China: Beijing

The train from Shanghai was fast and smooth, the comfort level was about that of an economy seat in a 1980's era airline, but most importantly it was safe(I think...). When we debarked from the train we could instantly tell there was a difference between Shanghai and Beijing. It was a difference of night and day, the suburbs and downtown, Beijing being downtown.

While it was dressed up to look good there were people sleeping one the floor, who did a good job of making it look like they were not on route, and there was an odor that made me think of my bathroom before my mom cleaned it(thanks mom).

We found the line for registered taxi's but at the rate it was going we would need to take the taxi to the airport to fly back home. Thankfully we met a nice gal who was also thought there might be a better way so with her help we took the bus and got off at what we thought was two short blocks from our hotel. Thankfully we were right.

For our time in Beijing we had found a good deal on a western hotel that was close to a number of the sites we planned to see while there. The location truly was superb, but what hit me as we walk in to the hotel was a sense of familiarity, that I was home. They had taken what was normal back home and brought it to China for me, along with a continental breakfast. It was an interesting thing as I hardly ever, to the point of trying not to, stay in hotels back home but here for some reason it felt warm and welcoming.

Our first full day in Beijing was a Sunday, as such we had found a government approved church to attend, it's website said that the service started at 7:00pm so we had the morning and afternoon free to explore. My mother decided to take a day off to rest and explore in her own right so my father and I set off to see what we could find.

We started at the Temple of Heaven as it was right down our street and from their worked our way North up Qianmen Street through the Zhengyang Gate, past Chairman Mao's Hall, The Monument to the People's Heros, Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden City finally finishing at Jingshan Park. Here are some pictures of it:

Market

The courtyard of the Temple of Heaven was full of entertainment.

View over the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park.

This walk put us what felt like 15 miles from our hotel and so being the fit and active father that he is, my father insisted that he wanted to walk. Being the stubborn son that did not want to be shown up by his aging father(I said it), I ignored the tempting calls from the rickshaw drivers, and kept pace.

On our walk we happened across the church that we were planning to attend but as it turned out their service was in the morning and so we had missed it. So for dinner we decided to go for Peking duck, a dish that every tourist absolutely has to have because other tourists tell them to...

We went to a restaurant just around the corner from our hotel and it was evident by the looks we got that it was very much a Chinese restaurant. Thankfully their menu had large pictures of every dish so we knew what we were getting.

It was certainly an experience and it did taste quite alright. Along with that it was a reasonable 99 RMB($15US) for the duck and everything that came with it which easily fed all three of us.

Next post: Beijing: Tour Edition