After a smooth 28 hour train ride, sharing my cabin with a British couple that were doing a quick trip around the globe, I arrived in Beijing. This is where I really started to feel like a foreigner. In Russia and Mongolia I could still make sense of some things because I had learned the alphabet, but Chinese is a whole different beast. After some struggles, I managed to get a ticket for the subway, and went on my way to the hostel.
The hostel was situated in a tourist street in Beijing's Hutong areas. Hutongs are 'narrow' alleys, filled with classic grey bricked, low roofed houses and plenty of trees. All of the alleys contain plenty of small shops and restaurants as well. It is arguably one of the best places in Beijing to just stroll around.
The next day I met Josh (whom I had met the evening before on our hostel's rooftop) in the subway station, and we went to the Forbidden Palace together. Unfortunately the palace is only accessible for a fixed amount of visitors each day, and in lieu of the upcoming Labor Day, all of China was spending their weekend in Beijing. So we went on to the summer palace, an old Imperial palace and collection of temples scattered across a pretty impressive landscape. We spend the rest of the afternoon here, and could easily have spent way more time if we had arrived earlier.
On Sunday I went to see the Yonghe Lama Temple; a palace-turned-monastery located near our hostel. As seems to be the case with most ancient Chinese architecture, the temple was as beautiful as it was impressive.
Near the hostel we could notice that labor day, an international holiday and one of the main holidays in China, was approaching. Our already busy street had turned into a shuffling mass of people. It seemed wise to me to spend the next day just lounging around, and to not visit any big attractions while all of China flocked to Beijing.
On Tuesday it was time to tackle one of the wonders of the world, the Great Wall. We took a bus from our hostel to Jinshanling to hike from there to Simatai. This hike is about 6 kilometers and goes over some unrestored and steep parts of the wall. Combined with the fact that all of China just had their holiday weekend meant there were very few tourists. When we reached the end of the track, we managed to find a way around the blocked off tower and were treated to a truly wild part of the wall. Unfortunately we didnt have a lot of time to explore as we had to be back to the bus in time.
During the remaining days in Beijing the infamous smog finally showed its face. First, rainclouds prevented the smog from rising up, and then a sandstorm from the gobi desert turned the sky yellow. The sun was just a white dot moving across the sky that you could look at directly. Apparently, thise days were some of the worst Beijing has seen so far. I tried to make the best of it though and visited some of Beijings remaining attractions, including the Forbidden Palace, Confucius' temple and the Bell and Drum towers.
I had a great time in Beijing, and really liked its bustling nature. The Chinese themselves might get some getting used too however; they go about their lifes spitting, shouting, pushing, and honking their horns at every slight inconvenience. At least the food makes up for it. Next stop: Xi'an!