On January 29th, Cynthia and I left for Beijing: the city of Mao images, red books, green hats, propaganda posters and 9 million bicycles and according Lonely Planet ‘approximately the size of Belgium’. Despite it being February, it was warm with not a single cloud in the very clear, very blue sky. We were lucky because Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world and is usually covered in a thick grey smog. What also surprised me was the politeness of the Beijing people in comparison to the Southerners. No pulling or pushing on the metro and people actually followed the ‘xian xia ran shang’ (first get off, then get up) guidelines shouted by the ‘metro guards’. Beijingers also look really cool.

We dropped our luggage at the 9 dragon hostel and visited the world famous Tiananmen Square. Six years ago, I visited the square with my parents and brother. As I was walking up to the square now, I realized that at that time I had no idea what I was going to study, where I would end up, if I would ever go back to China and what this square even meant for Chinese history.

The next day, Lizzy joined us and we decided to visit the Forbidden Palace and the Olympic Stadia, which are especially impressive at night when they are lit. On the first of February, we walked through an abandoned Beijing. It was New Year and everything was closed. Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China and people either prepare to take the long journey back to their rural villages or prepare masses of food and drinks to celebrate with their family in the cities. February second we were woken up by the sound of fire crackers and shouting people. This is yet another way of celebrating New Year: as loud as possible.

Hesitating out of fear that this too would be closed, we decided to take a leap of faith and visit The Great Wall. We took Bus 919, which off course, did not leave until it was completely full. An hour and a half later, we arrived at Badaling and it was time to get off. Now, getting off is not that straightforward in China because 1. a Chinese person has placed one of his/her bags on top of you and 2. the bus is so packed you have to literally squeeze yourself out. Badaling is the most touristic part of The Great Wall, but because of the holiday, it was completely abandoned. We hiked up and realized that, all of a sudden, we were on top of The Great Wall! And we felt it, the stairs were very steep and there was a very rough, icy wind. The views were amazing though.

That night, we headed to Helen’s (which is a copy paste version of Ellen’s in Nanjing) to count down to the New Year. The metro was deserted and here and there we saw fireworks lighting up the skyline and the sound of firecrackers everywhere we went.

Our last evening in Beijing was very well spent. We had a classic Beijing Duck meal in a fancy restaurant and said goodbye to the Beijing scenery before each heading off to our own destinations once more.