Beijing - day 4
On Friday (15 September) morning I woke up and headed to the Forbidden City, the 'must-see' sight in Beijing. The place is massive and rediculuously crowded. There were hordes of tour groups swarming everywhere and I couldn't escape them. Unforunately many of the temples are being renovated and the outside of several main temples are completely covered with scaffolding. And, as is so common here, it was overcast and hazy again. Still its an impressive sight and I couldn't get over the size of it. I spent the morning there walking around but also taking lots of breaks because I was feeling so tired. That happens occasionally when I'm traveling and I'm not sure why.
After the Forbidden City, I went to an interesting looking park north of the Forbidden City called Jingshan Park. The park contains a forested hill that is apparently the remains of the earth dug up to create the moat around the Forbidden City. I would have had excellent views from the top if I could have gotten there. But, as with everything else in Beijing right now, all the temples on the top of the hill are being renovated and the top was off limits. I then had plans to go to another park called Beihai Park but I lost interest once at the entrance and instead decided I needed to go to the train station to book my ticket to Shanghai.
I read that trains to the south of China depart from Beijing West Railway Station which is not near any metro line. Since I didn't feel like taking a taxi, it took me quite a while to walk to the metro from where I was, ride the metro to the nearest stop to the train station, then walk another 30 minutes to the train station. When I finally saw the Beijing West Railway Station I was amazed. It is the largest and most crowded train station I have ever seen. I was tired and in a hurry and that wasn't the place to be in a hurry. The amount of people just sitting every where is mind boggling. When it it was finally my turn at the ticket window, I found out they didn't have any 'hard sleepers' (3rd class) to Shanghai for the next several days so I had to settle with the more expensive 'soft sleeper' (2nd class) which was an extra $20, so $60 total. As I was walking away, the lady told me my train left from a different railway station. Its a good thing she told me as I couldn't read the ticket and I would have returned to the same place the night my train was suppose to leave! Fortunately the train station I leave from is connected to the metro and should be painless to get to.
Then I finally made my way back to the hostel which took at least another hour. When I got to my room I was completely knackered! But two of my room mates were going to the night market which I really wanted to go to. So I had to dig deep and find the energy to join them. But it was more than worth it! It wasn't a true 'night market' because it was really clean, spacious, and touristy, but the the food the vendors were offering was legit. They had everything from starfish, baby sharks (bad vendors!), sea urchins, sea horses, snakes, squid, large scorpions, small scorpions, large grasshoppers, small grasshoppers, millipedes, beetles, cicadas, lizards, cow stomach, chicken hearts, kidneys, livers, and numerous other bugs and strange parts of animals and stuff you would never consider eating!! I didn't have the courage to try anything exotic though. Finally I got to go back and go to sleep.
I have one more night in Beijing and then I leave at 7 pm on Sunday, 17 September for Shanghai by sleeper train. I still have several sights I wanted to see here and I don't think I have time to see them all.
After the Forbidden City, I went to an interesting looking park north of the Forbidden City called Jingshan Park. The park contains a forested hill that is apparently the remains of the earth dug up to create the moat around the Forbidden City. I would have had excellent views from the top if I could have gotten there. But, as with everything else in Beijing right now, all the temples on the top of the hill are being renovated and the top was off limits. I then had plans to go to another park called Beihai Park but I lost interest once at the entrance and instead decided I needed to go to the train station to book my ticket to Shanghai.
I read that trains to the south of China depart from Beijing West Railway Station which is not near any metro line. Since I didn't feel like taking a taxi, it took me quite a while to walk to the metro from where I was, ride the metro to the nearest stop to the train station, then walk another 30 minutes to the train station. When I finally saw the Beijing West Railway Station I was amazed. It is the largest and most crowded train station I have ever seen. I was tired and in a hurry and that wasn't the place to be in a hurry. The amount of people just sitting every where is mind boggling. When it it was finally my turn at the ticket window, I found out they didn't have any 'hard sleepers' (3rd class) to Shanghai for the next several days so I had to settle with the more expensive 'soft sleeper' (2nd class) which was an extra $20, so $60 total. As I was walking away, the lady told me my train left from a different railway station. Its a good thing she told me as I couldn't read the ticket and I would have returned to the same place the night my train was suppose to leave! Fortunately the train station I leave from is connected to the metro and should be painless to get to.
Then I finally made my way back to the hostel which took at least another hour. When I got to my room I was completely knackered! But two of my room mates were going to the night market which I really wanted to go to. So I had to dig deep and find the energy to join them. But it was more than worth it! It wasn't a true 'night market' because it was really clean, spacious, and touristy, but the the food the vendors were offering was legit. They had everything from starfish, baby sharks (bad vendors!), sea urchins, sea horses, snakes, squid, large scorpions, small scorpions, large grasshoppers, small grasshoppers, millipedes, beetles, cicadas, lizards, cow stomach, chicken hearts, kidneys, livers, and numerous other bugs and strange parts of animals and stuff you would never consider eating!! I didn't have the courage to try anything exotic though. Finally I got to go back and go to sleep.
I have one more night in Beijing and then I leave at 7 pm on Sunday, 17 September for Shanghai by sleeper train. I still have several sights I wanted to see here and I don't think I have time to see them all.
posted by Dustin at 10:47 PM
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