Beijing - Day three

The Temple of Heaven

People in the park were doing all kinds of activities - Like on this picture: playing badminton

Activities like boardgames were an attraction as well

I walked into a photoshoot of a newlywed couple. Red is the most used color for the dresses in China

Today I felt like something should be done and therefor I went to the Temple of Heaven where you can pray for good harvest and some other stuff. The temple is places in a huge park where hundreds of activities is going on. People playing badminton without nets - some people did sweat quite a lot because they were so enthusiastic about their game - while others dance in pairs with a ball they throw up in the air to their partner and some did dance to live music. 

I first arrived at the temple where you pray for a good harvest while the rest of the park invites you to different stops on your way which is more beautiful than the one before. The Seven Star Stones is also a stop on the way and it was a beautiful sight. I came across this beautiful 500 year old tree which had a rutine when you came close to it:

You had to walk around it while waving at the tree - It would give you great fortune.

Beijing - Beihai Park

This morning I got myself some flipflops. I did only bring my hiking boots and they had giving me a lot of blisters on my feet so I needed to get out of them. But.. Unfortunately when it is 35-40 degrees outside and everything on you is sweating I got blisters where the flipflops touched the top of my feet so I was kind of doomed walking around but never the less I did get out.

The first thing I walked into today was the Nation Centre of Performance Art and the building was absolutely amazing if you look at it architecturally. It did not cost me much to go see the building inside and there were a lot to see and experience. Even a pianist was playing in the big hall and the sound was just beautiful.

The National Centre of Performance Art

The National Centre of Performance Art from the inside

The floor alone is art! You get the feeling of being welcome, being very small and at the same time unwelcome because you do not feel fancy enough with shorts, t-shirt and flipflops on. You are able to go to the 5th floor where you will get a good view of the building and the outside of the building.

-- Selfies from the National Centre of Performance Art --

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On my way from the National Centre of Performance Art I got to the Zhongshan Park which it the park that is connected to the Forbidden City. I did not have time to explore this part of the Forbidden City so I went for a walk in the park. It did not cost me much to got into the park and it was quite nice to see all the boats floating around. If only it was big enough so I did not have to run into people all the time but with 21 million people just located in Beijing you will not get much privacy. 

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When I got out of the Zhongshan Park I walked along the wall that keep intruders out from the Forbidden City and all the way to the north end of the city. Here I was able to see and then easily find my way to the Beihai Park and all of that because of the very well-known, white buddhist tower on top of a hill. 

The entrance fee was 20¥ and an extra 10¥ to get up to the white buddhist tower. It is not possible to get up there if you are in any way unable to walk on stairs - however the rest of the park is available. 

I did go all the way to the top and on my way up to the highest pit-stop there were 3 or 4 pit-stops on the way where I was able to buy a piece of red wood where I could write a prayer or a wish on and then hang it among all the other wishes and prayers. On the top of the hill I got to see the white buddhist tower up close - I was a bit disappointed not to be able to get into this thing but that is how it is. The way down from the top was easy.

Beijing - Day one

I arrived at Beijing the 2nd of July and I did not get much sleep on the airplanes - you know.. With all the movies and games on the screen right in front of you the temptation on staying awake is hard to resist - so when I arrived at the hostel I had booked before take off I crashed into my bed and slept for 16 hours and that did not even feel like enough rest. I was up very early though to go to the Forbidden City (The Forbidden City post). My hostels lokation was a 10 minute walk from the Tiananmen Square so there was no problems in walking to the place. I came across some cool places:

Right before the Qianmen Dajie

Meishi Jie not far from my Hostle

Shopping on Qianmen Dajie

The entrance of Qianmen Dajie

Shopping on Qianmen Dajie

Shopping on Dazhalan Jie

Silk Market on Dazhalan Jie

The first food in 20 hours and of course my breakfast of the 3rd of July - Dumblings! Yummy

After a lot of fun around the streets of where I lived and after visiting the Forbidden City I found this shop where everything was cheap. It is kind of like "Tiger" vi have in Denmark - just cheaper.

I have to tell this one little thing before I keep telling you about the China trip:

Selfies and stuff including taking selfies is far from my style. I do not take a lot of selfies my self and definitely not in public. When I do take a selfie I am in my room or totally alone in my parents house and I would never in my life buy anything that can help me take a selfie.

One with the story..

Never say never... I keep running into these kinds of situations where I stop and think something like "once I said that I would never use/buy/do this thing that I am doing now". And this is one of them because I did go buy a selfie-stick and to be even more outrageous about the situation I bought it in pink. The thing was U G L Y but since I was unable to ask anyone and I did not have anyone with me I had to get this stick to get some good pictures of myself on my solo travel to China.

-- Some of my "famous" selfies --

Beijing - The Forbidden City

Beijing… Beijing is one strange and busy city. When I say that it is because one of the first things that caught my eye was some kid taking a dumb on a piece of carbon near a trashcan. It is not something we do in Europe and therefore I was chocked to say the least but after you see something like that – kids peeing in the street or a mother changing her baby’s diaper before entering the subway – then you get kind of immune to it and do no longer think much about it. Nor should you be surprised to experience someone spitting right at your feet or hear someone behind you try to remove snot from his or her lungs and then spit it out. It is disgusting for sure but you will get used to it eventually.

As a white person or just a person who is not Asian-look-a-like then you will have to get use to Chinese/Asian people taking pictures of you like you were a celebrity or some kind of walking tourist attraction. This I have a hard time getting used to and you cannot ask them to stop doing it because they do not understand you – Trust me I have tried and all I got was Chinese words as an answer + some strange looks from the person.

If you are planning to go to Beijing do not get too surprised about all the security checks you have to go through to get to something. Security checks are everywhere you have to entre something; the subway, museums, historical sights and the list goes on. Even though I have diabetes and carry needles and that stuff they have not yet stopped me so you will get through easily.

Forget everything about communication with the Chinese. Very few talk English and if they do most of them do not dare to talk to you… Except if they want to sell you some of their bags or watches. They do approach you to ask where you come from and then they will ask if you want to go have a cup of tea or coffee with them, please do not fall for that trick. I met a girl in the King’s Joy Hostel who fell for the trick and she ended up paying 100¥ for the show. After hearing that story I said, “no thank you, I do not like Chinese tea” which is no lie and a great way to get rid of these intruders.

About the tea… Usually I really like tea but this green tea stuff they all drink so much of is not that great. I have tried it a few times now and it does not get better with time. They do have a lot of tea and the tea is everywhere. Of course there are different tea types and not ONLY green tea.

Beijing is a city of history that is for sure. The Forbidden City alone is 1 km² and it has a lot of different squares, corners and chambers. With this tourist attraction you can be sure of A LOT of people and I am talking about London in busy hours-busy! The Forbidden City is right behind the Tian’anmen Square with a huge picture of the former emperor; Mao right above the entrance to the square before the entrance of The Forbidden City.

I assure you this is one of the attractions that is one of the MUST SEE-ones. You will get lost for sure - I did even with a map - because the map does not show all of the smaller "streets" in the city. The whole city was build in the 1400 and it hit me several times how it was even possible for the workers to build this massive buildings. It must be like visiting the pyramids in Egypt.. No one knows how but it was build anyway.

-- enjoy the pictures below -

The square before the entrance to The Forbidden City

The first square you arrive at

The second square - also the square before the throne where the emperor had his chair

The first square

Me at the entrance 

Me at the wall with the famous dragons with the 5 claws

Tian'anmen square

Tian'anmen square

The entrance of the square before the entrance to the Forbidden City

Very first square

The wall with the famous dragons that will bring you good fortune and luck