Beijing redux

Day three  just involved getting out of bed and getting to the airport, but I almost missed my flight anyway.  The flight was at 12:55, so I planned to catch the airport train at 10:30. I woke up early and decided to spend a couple of hours walking around Beijing, taking photos.  That lasted less than half an hour; I had packed shorts and t-shirts for New Zealand, and was not prepared for -2C (25F) in Beijing.  So instead I had a large breakfast of bao, packed my bags, and was checking out at 10:15.

For the past two days, there was a hotel shuttle with a sign showing it would take me to the airport train, but this morning it wasn’t there.  I asked how long I would have to wait and was told the shuttle stopped running at 10am.

They offered to get me a taxi but I have an irrational fear of taxis, and I declined.  It was only a 15 minute walk, but dragging a large suitcase over the brick sidewalks was painful, and to actually get to the train I had to carry it up and down four flights of stairs.  Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long for the train, and I was at the airport at 11:30.

It took about 45 minutes to check in, get through customs, go through security, and get the shuttle to the terminal.  At some point along the way, however, I lost my mind and decided the flight was at 1:55 and I had plenty of time! I did some shopping, got on the wifi, and was thinking about getting some food.  The only thing that stopped me was the big breakfast, so I headed to the gate.  When I got there, about 12:35, they were on last call!

The flight back to the UK was unremarkable, except for the excruciatingly bad movies on offer (“Wolverine,” “Pacific Rim”) but it was with a heavy heart I came back to the cold gloom of London.  We’d chased the sun for 11 hours, landing at 3:30pm in London, but by the time I got to Reading it was dark and raining, and it was a lonely walk back to my flat.  Especially since it was a Sunday and the shops were all closed, and I didn’t have a thing to eat in the house.

I knew I wasn't going to experience Beijing in two days. The point of the trip was to dip my toe in, to experience Asia for the first time, to dispel my illusions about the communist state, the smog, overpopulation, the dirt and chaos and crush of a nation of chain-smoking Chinese. Except those were all true.  But these no more define Beijing than Hollywood defines LA, or delis define New York.  I can now recognize the human constants and appreciate the cultural differences, and it left me wanting more.

My only regret is not visiting the Great Wall*, although even that I’m not too disappointed about.  The easiest section to get to is Badaling, which was almost completely rebuilt in the 18th century and is supposed to be very touristy.  On my next trip, I hope to visit a more “authentic” section, and perhaps even spend a few days hiking along it.

Some random things I learned in Beijing:

• Whenever driving around a blind corner at speed, honk to let people know you're coming.
• If you're in the street and you get in someone's way, and they honk at you, you're ok. If you're in the street and you get in someone's way and they start to slow down, it means something even bigger is behind you.
• Men do spit quite a lot, and it doesn’t seem to matter if they are on the sidewalk or inside a mall.  However, they usually spit in front of them, so you generally don’t have to worry about getting hit.  (This is not true for people on bicycles.)
• In London I've noted that young women dress in what I can only describe as "prostitute light." In Beijing, they dispense with the "light" part. Hip-length leather high-heeled boots, tights or form-fitting leggings, a short coat cinched at the waist--little is left to the imagination.
• Sidewalks are used for driving on, selling from, spitting on, and pretty much everything else except sleeping on. I have no idea where Beijing's homeless are, but perhaps there is something to Chinese communism?
• In Chinese communities and shopping malls around the world, they always have a Chinese gate. Except in China.
• To get onto the subway, you have to put your bag through an x-ray scanner *even though most of the time nobody is looking at the monitor.*  They don’t actually search you, but fortunately nobody has developed a bomb that fits on your body, so it’s safe.
• You can fit more people into a small space than I ever imagined possible.  Word to the wise: Do not be the last person to squeeze into a packed subway carriage, because six more people will pile on behind you!
• If you are standing in line and leave a small gap between you and the person in front, the person behind you will walk around you and move into that gap.
• The Forbidden City was never called the Forbidden City. There was a military wing inside the palace that soldiers were not allowed to approach; hence it was the "forbidden wall."

* The Great Wall is not the only man-made object visible from space.  In fact, the Great Wall is not visible from space at all.  (The problem is that, while it is quite long, it’s very narrow and made of mostly dirt.)  It’s not visible from low-earth orbit (180 miles) never mind the moon (237,000 miles)!

Beijing, day two

With the “wisdom” gained from the previous day, the next day went quite smoothly. There was a breeze which blew away the smog and clouds, and I woke to a clear blue sky. After a breakfast of bao and fried noodles, I took the right train back to the Forbidden Palace, bought the right ticket, went in the right gate and even got the audio guide, although I had to abandon that after it went crazy.

The audio guide was actually quite impressive--a small box that held nearly an hour of audio in 40 languages, plus a map on the back with LED lights that showed your current location, plus all the places you hadn't visited yet. When you walked into a section, it automatically started playing. Unfortunately, when you walked out of an area, it automatically stopped playing as well, and as I wasn’t patient enough to stand around waiting, I didn’t hear the end of most of the sections. Plus it was fine going through the big areas, but when you got into the smaller sections, one mis-step and it would stop the audio for one section and start playing a different section. (Step back and it would start the first section at the beginning!) Then halfway through it gave up all pretence of sanity and started playing random areas, so I had to remember it all until I got to that place. Finally it just started playing static and I took it off.

Nevertheless, the palace was quite interesting, and it took me four hours to take it all in. Following Emperor Puyi, when he was forced to abdicate in 1912, I went out the north gate, crossed the street and climbed to the top of Jingshan hill. *Not* following Emperor Chongzhen, when he was forced to abdicate in 1644, I did not hang myself. Created from land dug out for the moat around the Imperial Palace. Jingshan hill is 48 meters (157.5 feet) and the highest point in Beijing. Historically it was also the “centre” of Beijing, and all city planning was done around it. There are five pavilions on the hill, and each contained a large copper Buddha. Unfortunately most of these were looted by the western powers after the Boxer Rebellion. The largest is still there, but there was a sign that said “no photos” (although I think I was the only one that honoured it).

Leaving through the east gate, I headed for the subway station a mile away. A rickshaw driver offered me a ride for 3 yuan—about 50 cents—but I declined. About 8 times. When I got to Lama Temple station, there were no signs for the temple—it wasn’t even on the map! I went left out of the exit but when that didn’t look promising, I turned around and went the other way. I could actually see the temple on the other side of a high wall, but I couldn’t figure out how to get in! In the end, I walked all the way around the temple, only to find the entrance not far from where I turned around before.

All this goes to explain why I arrived at 4:02pm, when they stopped admission at 4pm. I was gutted, but I was actually a little relieved—I could now go get some food. And to my eternal shame, I went across the street to a Costa Coffee—a popular chain in the UK—and got a cup of English breakfast tea and a muffin.

They also had free wifi and so--once I was finished playing a game of chess with my brother--I started looking for dinner, only to find there was a good vegetarian restaurant *right next door*! In fact, the more I looked, the more I found – 10 vegetarian restaurants within 1.5 miles! I couldn’t believe it. But then I realised that Lama Temple was Buddhist, and Buddhists are vegetarian, so of course they would be near the temple. Good to know for my future travels.

And there will be future travels; I barely scratched the surface of Beijing, never mind the rest of the Orient. However, for now I’ll set my sights on more domestic options. After two major trips in as many months, it will be a while before I go travelling again. (Except to Dublin, which is next weekend.)

Beijing

Oh my goodness, where should I start? That I was almost denied boarding my plane because I didn't have a Chinese visa? (The *Air China* employee was clearly ignorant of the Beijing 72 hour visa, but thankfully her supervisor wasn't.) Taking an hour and a half to get out of the airport? (It didn't matter--we landed at 5am and the airport train didn't start until 630am.) That I was relying on my sat nav to find the hotel, only to find the sat nav was *lying* about my location and Google maps had the wrong location for the hotel!

The hotel was a 15-minute walk from the train station, and the hotel provided a free shuttle, although I didn't find that out until I finally got to the hotel after trudging around in the dark with my suitcases for 40 minutes. Of course I didn't expect them to have my room ready at 9am--I just planned to drop my bags and go sightseeing--but they told me my room would be ready in 10 minutes, and invited me to have breakfast. Free. I don't turn down free food.

The buffet had eggs and toast, but I bypassed those (and the Americans queuing) and went for the bao (steamed buns), fried noodles, stir-fried mushrooms and boiled cabbage.  It was delicious, although I suspect not a typical Chinese breakfast.

My room was on the 17th floor, and the view would have been great except for the dense smog obfuscating everything.  I'd heard it was bad--and I grew up in Los Angeles!--but it was worse than anything I could imagine.  The sky was also cloudy and just a feeble amount of sunlight made it through.  After I unpacked, I made the unwise decision to lie down for a few moments, and woke up 3 hours later. I hurriedly dressed and braved the smog and subway to see Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, Jingshan Park and the Lama Temple. Well, I saw Tienanmen Square, which was not what I expected.  Yes, it was a big square (the largest in the world) but there was a large monument in the middle, plus some big television screens showing adverts.  (I don't think they were actually adverts, but it was all in Chinese so I have no idea.)  There were no...tanks.  Or protesters.  There were a couple of guards looking bored.  I felt the same.

So I continued on to the Forbidden Palace.  Past the first gate there was a sign that said "ticket office" so I bought a ticket. I then went through the second gate, where there was a sign that said "Palace ticket office."  Needless to say, my ticket was not for the forbidden palace. Worse, I couldn't figure out what it was a ticket for!! However, having paid 15 yuan (about 2 US dollars) I was determined to use it. It turned out to be access to the upper level of the first gate, overlooking Tienanmen Square (which was still boring) plus an exhibit on Chairman Mao that was all in Chinese. Obviously not a lot of foreigners bother with this.

I should note that being winter, there weren't a lot of foreign tourists.  Most of the tourists were Chinese nationals, who were easy to spot because they carried small China flags and posed with them in every photograph. Which makes me think there's a business opportunity in selling small US flags at American tourist spots. (Brits don't give a toss about their flag, so it would never work in the UK.)  I also found it funny that I, in a sea of Asians, had the biggest camera.

So I went back to the Palace ticket office but by then it was 3pm and admission closed at 4.  This seemed hopelessly inadequate for the "world's largest royal complex" and I decided to go the next day instead.  However, there was a problem in that the Forbidden Palace operates a one-way system, with the entrance at Tienanmen Square and the exit at Jingshan Park, so I couldn't carry on there, either.  There were several museums around Tienanmen Square which are free, but I couldn't go there because, for some reason, they require you to show ID (!) and I'd left my passport locked in the hotel safe.

Instead, I decided to walk through Beihai Park, which is supposed to be lovely.  However, I obviously didn't look at the map very closely, because I ended up in Shanzan Park which is much smaller, and not at all interesting.  However, I paid 3 yuan (about 50 cents) to visit, so I stayed for an hour to get my money's worth. I also shelled out another 2 yuan to see an exhibit on Sun Yat-sen, which was also entirely in Chinese.

I'll pause here for a (ridiculously) brief history of China.  As one of the world's oldest cultures, they have found stone tools dating to 1.36 million years ago, and the earliest recorded use of fire 1.27 million years ago.  Agriculture began 9,000 years ago, and writing around 6,000 years ago.  In 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang created the first Chinese empire (and incidentally started building the Great Wall and a terracotta army).  Much of this was centered around the Yellow River, almost 1400 miles from Beijing

In 1271 CE, the Mongols invaded China, and Kublai Khan--grandson of Genghis Khan--established the Yuan Dynasty and set its capital as Beijing.  (This is also when Marco Polo visited China.)  However, the Mongols lasted less than 100 years before the Han Chinese overthrew them and established the Ming dynasty, moving the capital to Nanjing.  When the emperor's 21-year-old son ascended the throne, his uncle Yongle attacked and killed him, moving the capital back to Beijing. He also began construction of the Imperial Palace and much of the Great Wall was rebuilt under the Ming dynasty.

In 1644 CE, as the Chinese were battling the Manchurians in the north, a peasant named Li Zicheng started an uprising, invaded Beijing, and overthrew the Ming dynasty. However, that  paved the way for the Manchurians to ride into Beijing and establish the Qing dynasty.  By 1800, China ruled more than one-third of the world's population, and had the largest economy in the world. By area of extent, it was one of the largest empires ever in history.  Unfortunately, it was downhill from there.  In 1840, the British defeated China in the First Opium War, taking Hong Kong island.  In 1851, the Taiping Rebellion (a quasi-Christian religious movement) left nearly 20 million dead.  In 1895 China suffered a serious defeat from Japan.  And in 1899 the Boxer Rebellion, violently revolted against foreign influence (in particular Christianity) in Northern China. The Empress Dowager sided with the Boxers, and foreign diplomats were beseiged in Beijing.  In response, the west sent a "relief expedition" of 20,000 troops from Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  They defeated the Imperial army and then effectively sacked Beijing, carrying off anything that wasn't nailed down.

The Qing dynasty held on for another ten years, but there were numerous revolts and uprisings, until in 1911 the Qing dynasty fell, the last emperor -- Pu Yi -- abdicated, the Republic of China (ROC) was established, and Sun Yat-sen became the first President.  Unfortunately that didn't end China's troubles, and the second president, Yuan Shikai, declared himself emperor in 1915!  He abdicated in 1916, leaving local warlords to rule China.

In the 1920s, Sun Yat-sen set about to re-unify the country, and accepted assistance from the new Soviet Union.  When he died in 1925, however, the alliance with the Communists fell apart. Chiang Kai-shek took control of the Nationalist party and started a military campaign to re-unify the country. He also attacked the Communist Party, leading to a 22-year civil war interrupted only by World War II.  In 1949, the Communists were victorious, and Mao Zedong established the "People's Republic of China."  Chiang Kai-shek moved his government to Taiwan, which still refers to itself as the "Republic of China" and refuses to recognised the "People's Republic of China."

(I used to think that clothing labelled "Taiwan ROC" was China's way of asserting control over the island, but in fact it is the island asserting it is not controlled by China!!)

In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin, leading to a split between the Russian Communists and Chinese Communists.  In 1958, Mao announced his "Great Leap Forward" plan to increase agriculture by producing more steel.  Unfortunately, the uneducated farmers could only produce low quality steel which was largely useless, and production fell dramatically.  This lead to widespread famine, with millions of deaths.  Mao resigned in 1959 and other leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, initiated economic and cultural reform.  In 1966, Mao returned to power and implemented the Cultural Revolution to "enforce Communism and remove all capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society."  This resulted in a lost decade as education, art, and development were effectively halted.

In 1972, Mao hosted Richard Nixon in Beijing to establish relations with the United States. As a result, the UN officially recognised the People's Republic of China, and rejected the Republic of China. China was also given a permanent seat on the Security Council, which can veto any bill.

After Mao's death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping returned to power and  loosened governmental control, gave peasants land leases, and opened market competition. The Communist Party refer to this as "Socialism with Chinese characteristics."  However, there is still only one political party, people do not have the right to vote, and freedom of speech and freedom of the press are strictly curtailed.  In 1989, a group of students occupied Tiananmen Square, and at its height an estimated one million people assembled in the square, as well as protests in 400 cities nationwide. Deng Xiaoping ordered martial law and called in the military to quell the
"counter-revolutionary riot." Over 200 people died, although mostly in the streets around the Square.  Only 3 people are known to have been killed in the square itself.

Of course I didn't know all of this at the time, and didn't care--I was cold and starting to get hungry, and I decided to head back to the hotel. I got on the subway and promptly got on the wrong train, heading in the opposite direction. Fortunately I figured this out and switched to the circle line (ironically, going past Jingshan Park and Lama Temple). Above ground, it was hard to recognise the street from the morning (it had still been dark) but I was pretty sure which direction the hotel was in. My sat nav said it was the other way. It was *lying.*

(As the GPS satellites are managed by the US, I wonder if they do this just to annoy the Chinese?)

By now I was even colder and hungrier, and I started poking my nose into every restaurant I passed (plus a food court in a shopping mall) and couldn't find a thing. A Thai restaurant looked promising, with an entire page of "vegetable" choices, until I looked closer to see "stir fried morning glories in prawn paste" and "Vegetables with seafood."  In the end--and to my eternal shame--I went to the only Mediterranean restaurant in Beijing, and had falafel.  It was delicious.

I'm not a good traveller

I'm a frequent traveller, but they're not the same thing.

I think anxiety level is based on how often you do something, and how far you are going. Do it often, or not go very far, and it's OK. Go 12,000 miles and visit three countries you've never been to before, and its a problem.

Sometimes I'm well prepared, and sometimes I do something stupid...like book a flight for Wednesday 7pm, which means I have to be at the airport at 5pm, which means I have to be on the shuttle bus at 4pm, which means I have to leave my house at 330pm, which means I have to pack an entire workday into 6 hours...and of course I hadn't even packed.

So at noon, whilst making lunch, I threw 6 underpants, 4 pairs of socks, 2 shorts, swimming trunks, jeans, 4 shirts, 1 sweater, tennis shoes, sandals, and some toiletries in a bag. I still had plenty of space so rather than switch to a smaller bag, I added a large board game, a camera lens, and a couple of boxes of snack bars.

In my carry-on I had already consigned myself to taking my laptop, as I still had work to do. I also brought 2 books, 4 plums, some dates, gluten-free bread, my camera and main lens, pills and the rest of my toiletries. At the airport I added a bottle of cologne and two bottles of water. To call it a ;carry on' implies I could lift it, which was becoming dubious.

I also brought chargers for my laptop, phone and shaver, even though I knew they wouldn't fit in Chinese plugs, and I didn't have an adapter. (I had ordered an adapter two weeks ago--ironically from Hong Kong--but it had not arrived yet.) Spoiler alert: I did buy an adapter in Beijing, but everywhere I went had "universal plugs" and so I never actually used it. When I got home, the adapter I ordered was waiting for me, so now I have two unused adapters for sale.

But minor issues aside, I was relatively confident I wouldn't starve to death, that I would be let into all three countries I was visiting, I wouldn't catch any nasty bugs, and I'd return home, safe in 18 days.

Of course I have no doubt Australia and New Zealand will be lovely; it's Beijing that worries me. To be fair, I'm not going for very long--jut two days--and I've booked a room at the exotic-sounding 'Holiday Inn Express.' I've flagged a number of vegetarian restaurants, and there is plenty to do in the city centre. A friend already warned me of the scams I'll likely encounter, I have cash, and if I can charge my phone (and keep it from getting stolen) I'll have a map. So hopefully I'll come away as excited about China as my friends are.

New Year's resolutions

Normally about this time, I do a "year in review" but since 2013 sucked, there doesn't seem to be much point. For the entire year I was stuck in a desolate part of northern England, on a dead-end project that was supposed to take 6 months but is set to last 18 months, at least. I did take the opportunity to travel about England, but what I discovered is that most of England looks like...well, England!

My "big trips" were to California, Ireland, Israel and then back to California with my friend Lucy for my mom's 75 birthday. The last time I travelled with a friend was 1998, when I accidentally invited my neighbor on a cruise to see the Leonids meteor shower...from the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco! Fortunately Lucy was great, and now we're talking about going to Russia and taking the Trans-Siberian Railway to China...in 2015.

In addition to my imminent visit to New Zealand, I think 2014 is finally the year I visit India. I would also like to take long weekends to Northern Ireland, Spain, Poland and Finland (to see the Northern Lights). A friend just moved to Geneva (and offered to teach me to ski!) so I will definitely visit there, preferably in winter! And of course I'll be back in California, probably in the autumn.

Greece, Turkey and Tunisia will have to wait another year. I had also planned, as soon as I got my British passport, to visit Cuba, but that will also have to wait.

Which brings me to fact that in May I'm finally eligible for British citizenship! I've waited 6 years for this, praying that the Queen would hold out. (Becoming a citizen involves swearing fealty to the monarch, and I would be much more comfortable doing that to the Queen than to Prince Charles!)

After the New Zealand trip, I have some hard decisions to make. My car has been slowly dying all year, no doubt hastened by my commuting 180 miles. I doubt it will pass it's next MOT (safety test) so I have a hard deadline of April 30. I don't want another cheap junker, so I need to do some research.

I may also have to move. All year I've been thinking it's ridiculous paying good rent when I'm spending most of my nights in a hotel, but I was too lazy to actually pack my stuff and move. Then in December I got a note from the landlord saying she was selling the flat, and of course I have no guarantee the new owners will let me stay. A few months ago I finally paid off the loan I had to take when I left Jess (since I left with literally nothing), and so have started saving a down payment, but credit is still tight and it's going to be a while before I can afford anything decent.

And of course, I need to change jobs. That's been a long time coming--I said I was going to leave as soon as I got my resident permit ("indefinite leave to remain") but that was 6 months ago, and the fact is I've just been too lazy to really look. That needs to change.

The last goal is to lose all the weight I put on in 2013 (much of it from my 180-mile commute). Since I was never home, I cancelled my gym membership, which obviously didn't help.

So to recap, my 2014 resolutions are: New car, new job, new home, new look, new horizons and new citizenship. Actually, to be honest, my goal is to simply avoid getting to the end of the year and thinking, "Well, that sucked."

Have a happy 2014!