So about a month ago I set off to Beijing with a recently traumatised-from-the-Xiamen-night-clubs Brett. We headed to the Happy Dragon Hostel, which now comes highly recommended by Tan tours. There we met Liz, Pete and Will who are studying down in Hong Kong, and spent many a happy hour in the bar/Beijing haze with them. Here we are in the hostel with Betty, the sweetest manager in the world.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t fantastic but that didn’t stop us climbing (*cough* taking a ski lift) up the Great Wall…
Visiting the Lama Temple…
Seeing the Temple of Heaven…
And pointing at Mao.
We also visited the Pearl Market (where I bargained for some arguably real-ish Ugg boots and Brett got some jade), went to an acrobatics show (featuring cage biking) and had Beijing roast duck (amidst such classic puns as 'duck in', 'ducked out' and something involving the bill).
Later in the week some very lovely, mostly Dutch, people from Xiamen came up. Here we are in their hostel.
And in a cat-filled reggae bar.
Now you might be fearing that with all the bars and white people Brett’s Chinese experience lacked sufficient culture, but here’s a tiny dragon riding a camel to prove otherwise.
And he made dumplings.
At least 2 of them.
All in all, it was a jolly good week. By the end of it Brett could even take the subway on his own. China will make a man out of you.
I was still in Beijing for Chinese New Year, when the city went crazy...
The fireworks/firecrackers started going off around 2pm and walking through the streets was like picking your way through a war zone. For midnight, a few of us climbed up onto a hostel roof overlooking the Bell and Drum towers, Hou Hai and the whole city. At 12 the city erupted. The fireworks were everywhere and they continued for hours, literally. It was incredible. And, of course, impossible to capture on camera, so I took about a hundred photos.
So that was Beijing. A rather more in-depth experience to my whistle-stop tour last April and it was good to properly familiarise myself with the city. And practice the Beijing dialect that they force us to learn down south, where nobody can understand it. Happy New Year of the Dragon to all!
