May 4-5 Beijing

Trying out the public transport - a steep learning experience! Each ride costs about 40 cents.

Noise, grime, traffic, quirky splashed exotic colour and design - Beijing is rather intoxicating and enormous! Around 25 million people and 4-6 million cars on the road and growing. The Olympic Games in 2008 saw many ‘improvements’ to the city - ‘fast’ link-roads, etc. There are now 6 ring-roads encircling central Beijing. Currently a new rail link is being built to coincide with the Winter Olympics in 2022. This will enable fast access from the city to the mountains and The Great Wall.

We walked mostly in Beijing but our guide took us on a couple of buses and showed us the ropes so we could go further afield. I love using public transport in foreign places but it can be a challenging learning experience! Each ride here cost about 40 cents.

The Bell and Drum towers (L + R) the old city's time keepers face each other across the square.

After the grandness of the Forbidden City our guide took us to the Drum and Bell Towers - the historic city timekeepers, and to see some of the older Hutongs - residential alleyways that run east-west across the centre of town - very fengshui. They date back to the Yuan Dynasty in C13 and some still offer relatively affordable accommodation in a city where accommodation is at a premium. Many have been bulldozed, but the area where we are staying was crisscrossed with these tiny nested housing complexes (have a look at the map, zoom in and you’ll see what I mean). In some areas they have been converted to nightclubs or touristy hubs, but many are still residential and still lack cooking and toilet facilities. As a result there are numerous malodorous public toilets in the streets and people have to use public shower blocks. It’s an interesting life! There are of course many larger courtyard houses, but we didn’t get to those.

This is the entrance to one of the hutongs. We didn’t wander inside as it felt a bit intrusive.

At the other end of that hutong. The car in the foreground is completely covered to protect it from ‘visiting’ dogs.

A map of where we stayed (circled dot). We were very close to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. 

A coffee-stop at this cute coffee franchise - all decorated with flowers.

Tiananmen Square, opposite the South Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) of the Forbidden City, is massive and not the threatening space I expected. We wandered there near sundown on our second day and witnessed the pomp and disruption associated with the flag ceremony: the 8-lane road running between it and the Forbidden City was closed for well over half an hour. The flag ceremony takes place at dawn and then again at dusk each day. (This road is a place for huge parades and tiers of seats line one side of thoroughfare.) 

Tiananmen Square. The floral arrangements were quite eye-catching 

Tiers of seats in the background so people can see the parades when they happen

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All the traffic stops for around half hour or more for the twice-daily flag ceremony. A patient people

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We have wandered streets peering into courtyards and wondered at intriguing shops selling who knows what. Much of it is a mystery even when you take a closer look. I have to say the variety of imaginative food items is impressive. You can buy a bottle of Aussie wine for $100-400 or $1 for beer or from about $2 for 250 ml 50% proof white spirit - whoops! No one light a match! They are a happy lot over dinner!

This rather imposing bronze statue stood outside the institute of traditional Chinese Medicine - all the pressure points are shown

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The streets are interesting places to wander. This wall marks a boundary to a garden area perhaps

Wefelt quite safe walking at night - in the area where we were staying.

The city is absolutely fascinating and the people very friendly and accommodating, but now it is time to visit the countryside .... more anon.