Lewisham, United KingdomDeparture from the UKBremen, GermanySchuelpBack to BremenChristmas in the HarzDriving in the HarzAround Bad Harzburg and Christmas Market in GoslarWinter Tourism im HarzAnd home againViennaNew Year'sSightseeing in Vienna Day 2More sightseeing in Vienna and some plansArrival in BudapestTickets Booked!Bath HouseTrain to LvivWe made it to Ukraine!Leaving LvivOdessa, UkraineEventful arrival in KievMorning in KievOn the train to MoscowBrief stop in MoscowOur first trip east of the KnownOn the train to Kazan - a lot to catch up onkazan - at an ungodly hour of the morningOn the train to YekaterinburgOne night until SiberiaSiberia!!!!! Tobolsk - it's not on Google Maps! It's 4 hours north of TyumenDay trains5 Hours from IrkutskSafe arrival in IrkutskLake BaikalBack to IrkutskGoodbye to BaikalAn Experience in Ulan-UdeCrossing the Border - Happy New Year and Australia DayPlans changing in HarbinEnchanted with BeijingBeijing WanderingsCrashingMore CrashingSam's almost better againSecond last day in BeijingLast day in BeijingTianjin, ChinaIncheon ArrivalSeoul!!!Exhausting full day of enjoying SeoulI still love SeoulRainy and grey in BusanUnvalentine's DayInfinite turtlesDry land againA Perfect EndCoolangatta International Airport, or lack thereofBrisbane, AustraliaMum and Dad's
 | samandleonie |  | Heading East |  | More Crashing |
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Feb 1 2009, 11:28 PM
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Beijing, China
We had dinner (it was unclear what everything was, except the inevitable – very rich) and then wandered around for a really long time looking for a nice place to have a drink. We'd decided that if a place we found wasn't nice, then it wasn't worth going there for a drink, so we looked inside so many places and decided against them. They were either completely empty or double the price of the (empty) place next door or had terrible “live music” (one was just one guy singing bad covers with a backing track – I thought it was karaoke at first). We eventually stumbled on a pool bar, which had lots of locals inside and very cheap drinks. It was the first time I've had a gin and tonic that wasn't out of a friend's bottle. It felt very decadent. We all had a second round of rum and coke and I told Anni and Susie about the Bundaberg distillery and the pre-mixed cans that I used to drink all those years ago.
Sam had just gone to bed again when I got home, after eating almost a whole pizza, which was a remarkable achievement in my books, as it's terrible to see Sam so weak and lethargic and feel him so hot with fever.
This morning, I discovered an excellent breakfast, as food has become a little problematic. For Sam, it's become very problematic, but I've just been getting vague protests from my stomach that the food is too rich. Our hostel offers western breakfast options, but they're so expensive. The bread in the supermarket is woeful. It seems most people just have yoghurt for breakfast, but that doesn't keep me going for very long. So this morning I experimented and I'm so happy with the experiment that I'm looking forward to break fast today and the next day. I got quite addicted to these instant sweet teas with chewy, vaguely fruity pieces in them. It's a just-add-water kind of cup drink. So I bought one of those and put oatmeal in it and poured hot water in. I could have made plain oatmeal, but I didn't have anything to sweeten it with. The tea oatmeal was delicious. It tasted like creamy flapjack and it was quite filling. Unfortunately, Sam doesn't eat oatmeal, so his breakfast is still a bit of an issue. We have discovered this “fruit bread” stuff that's all right, so we've got him another mini loaf of that for tomorrow morning.
So after this experimental breakfast, we headed out on a Lonely Planet walking tour of the Foreign Legation district, which was “mildly diverting”, as Sam put it. Then we ticked off our errands: bought a Seoul Lonely Planet and some postcards (they become difficult to come by sometimes, so we went specifically to a shop where Anni said she'd seen some) and booked our tickets. The hotel also happened to have international newspapers, so we paid the customary exorbitant amount for a Financial Times, but I soaked up the front page instantly and immediately felt more alert and connected to the world for it (saving the rest of the paper – maybe not the rest, but some of it – for the ferry).
In the afternoon, we went to the Temple of Heaven Park, which is a fantastic tourist attraction and a lovely public park. We entered the public park section first and watched people doing their Taichi and exercises on public exercise equipment. The middle-aged women play badminton and hacky sack or join groups of random marching and yelling. There was a choir singing songs everyone knew (except us, of course), so others would join in. And there was such a variety of trees. One section had rows of cypress trees, planted so that you couldn't really see other people (perfect for your personal Taichi exercises). The next section had funny shaped pine trees, tall and green. The southern section had twisted trees, a low canopy and a desert feeling.
The temples themselves are beautifully restored (probably just in time for the Olympics). The blues and greens and reds are vivid. The important buildings in the Temple complex are round, which I found interesting, as I expect these old buildings with ornate wood and tile roofs to be rectangular. The main temple is very impressive. Its roof has three tiers, so it's an enormous structure to support. Inside, there are four huge support columns in the middle, representing the four seasons, with twelve more columns in the next row, for the months of the year. The ceilings are ornate and rich with overstimulus. Near one part (the Imperial Vault of Heaven – quite an evocative name), the circular wall (broken only by the gate) is known as the echo wall, because apparently it can transport sound from one end to the other. The Lonely Planet explains this, adding “if a tour group doesn't get in the way”. It wasn't so much a problem of tour groups (although the place was crawling with tourists) that interfered, it was the solid metal railing stopping you from getting too close, with a note about preserving cultural relics. We both tried shouting at it, but to no avail. Nothing happened. It was amusing watching everyone else shout at the wall, though.
We walked back to the hostel through some small alleys (called “hutong”) and almost got lost (our Lonely Planet doesn't have several major roads marked, as those roads are new!). When we made it back, we went across the street for dinner with Susie. The food was fantastic, but we ordered far too much. Considering we only paid £9 for the whole meal, and two beers, it was amazing that we ordered too much. We thought it could have fed four. We would have made a bigger dent in it if Sam had eaten, but he could only managed a bowl of the fried rice that came in a little wooden bucket. We ordered it just because of the wooden bucket (but the rice was great, too).
It's nice to know we have another three full days, because it gives us the luxury of sleeping until about 9 and not wearing ourselves out. Tomorrow we're aiming to do the Forbidden City. We now have plenty of time to make it out to the Summer Palace (apparently there's a marble boat – I'm excited to see that). We might even pop out to take a photo of the Bird's Nest stadium, but it's not high on our list.
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