Beijing post 1! Exploring the neighbourhood
Well after years of LJ being blocked in China it is now accessible! I guess even the government realises no one uses LJ anymore!
We are staying in a hotel in a hutong which is an old Beijing alley. It's right in front of Tianmen square which has made it really easy to find. The neighbourhood is very much old Beijing with lots of tiny shops and restaurants and then there is a huge street full of shops like H&m and a very newly done up area of new buildings in Classical Chinese architecture style which are mostly empty of feature shops "coming soon" as none of the traditional businesses round here can afford the rent! But it looks amazing to explore at night. The other side of the road is all run down old buildings, 19th century buildings that resemble crumbling shacks. It is definitely a feature of Beijing that you can walk twenty minutes and go from very modern very expensive, then turn a corner and it's third world poverty levels (so much for communism)We spent our first day exploring these alley ways. By day and by night they are very interesting and full of Chinese tourists. There are many Chinese tourists and very few European or American tourists which is pretty great.
We arrived at 9.30 after flying all day Friday. We managed reasonably well with the jet lag to start with but then Sunday when we woke up it was 3pm! Needless to say the original plans I had for my birthday didn't pan out. So instead we decided to go bookshoping as the book shops are open till 9! We went to one of the biggest book shops in Beijing it was Amazing!!! Books here are SO cheap!!! I got a lovely large illustrates copy of the daojijing, with classical, modern and stories and commentary on each chapter for less than a cup of coffee! All told I bought 16 books of which only one was English and spent about £24!
After bookshoping we decided to try one of the little restaurants. It was without a doubt the best Chinese food I've ever had! It was SO tasty!!! We had fun chatting with the people in Chinese and English.
Last night slept poorly again but we woke up at 12. Got coffee and headed to the Temple of Heaven park. We walked there so we could see more of Beijing. The contrast between the big dusty brown streets and the temple park was really striking. The Temple park was where the Emperor in the Ming and Qing dynasties used to offer winter sacrifices to heaven and Spring sacrifices for a good harvest. I bought a really great dual language guidebook for £1. We wandered round and saw all the buildings. It was crazy that certain parts were very crowded but only a few yards away you could get a photo with no one in at all.
We took the subway back and went to another random little restaurant. Not as tasty as yesterday but still fantastic. Really interesting things like nothing you can ever find in Chinese restaurants in Europe.
We are staying in a hotel in a hutong which is an old Beijing alley. It's right in front of Tianmen square which has made it really easy to find. The neighbourhood is very much old Beijing with lots of tiny shops and restaurants and then there is a huge street full of shops like H&m and a very newly done up area of new buildings in Classical Chinese architecture style which are mostly empty of feature shops "coming soon" as none of the traditional businesses round here can afford the rent! But it looks amazing to explore at night. The other side of the road is all run down old buildings, 19th century buildings that resemble crumbling shacks. It is definitely a feature of Beijing that you can walk twenty minutes and go from very modern very expensive, then turn a corner and it's third world poverty levels (so much for communism)We spent our first day exploring these alley ways. By day and by night they are very interesting and full of Chinese tourists. There are many Chinese tourists and very few European or American tourists which is pretty great.
We arrived at 9.30 after flying all day Friday. We managed reasonably well with the jet lag to start with but then Sunday when we woke up it was 3pm! Needless to say the original plans I had for my birthday didn't pan out. So instead we decided to go bookshoping as the book shops are open till 9! We went to one of the biggest book shops in Beijing it was Amazing!!! Books here are SO cheap!!! I got a lovely large illustrates copy of the daojijing, with classical, modern and stories and commentary on each chapter for less than a cup of coffee! All told I bought 16 books of which only one was English and spent about £24!
After bookshoping we decided to try one of the little restaurants. It was without a doubt the best Chinese food I've ever had! It was SO tasty!!! We had fun chatting with the people in Chinese and English.
Last night slept poorly again but we woke up at 12. Got coffee and headed to the Temple of Heaven park. We walked there so we could see more of Beijing. The contrast between the big dusty brown streets and the temple park was really striking. The Temple park was where the Emperor in the Ming and Qing dynasties used to offer winter sacrifices to heaven and Spring sacrifices for a good harvest. I bought a really great dual language guidebook for £1. We wandered round and saw all the buildings. It was crazy that certain parts were very crowded but only a few yards away you could get a photo with no one in at all.
We took the subway back and went to another random little restaurant. Not as tasty as yesterday but still fantastic. Really interesting things like nothing you can ever find in Chinese restaurants in Europe.