crosslegged on the front lawn

I said previously that I really digged the hutongs, they're lovely and cool even when it's hot, they're communal, they're quiet. They feel more like a caravan park than one of the biggest cities in the world. Today we had a cycling tour of the hutongs, starting from near Dongsi station and heading around the north west and north east parts of the city, past Yonghegong (near Steph's flat) and back to Dongsi.


Cycling around Beijing is pretty easy (although I would have worn a helmet if I had one). There are these massive cycle lanes on all the big roads and as mentioned the hutongs are very quiet. Lots of people cycle in Beijing, cars are used to watching for cyclists, everyone takes it pretty slow. Most bikes are single speed (Beijing is flat and basically never windy). Still, you do a lot of weaving in and out of other bikes, rickshaws, traffic and pedestrians so you cycle riding the brakes. A fixie would totally work for cycling Beijing. You get pretty dirty.


Didn't get many pictures, as I was on my bike. I wish I'd fired up Runkeepr to record it but the route we took started from a hotel near Dongsi and took hutongs to Nanlouguxiang then west past the fire god temple, past some palaces, around the lake, stopping for snacks at the lake, then east again past the drum and bell towers, the imperial college, Confucius temple, Yonghegong (Lama temple) and back to the hotel. The whole tour took about 3 hours including stops.


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I sort of wish we'd done the tour earlier, because it gave me a greater appreciation for the geography of Beijing. The city is built on a longitudinal meridian formed by Tian'anmen, the Meridian gate and the drum and bell towers. The nobles lived on the west side of this line and the rich folk on the east. The poor folk lived in the north and the south.

If you're looking at a map of central Beijing, the subway line 2 follow the path of the old Beijing city walls. [And mostly also the 2nd ring road. It's worth noting there is no 1st ring road, I guess someone was hoping to pave over the moat of the forbidden city.]

Another interesting fact, many stations on line 2 end in men which is an opening, or a gate in the wall. So Dongzhimen is east gate, the road inside the wall is the inner avenue (neidajie) and outside the wall the outer avenue (waidajie). Then the road coming off the inner avenue are the inner north alley and inner south alley. Thought it's worth noting that a gate can also look like this, it doesn't have to be in the wall.

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I am sad to be going home already, although I am looking forward to a proper shower and proper plumbing. You can't flush toilet paper here, they provide a little bin next to the toilet (also you have to carry you own around with you). This is probably why the loos all smell. Steph's flatmate says it's also because there's no S-bends on the loos. This is of course assuming you can find a western toilet. Many of the toilets are squat toilets, which I'm really not comfortable with.

I'm looking forward to it being cooler. The damp heat, the dust and who knows what have caused all my pores to jam up. I took my hoodie back out of my suitcase when I packed it up to wear on the plane. Feels silly to think that I'll need it, given the temperature.

( Tuesday )

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( Wednesday )

Tomorrow we are going on a bicycle tour before coming home to pack our things and Emilly and I head to the airport. I'm a bit sad it's at an end. I feel like there's still so much to do. Writing postcards I kept thinking why didn't I see that? I am undoubtedly going to return one day, especially since I have decided I would like to one day attempt a multi-day hike of the Great Wall (which will require a buddy).

We have a long layover in Hong Kong (10h) which is probably a good thing because apparently no plane in China ever departs on time. We might go into Hong Kong, or we might find somewhere to sleep.

Had a late start today, by the time I was up, showered, dressed and ready, it was time to go for lunch. We went to another veggie place Steph liked called Baihe. I am really going to miss the large number of extremely high quality Chinese vegetarian places that are in Beijing. While Melbourne definitely has a greater variety of vegetarian cuisines, Beijing really excels in delicious Chinese vegetarian.


After lunch we walked back to Nanluoguxiang, so I could buy some things I saw the other day. Looked in a few stores we didn't make it to last time. There's much less of a crush of people than on the weekend.

Took the bus back to Steph's flat, chilled in the aircon for a bit and refilled my water before walking to the Lama temple at Yonghegong. Walked around between the halls for a bit, checking out the buddhas. Asked Kwan yin to let me be merciful and compassionate in some stuff I've been dealing with, and to receive mercy and compassion in turn.


I wouldn't usually do this, since I don't believe in any deity. I don't really know how to pray to a Buddhist idol. Still I like Kwan yin as a meme (Goddess of Mercy). Also since most Buddhist gods were human before they transcended, perhaps, in a way, I'm just asking myself for mercy and compassion.

With all the tourists and pilgrims (lots more than I was expecting), there aren't any quiet gardens in the public bits of the temple. I sat in the foregarden for a bit to be mindful, but it was too busy to really manage it.


Went and had a smoothie in the Veggie Table to escape the heat, and stayed there reading until Steph, Emilly and Lisa joined me for dinner. Had a pretty tasty mushroom burger and a hot chocolate with rum in it.

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I really enjoy the absurdity of Beijing. No one here really seems to take anything seriously. Which manifests most frequently as making do with what's available. Rather than having the proper saw to cut bricks, two guys cutting bricks were using the wrong saw plus a water bottle with a hole in the lid so they could squirt water onto the saw blade.

That said, your bags are X-rayed before you can go onto the subway. Which seems just a little serious. Not that I'm sure anyone is checking the monitor when you put them through. There's quite a bit of security theatre around actually.

There are so many people who you just can't work out what their job is. Especially people carting things around on tricycles, usually rubbish. I wonder what the equivalent is in Australia, how does this stuff get moved. I think the answer may be big skip bins and early morning pickups. Actually, I've not seen a skip bin. Things like building waste or cardboard boxes are just piled up until someone collects them.

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Steph is working tomorrow. Her flatmate's friend will be arriving though. Plans are probably to visit the Confucius temple and the Imperial College, and maybe the gardens behind the Forbidden City, if I feel like hiking up the massive (manmade!) hill.

I've gotten used to the smell of Beijing, and the noise and the busy-ness. The pollution leaves me gunky, but even that has gotten better. The city is generally a lot less intimidating.

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Friday was a pretty slack day for me. After the effort of climbing the wall I was pretty sore and exhausted, I spent the day at Steph's flat. I was planning to do laundry and write my postcards, but somehow failed to do either.


Friday evening we went out to drinks at Veggie Table (in Wudaoying Hutong, right next to the Fixies and Juggling store) and then dinner with the AYADs for Steph's birthday before going to one of their houses to drink wine and eat birthday cake that Steph's flatmate had made. Walked home through the hutongs.

I really dig the hutongs. They have the vibe of a caravan park. Lots of people around, it's quiet and communal. These winding passages on which so many people live. Some of them have become gentrified by expats, I can see how, but it's also sad.


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Saturday we went to Nanluoguxiang [which people joke is like the Beijing Brunswick St, this makes Wudaoying Hutong the Beijing Smith St]. Walked around some shops. Had lunch at a Korean restaurant before walking home.

Had a nap because I was really tired. Went out in the evening for yunan food, which was pretty excellent. Lots of sizzling things.

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Today, Sunday, I went off by myself to the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. Took the subway. Expats talk in fearful tones about subway line 1, which is the line that goes past Tian'anmen. There's certainly a lot of people who moved between line 5 and line 1, but it doesn't seem that scary. Maybe it's a peak hour thing.


Walking to Tian'anmen I ran into a painting and calligraphy student who asked if I wanted to come and see their art exhibition happening on the side of the gate of heavenly peace, near Steph's work (Steph is livid she didn't know about this). Decided I would have a look, he showed me the art of various students and teachers, ended up buying a piece of his because it really appealed to me. He has been studying now for five years. He did some calligraphy for me. My name in Chinese he decided would be 丹妮 (dan ni — which translates to cinnabar girl)


You enter the Forbidden City through the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Tian'anmen Square and then northwards to the Meridian Gate. As you walk between the gates there are people selling Chinese communists hats, Mandarin caps, headbands with the flowers worn by the concubines (peony?) and headbands that looked like those Qing dynasty combs. On either side there are actual military barracks, sectioned off with low fences, with basketball courts set up in the courtyards, and uniforms drying.


I wandered around the city for approximately 3½ hours. Basically until I got tired and hungry and had run out of water. The interesting stuff is not the outer court, even though it has the big grandiose palaces. The interesting stuff is mostly housed in the inner court, where you can walk between passageways and courtyards and halls until you're actually pretty lost and turned around.


I enjoyed the display of scientific instruments from the Qing dynasty and the Hall of Clocks (aka the Hall of Ancestral Worship, you better believe I paid the extra 10 kuai to see those). I didn't make it into the Hall of Treasures, which was an additional 10 kuai.

Somewhere on the west side of the city I came across what was the Imperial telephone bureau, which was the switchboard for the phones in the Imperial city. That made me pretty happy.


You keep heading north until you come to the Imperial gardens, which would probably be really nice if they weren't absolutely teaming with tourists. I exited through the Gate of Divine Might and then walked east to Dongsi subway (further than I thought).

I had planned to go to the Lama temple after stopping at Veggie Table for a coffee smoothie, but I realised it closed at 4pm (which is what the time was). Texted Steph to see if she wanted to join me, when she arrived she realised her friend I hadn't met was there too, introduced us, we chatted for a bit. Came home before going out for dumplings.

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Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow yet. I still want to go to 798 (an art district), the National Museum (both closed tomorrow) and the Lama and Confucius temples. We're all going on a bike tour on Thursday and then we leave Thursday night.

Monday night Steph, Emilly and I got on the sleeper train to Xi'an, which is a 12h train ride from Beijing. Getting to the train station was a bit of an effort, involving the subway and then a bus. The train station itself was this massive complex, absolutely full of people, with separate waiting sections. Train Z19, wait in waiting area 3.


We were in the 2nd class sleeper, which meant sleeping 4 to a cabin, so we had a random guy with us. [Who actually spoke excellent English, although he didn't become talkative until we were deciding to turn the lights out.] Slept okay on the train, but not amazing. [Mostly the problem was being given a regular doona — it's summer — being too hot with the doona, but too cold without it.

( Tuesday )

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( Wednesday )

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( Thursday )

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There's nothing major planned for tomorrow. It's Steph's birthday, she has to go to work for at least part of it. I'm planning to stay in, do some laundry, rest and relax (I've already read two books thanks to travelling), and then I assume we're going out to dinner.

So Emilly and I are in China visiting Steph.


It is not really what I imagined. I had imagined Beijing would be a place not dissimilar to Hong Kong or Singapore. Instead it's a lot more like Penang. It's noisy, smelly, hot, humid and hazy. Things feel hacked together. It is busy, and pushy. Some things are feeding my anxiety. Squat toilets with no doors, really too much. I try to focus on my breathing, but the air is frequently pretty gross.

People stare at me, which always makes me feel pretty uncomfortable. I think someone wanted to take my photo today. I'm not sure. She was indicating with her phone and the two of us together and said something in Chinese. A photo with the tall, orange-haired, blue-eyed girl.

Haven't done that much yet. Wandered around the hipster bit of Beijing, had cake and drinks at a veggie cafe. Then came home to crash, ordered in. Went to the police station this morning to register ourselves, then did a bit more wandering around. Steph, Emilly and Lainie seemed to have places they wanted to go, so I was happy to follow. Had a pretty good lunch at another vegetarian place.


I am dehydrated from the heat (and the flight, stupid international liquids restrictions). Water here comes from bottles, so they don't have the same super-availability of water there is in Australia. My water bottle keeps ending up empty.

Taking the sleeper train to Xian tonight, spending 2 days there before flying back to Beijing. Then going out to the wall on Thursday.