A Day in Beijing
A neat trick to flying, if you can manage it, is to use layovers to your advantage. Travel agents can help -- STA Travel let me hang out in Fiji on my way to the US For two weeks for no extra charge -- but it's sometimes possible to achieve the same effect with online ticket brokers.
So I was quite excited when I found a ticket that put me in Beijing for eighteen hours. Especially as I had never been there before. And one day is long enough to see the major highlights without needing to worry about getting a hotel.
My flight lands. 5am. I'm jetlagged, but generally amicable. I'm already thoroughly lost.
It occurs to me about five minutes in that it would have been a good idea to have brought a tour guide, or at the very least read up on the country before taking off. But no matter, I'm there, might as well make the best of it.
I check my luggage in at the bag check in the airport (about four bucks), and somehow manage to find a train to the city (about $3.50). Parts of the subway map are written in English, and I notice a stop for "Tiananmen Square". Sounds promising enough. So I take the train there.
Have I mentioned yet that I live in Singapore? The lowest temperature recorded here was back in 1934, and measured 19.4°C (66.9°F). I don't normally travel with any sort of cold weather gear beyond long pants and a light jacket. In fact, the only reason why I have a jacket in Singapore is for cold plane flights.
Keeping that in mind, my first impression of Tiananmen Square is "bloody freezing". Given the time of day as early in the morning, the temperature may very well have been about 0°C, the weather report said that was the daily low. My second impression is that of familiarity, mostly from scenes in pop-culture. I only get one semi-decent, non-blurry shot, before shuffling down the road and eventually finding a coffee shop. Right after passing a random, promotional (?) drum gathering.
I pay entirely too much for a coffee, a pastry, and inexplicably an empty 2GB flash drive. I manage to figure out how the free wifi works, though I suspect it really shouldn't and that I've accidentally found a hole in the coffee shop's authentication system, allowing me to get on without having gotten a card from the shop. Oh well. It gives me a chance to figure out what to do next.
I discover that there's this wall thing that China is known for, and apparently a segment of it is relatively close! Though getting to it is an adventure. To say the least. Armed with what I think is a reasonable amount of information, I set off to try and find this mythical bus.
I first take a train to the the designated stop. This requires a transfer, which is somewhat awkward as the stations aren't well-labeled. Neither are the trains, so I end up having to backtrack. Oh well, minor inconveniences.
Once at the bus depot, things start to get interesting.
Another trick I've learned is to do as the locals do. This is imperative for ones safety when crossing the street in Beijing. I'm sure there are some sort of cues people are looking for, but from what I can tell the lights serve only as guidelines, and the crosswalks doubly so. I follow the line of buses for perhaps ten minutes before the bus stand ends, without seeing my bus anywhere -- bus 919.
Frustrated, I eventually decide to walk back, and notice that there's another bus stand going back the other way on the other side of the street. Where there seem to be oceans of buses with a front placard proudly denoting "919".
Fortunately, I had read about this in the coffee shop: There are about fifteen buses with the moniker "919". The specific one I wanted was as far away from the train station as possible. What the guide didn't say is that you need to walk until you can't see any more buses, then continue walking. At one point you have to cross a busy street, but not wanting to deal with that again I wandered around and found an underpass. Great! Found my buses!
There's another problem that anyone who deals with China has come across: Counterfeits. This is true no matter where you go or what you do, and buses it turns out are no exception. There are multiple buses labeled "919" that purport to go to the Wall, but apparently will take you to random places that aren't nearly as far as the Wall. More than once I was directed to go to a lone bus off in the corner, but the same old mantra applies here, too: Do what the locals do. Find the longest line possible and get on that bus.
$2 and 30 minutes later and I was finally on my way!
It takes an hour to get to the nearest segment of Wall. During which there's not much to do but contemplate existence. And realize that Capitalism is alive and well in China.
This trend continues when you actually get there, where you're greeted with row upon row of hawkers trying to sell things on the path from the bus station up to the entrance. And once you're on the Wall, you have to deal with people coming up to you offering everything from postcards to fuzzy hats. But as you continue further from the entrance, their numbers dwindle, and life becomes more pleasant.
It truly is an amazing site. The entire thing is huge, and is difficult to climb in certain places. The amount of effort it took to build it is astounding, especially given its age. I suppose that in a way, the massive amount of capitalism that's associated with a visit to the wall -- from counterfeit buses to random purveyors of funny hats on-site -- is a reflection of how China has changed. What was built to keep out invaders has now become a venue for selling them things they probably don't actually need. Regardless, I enjoyed myself. I just wish it wasn't so cold!
I only got two really good pictures from there. The first has become my profile picture on more than one site. The second... well, let's just say Extreme Programming: You're Doing It Wrong.
And that, more or less, is my one-day trip to China. I had fun. I'm glad I went. It's a fine place to spend a day in, if you're passing through.
So I was quite excited when I found a ticket that put me in Beijing for eighteen hours. Especially as I had never been there before. And one day is long enough to see the major highlights without needing to worry about getting a hotel.
My flight lands. 5am. I'm jetlagged, but generally amicable. I'm already thoroughly lost.
It occurs to me about five minutes in that it would have been a good idea to have brought a tour guide, or at the very least read up on the country before taking off. But no matter, I'm there, might as well make the best of it.
I check my luggage in at the bag check in the airport (about four bucks), and somehow manage to find a train to the city (about $3.50). Parts of the subway map are written in English, and I notice a stop for "Tiananmen Square". Sounds promising enough. So I take the train there.
Have I mentioned yet that I live in Singapore? The lowest temperature recorded here was back in 1934, and measured 19.4°C (66.9°F). I don't normally travel with any sort of cold weather gear beyond long pants and a light jacket. In fact, the only reason why I have a jacket in Singapore is for cold plane flights.
Keeping that in mind, my first impression of Tiananmen Square is "bloody freezing". Given the time of day as early in the morning, the temperature may very well have been about 0°C, the weather report said that was the daily low. My second impression is that of familiarity, mostly from scenes in pop-culture. I only get one semi-decent, non-blurry shot, before shuffling down the road and eventually finding a coffee shop. Right after passing a random, promotional (?) drum gathering.
I pay entirely too much for a coffee, a pastry, and inexplicably an empty 2GB flash drive. I manage to figure out how the free wifi works, though I suspect it really shouldn't and that I've accidentally found a hole in the coffee shop's authentication system, allowing me to get on without having gotten a card from the shop. Oh well. It gives me a chance to figure out what to do next.
I discover that there's this wall thing that China is known for, and apparently a segment of it is relatively close! Though getting to it is an adventure. To say the least. Armed with what I think is a reasonable amount of information, I set off to try and find this mythical bus.
I first take a train to the the designated stop. This requires a transfer, which is somewhat awkward as the stations aren't well-labeled. Neither are the trains, so I end up having to backtrack. Oh well, minor inconveniences.
Once at the bus depot, things start to get interesting.
Another trick I've learned is to do as the locals do. This is imperative for ones safety when crossing the street in Beijing. I'm sure there are some sort of cues people are looking for, but from what I can tell the lights serve only as guidelines, and the crosswalks doubly so. I follow the line of buses for perhaps ten minutes before the bus stand ends, without seeing my bus anywhere -- bus 919.
Frustrated, I eventually decide to walk back, and notice that there's another bus stand going back the other way on the other side of the street. Where there seem to be oceans of buses with a front placard proudly denoting "919".
Fortunately, I had read about this in the coffee shop: There are about fifteen buses with the moniker "919". The specific one I wanted was as far away from the train station as possible. What the guide didn't say is that you need to walk until you can't see any more buses, then continue walking. At one point you have to cross a busy street, but not wanting to deal with that again I wandered around and found an underpass. Great! Found my buses!
There's another problem that anyone who deals with China has come across: Counterfeits. This is true no matter where you go or what you do, and buses it turns out are no exception. There are multiple buses labeled "919" that purport to go to the Wall, but apparently will take you to random places that aren't nearly as far as the Wall. More than once I was directed to go to a lone bus off in the corner, but the same old mantra applies here, too: Do what the locals do. Find the longest line possible and get on that bus.
$2 and 30 minutes later and I was finally on my way!
It takes an hour to get to the nearest segment of Wall. During which there's not much to do but contemplate existence. And realize that Capitalism is alive and well in China.
This trend continues when you actually get there, where you're greeted with row upon row of hawkers trying to sell things on the path from the bus station up to the entrance. And once you're on the Wall, you have to deal with people coming up to you offering everything from postcards to fuzzy hats. But as you continue further from the entrance, their numbers dwindle, and life becomes more pleasant.
It truly is an amazing site. The entire thing is huge, and is difficult to climb in certain places. The amount of effort it took to build it is astounding, especially given its age. I suppose that in a way, the massive amount of capitalism that's associated with a visit to the wall -- from counterfeit buses to random purveyors of funny hats on-site -- is a reflection of how China has changed. What was built to keep out invaders has now become a venue for selling them things they probably don't actually need. Regardless, I enjoyed myself. I just wish it wasn't so cold!
I only got two really good pictures from there. The first has become my profile picture on more than one site. The second... well, let's just say Extreme Programming: You're Doing It Wrong.
And that, more or less, is my one-day trip to China. I had fun. I'm glad I went. It's a fine place to spend a day in, if you're passing through.