Back in Bejing

Tuesday June 15, 2010

Train arrived in Beijing at the older station around 7am. Had to wake Jake up when the ticket lady came through. When you get on they swap your purchased ticket for a plastic card and then swap back at the destination, not sure why. Said goodbye to our new friend from last night, and hit the street to find the hostel. We left it with Bobby that we would just show up and he said he could find us a room for the rest of our stay in Beijing. We still have a lot to see in the capital and we actually like Beijing a lot after seeing Shanghai and Xian. I think the fact it is the capitol means all the big, impressive state stuff is here. We still have not gone into the Forbidden City (it is forbidden after all), and haven't done the wall or summer palace.

We were starving since we didn't eat since lunch yesterday afternoon, so we stopped and I got an Egg McMao (Jianbing) and Jake got some kind of sweet roll shaped like a baseball with red bean paste in it. Topped it off with warm soy milk and off to the hostel. All our bags were still stacked behind the desk just where we left them and they said they had a cheaper room in the other hostel. The “girls” that work there helped us move all the stuff (remember, Jakes college stuff), through the Hutong back streets to the new place which again was not fancy but very homey and clean, with air conditioning and Wi-Fi. So long overdue showers and a few hours sleep to catch up, very nice...

There is a subway stop a few blocks down the street so this is even easier to get to and from than the other one. We went to the Qianmen Gate which is one of the big original gates to the inner city and tripped on a fantastic large park with ponds, fish (and people fishing), large lawns and ornate old (really) old buildings with comfy benches everywhere in the shade. It is pretty hot and very muggy but here there was a soft breeze so it was very pleasant just sitting with Jake discussing the usual stuff.

We bought a couple ice pops in front of Forbidden City (still have not gone in) and then off to find some dinner after things started closing up, We went across town to a place Jake knew that sold dark German beer and good food, and while not air-conditioned, had the fans running. We ate dinner and then lounged with a couple more beers and watched New Zealand play Slovakia (Chinese narration of course) with the other patrons. We then headed back to the hostel as the lightning started picking up and threatened to dump rain on us. Actually as I am writing this, the lightning and thunder are going pretty good outside. Not sure about tomorrow, maybe Summer palace and Forbidden City (inside finally).