getting to the aforementioned hostel on foot in torrential rain. Walking through the hutongs(alleyways) laughing our heads off


• Squat loos...

Labels: travel