DisOrientated - A Weblog by Philip Sen - Mei You. Beijing Part 1

January 12, 2004

Mei You. Beijing Part 1

Anyone else with the ineptitude and sheer bloody mindedness to choose to travel during the Spring Festival is going to get to know this phrase intimately.

Below you'll find the first installment of my travels around China this holiday. And forgive the typos and mistakes, this ain't my normal keyboard. In fact it's not a normal keyboard at all.

So where shall we start? Beijing. Might as well. Kept awake all night by a sleeptalker as disturbing as he was disturbed, it was with surprising energy that I took on the first sights of the day, the Bell Temple (Dazhong Si) and Beijing University with its pagoda and icy lake.

First encounter with rudeness outside a duck restaurant. A man appropriately dressed in a white coat leapt out and challenged us with "may I ask you a question?" Startled, my friend and I walked past, to be met with a hoarsely screamed "fuck youuuuuu!".

Had to be a scam - the guy hung around for hours waiting for us, or something, or someone else. Made a change from mei you, suppose.

Next day, Tiananmen Square. Needs no introduction from me. Had a squiz around Zhengyang, part of the south gate that used to be a courtyard until somone built a road through it. Upper floor of the ancient building notable for its playing card collection.

Disorientation next, in search of a subway station. Eventually realised I was on the wrong road altogether. Finaly met up with my coffee companion, about whom more later.

Beijing Natural History Museum a disappointment; Tiantan Park not a disappointment. Photos, well wait out. Might need about a month.

Accompanied friends Hannah and Jonna (pictured, click on thumbnail) to railway station in the guise of a lucky charm. Incredibly seemed to work, and after hours of shivering queuing and barging and blocking tickets materialised.

Regretted not buying my own ticket at this juncture, but a 100 RMB deposit was sitting comfortably in someone else's purse, with as it turned out, no intention of being spent on getting me a ticket at all. Mei you. Had to repeat the performance again the next day. Mei you. But here's one on a different day to the stop past where you want to go. Take it or leave it. Took it.

Summer Palace in the winter? Not as stupid as it sounds. A dusting of white transformed it into... something you can't describe without being cheesy, so I won't. I'l leave it for the photo processors.

And Lama Temple worth a look too, despite further disorientation for an hour, eventually discovering that it was indeed right behind the eponymous subway station. By some freak of nature, however, it appeared from the museum that the Dalai Lama is in fact a fat, smug and wholly unholy looking party official dressed in a yellow robe. Not the one we know and love.

Next stop - Harbin. I'm giving ip on this Internet cafe; it's too dark and the m and l hardly work. Next time.

Posted by Sendover at January 12, 2004 04:16 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Beijing University's campus is probably a subliminal factor in my choice of it - though it's much nicer in the summer, as at night, student couples huddle clandestinely around the No-Name Lake (weiming hu) near the West Gate.
Across the road, Qinghua's campus is also lovely, but in a different, much more Western way.

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