Beijing has turned on its winter magic. We arrived on the bullet train from Qingdao, a smooth five and a half hours to cover 888 kilometres. About halfway through the journey, the snow that the arctic wind had been threatening in Qingdao but had not quite delivered was blanketing the fields of Shandong Province.
Beijing had its makeover for the Olympics and it shows. The train station is airport-sized and spotless. Thanks to a user-friendly subway, we were across town and into our hotel within 30 minutes, for two kuai each ($A0.33), even if we did have to listen to an English accent tellling us to "Mind the gap".
The good people at www.elong.net suggested that we might consider staying "old style" in a courtyard hotel in Beijing. And for RMB 320 (A$50) a night, we figured we couldn't go too far wrong. The place has been beautifully decked out in Ming furniture, the foyer has a pastel-blue painted ceiling, and the reception desk sits in front of a magnificent screen of painted Chinese ladies. Our room is no less interesting, with a cute China tea-set, dark polished furniture and red and gold furnishings. The basin in the bathroom is a (replica) Ming vase. And I will have to write a separate entry about the slippers. In fact, the only things that are not historical are our speedy broadband connection (broadband in China makes Australian access feel like dial-up) and reverse cycle air-conditioning.
Just on the corner of our Hutong (alleyway) is a little restaurant, where we feasted on kebobs, duck skewers, a tofu-number described as "Stir and Mix Cloud Silk as it Happens" and three tall beers. The nearest street is Jiugulou Dajie, which is lined with fruit shops, street stalls selling all sorts of barbecued skewered numbers, a hot pot restaurant and a Chinese chemist with an aisle marked "Not Medicine". We met a middle-aged couple from Xinjiang Province (far north-west of China), who loved Australian beef. It must have been the topic of the day, because a man selling street maps of Qingdao was telling me that there were lots of sheep in Australia.
Pictures of our first night in Beijing are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/fletchheinemann/ChinaNov09.This includes the sort after bum-slit picture.
The good news is that tomorrow it will be snowing and somewhere between 0 and -8^C.
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All of your writings have inspired us to eat nothing but Asian food this week. It really makes us feel that we are part of your adventure. Strips off the kgs like nothing else. Hope Bernie doesn't get wind of this. Oh, by the way, wind is a typical by product of Asian food actually, or is it just our version of Asian food. Must say the soup is a bit bland.
ReplyDeleteKeep the adventure stories coming & we guess you don't need the suncream now.