After three weeks in Nanjing, it was time to go travelling again. On April 10, I flew to Beijing, where I arrived at 1AM. ‘My travel companions were only arriving five hours later so I sat myself in a little coffee shop and watched “how I met your mother” until I was tired enough to fall asleep on the crappy couch.

Because 6 people and their luggages unfortunately did not fit into one cab, I hailed two cabs, showed them our hostel address and off we went into the Beijing Madness. We visited the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon and for dinner, I took them to the Dong’an men nightmarket. It’s basically a street with some stalls where you can get meat on a stick, hamburgers and even scorpions and silk worms.

The next day, we went to the Tian An Men Square, the Forbidden Palace, Beihai Park and walked through some Hutongs. The first thing we noticed were the crowds of Chinese and foreign visitors. A very different sight in comparison to the last time I was in Beijing, only two months ago. It was the Chinese New Year then, so a lot of people went back home to visit their families. Beijing was pretty much empty. Now, we had to squeeze ourselves through the masses of Chinese tour groups, each wearing their own little colored caps, each having their own guide chatting through their megaphones. My company was overwhelmed by the enormity of the buildings, the temples and also the Chinese people themselves. But they were equally impressed by the serenity of the nearby Beihai Park, which in comparison to the busy street and traffic is an oasis of peace.

On our second day in Beijing, we visited the Summer Palace, which has a huge lake and some temples surrounding it. The entire park has some nice sights and temples, but to me, the lake in Hangzhou is much nicer (and free by the way). We still had some time to spare, before it got dark and we could see the Olympic Stadia by night. We went to the Lama Temple (the only Buddhist temple in Beijing) and tried to find something to eat. We walked through streets filled with souvenir shops and incense sellers, before we got to this really small alleyway. I saw a sign which said: Muslim Restaurant and instantly went inside, knowing that Muslim food in China is delicious. My company was kind of hesitant at first, looking at the dirty floor and plastic tables. But once the food arrived, they were sold! Ordering food for people always makes me nervous, because even if you know the Chinese names of some dishes, it still can taste different from what you are used too. So each time I had to order food for the group… I held my breath and hoped they would like it.

Because it’s quite difficult to go to the Great Wall by public transport, we decided to join a tour organized by our hostel. After about an hour of busy traffic in the city, the scenery changed into mountains and dusty roads. The land was dry and we could feel the sun burning on our skin. In the distance we could already see parts of the wall! Even though I had seen the great wall two times before, it still gave me chills. I can only imagine how people in ancient times must have felt upon seeing this huge wall.

We came back at around 3PM and after freshening up, we decided to do some shopping at the Silk Market. A friend of mine had told me it was exactly the same as the fake market in Shanghai, but I liked the Beijing version better. It had more clothes, more shoes, more bags (everything a girl needs) and the salespeople were a lot more entertaining. Here’s how a particular case went:

Salesgirl: Lady! You want pants?
Me (laughing): No way, my ass is too big for Chinese pants!
Salesgirl(grabbing my arm and pulling me inside): No! You have nice ass! I show you! Which one you like?
Me (still laughing at the entire situation): Weeeelll, ok, let’s try the black one…
Salesgirl (magically pulls out a curtain for me to undress behind): yes, you see, very nice ass, you very beautiful! This you husband?
Me: No, my boyfriend.
Salesgirl: Oooh, he very handsome, I see he likes your ass too!
And so, without needing one, I come out of the store with one pair of black “diesel” jeans in my hands. I like bargaining a lot when they are this entertaining and funny. I also bought a sweater and when I was bargaining, the saleslady looked at me as if she was ready to scream and throw the sweater into my face. It’s just no fun that way.

After four days in Beijing, it was time to say goodbye to the city of 9 million bicycles and take a plane to Nanjing. I was excited to show them where I lived. We went to Fuzimiao, had a pick nick at Xuanwu Lake, Purple Mountain and Sun Yatsen’s Maosoleum. We went to the mausoleum on a Saturday so it was very busy! As we were climbing up the stairs, we had to stop every other minute because some Chinese wanted to be in the picture with us.

Being with people who’ve never been to China, made me realize how much I’ve gotten used to some strange Chinese habits. When crossing the street, I wouldn’t wait for the light to turn green, but just cross together with the other Chinese people, and as I was doing this I realized that the others were still waiting. They would stare at Chinese wearing their payamas outside, or laugh at the sight of a motorcycle with three people on it, or feel a cold chill whenever they would hear the sound of someone spitting.

After that, we went to Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou and finally Shanghai. But those stories will be for my next blog!

Stay tuned,

Maggi