The last day of our trip started out like so many others, on the train. We were scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 2pm and so we had quite a lot of time between when we got up and got off the train. I got unbelievably antsy on this final train journey. I think that it was mostly down to the fact that I was tired of being on the train and, contrary to our other journeys, I wasn’t really looking forward to our destination. I have been to China and while I enjoyed the trip and thought it a great experience, I really didn’t like China and was not looking forward to going back, even for the short time we’d be there. We saw some cool things on the way into Beijing including sections of the Great Wall as well as the train station that all the bullet trains leave from (which was really modern and had really cool architecture). We walked from the train station to our hotel and the crowded stations and streets, the noisy crowds, and the stifling heat had me re-hating Beijing already.
Once we started walking around the city however I was really surprised. It was a totally different place than it was 4 years ago. The air was cleaner, the streets were cleaner, it was less crowded and pushy, and all in all it was actually pretty pleasant (minus the heat, that can’t be helped).
We walked through a big pedestrian shopping area, then through a nice pedestrian footpath (complete with groups of little old me playing checkers and mahjong) and then through a hutong. Eventually we made our way to the moat and the North Entrance to the Forbidden City. The City was closed but we instead went across the road to Jingshan Park to climb up to a pagoda and get a birds eye view of the Forbidden City instead.
After the park we walked around the east side of the Forbidden City to Tiananmen Square. We watched the changing of the guard at the square’s flagpole (why the flagpole needs a guard is a bit beyond me but whatever) and then wandered around the square a bit. The square was the same as last time and I’m still incredibly annoyed and put off by the fact that there is no mention whatsoever of the student protest and massacre that took place there.
We then took the subway to dinner. The Beijing subway was very modern, very clean, and very efficient. We had a big family style dinner, everything tasted amazing, and then wandered a bit more around the city to another hutong area. This one was very artsy—it had little art galleries, eclectic shops, pubs and restaurants, and have a very international feel to it. I realized that I would have really liked to have seen this version of Beijing the first time around. On my first visit all of our guides were government employees who showed us what the government told them to and told us the party line. We didn’t get any exposure to the people of Beijing and so seeing that this time around was refreshing. I’m still not ok with the way the government covers up the bad and tries to mislead the world and its people but my exposure to China this time around was far more positive. I’m still not a massive lover of China or Beijing but at least I don’t dislike them as much as I did before this trip. We eventually made our way back to our hotels for a short night before getting on a plane back home the next morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment