Sri Lanka trip: Day 3 (16 December 2024)

Hi folks. I hope things are going well for you today. Continuing with the trend of recent days, I am going to try to turn out another one of these blog entries. In fact, today I may even try to do two! Let’s see how that works out.

So, you will remember that Day 2 was in Sigiriya, and we would be continuing there for Day 3. Neither Laurianne nor I had slept especially well, but Laurianne had been even more uncomfortable. Dorothee, who had slept the best of the three, was ironically also the one who seemed to be coming down with a cold. Regardless, we were all looking forward to our Day 3 adventure which started with breakfast at 7:30 AM. We then departed at 8:24 AM, making a quick stop at 9:29 AM where I bought some natural mosquito repellant, and also attempted to find some simple sports sandals, but there was no luck with the footwear. After just 6 minutes, we were back in the vehicle and then arrived at the Ancient City of Polonnaruva at 9:50 AM. Admission was $30 USD each for non-SAARC citizens.

It was raining for most of the visit, but Erik had extra umbrellas available for us. Erik, who was also acting as “our guide” was certainly an outstanding driver and general chaperone, but not particularly helpful as “a guide”. To be fair, he was probably doing the “guide part” as an extra, but in particular when visiting an ancient archeological site, it really does help A LOT to have someone who really knows what they are talking about. He did however at least know to point out to us that even in the 12th century, they had indoor toilets in this ancient city, which is a rather remarkable feature, if not perhaps incredibly picture worthy.

Yep, that’s a squat toilet!

For me, one of the additional annoyances of this visit was that I only had brought one pair of shoes on the trip, and while they were great for walking long distances in a variety of conditions, they were not ideal for rainy weather, and especially not ideal for a place with tons of ancient temples where they wanted you to take your shoes off to enter. That was why I had earlier been trying to find a simple pair of sandals to change into. Also, as pretty much all the “temples” were open air, that meant that one would be walking barefoot through water and there was also no covered place to keep shoes to keep them dry while it was raining.

Having read other recounts of trips here, it seems that being here on a rainy day had its pluses, since it can also be incredibly hot, with scalding rocks to walk across when it is sunny. So, on balance, it is probably better to visit here when it is overcast, but not raining, if you can somehow manage to perfectly find that combination. Given that I only had the one pair of shoes to get me through two weeks, I opted to simply not enter any of the temples . . . which I guess in some ways was a bit of a letdown, but certainly better than having soggy hiking shoes for the next several days. So, any of the pictures from inside the temples (think Buddhist statues) were taken by either Laurianne or Dorothee.

At 11:08 we came upon this huge “stone book”. One of the big things about this site was that it supposedly once had either a tooth, or the teeth of Buddha.

It was rather impressive that after all these years the writing appeared to still be completely legible.

At 11:18 AM it had mostly stopped raining, and we arrived at what I think was the main Stupa of the site. While Laurianne, Dorothee and Erik walked inside, I walked around the perimeter and appreciated the details of the wall and the apparently still functioning drain system. While walking around, I saw that there appeared to be modern Buddha sculptures at every entrance except for the main one.

At 11:47 AM we arrived to yet another area where people were supposed to take their shoes off. There were carvings directly in the rock, similar to what can be seen in the carved caverns in the national park in Mumbai, but at a much smaller scale. Still, I do think that I would have sort of liked to enter this one, but it was just too complicated with my shoes, and the carving could at least be well seen from a distance, at least of the large Buddha.

We weren’t there long, and then at 11:59 AM arrived at the monastery complex. A friend of Erik who was along, showed me a super-secret side entrance where for some reason I was allowed to go with shoes, so there I saw most of what Dorothee and Laurianne also saw. Here there were a couple of things which drew my attention. The first was the recurring theme of the crocodile mouths for the drains. The second was how there were tiny little chubby men carved on a lot of the walls. This was the first time I could remember seeing that type of stylized human carvings on ancient architecture in this part of the world.

Another general characteristic which I kept noticing was the mixed use of brick and stone throughout the archeological site. Anyway, there was clearly a LOT more to see here, but we were also clearly only seeing the “trophy sites” since we would have needed a more insightful guide to appreciate anything else. Furthermore, it’s true that no matter how good your guide is, one can usually only handle a very limited amount of temples/churches/archeology/art in a single day.

Thus, by 12:22 PM we were back in the vehicle and heading to our lunch buffet spot, where we arrived at 12:30 PM. Of all the places we ate while travelling together, I think that this was my favorite. The hostesses did a wonderful job of explaining us a bit about the different foods; the presentation was of the food items was delightful, and it was also quite tasty. Lunch for the three of us was 10500 LKR ($35.92 USD).

On the way out, we also used the bathroom, which was simple, but once again spotlessly clean. We were back in the van at 1:30 PM headed to the safari place. I was keeping my expectations low, since my previous “safaris” have been less than super. But then I started revising expectations when right on the regular road we saw an authentic wild elephant!

At 2:23 PM we quickly left the van and entered our safari jeep, which was just for the three of us, where we paid 10500 LKR ($35.92 USD) each and the actual “safari experience began”. These are evidently 100% wild elephants which have never been domesticated nor held in captivity. On a daily basis, each adult elephant eats between 200 and 250 kg of grass, and under “normal” conditions, they can expect to live 80 years. Whenever there is a group of elephants together, they are all female, since adult male elephants apparently live mostly solitary lives except for their mating season. On a separate note, I later on read that this belief about “solitary male elephants” may not be completely true, but the information I read was all about African elephants, so maybe the same is not true of Asian elephants?

We actually saw a couple of different small herds, and then at 3:40 PM they stopped where there was a sort of large rock, and Dorothee and I walked up to see what could be seen while Laurianne opted to stay back in the jeep.

At 4:09 PM we were back in the jeep, and I figured that we were pretty much done with elephants for the day, but that was definitely not the case. At 4:16 PM we saw a mother and calf together, and we were particularly impressed at how they were “cleaning” the grass before eating it.

Around about 4:24 PM I was really starting to notice the orange spots on the ears and trunks of many of the elephants. When seeing those once before with my friend Elisabet during a show at Elephantastic in Phuket, she posited that these spots were the result of “abuse” by the elephant trainers. However, the guide on this safari said that these were just normal “age spots” . . . generally the more spots, the older an elephant is, similar to the sorts of spots many humans get on their hands and arms as they get older.

As you have no doubt noticed, pretty much the only animals we saw were elephants, but some of this may have been due to the continual light rain, which evidently elephants like quite a bit, but other animals not as much. Yes, it was really amazing to be so close to wild elephants, but at 4:30 PM we started to head out and by 4:36 PM we were once more back in the van and headed back to the homestay, where we arrived at 5:35 PM. The kindest thing to say about our dinner of fried rice was that it was lackluster, and unsurprisingly, the shower once more was not working properly. However, we did share a nice lager which Dorothee had picked up at some point. Not having anything else to do, at 8:55 PM we were in bed.

This stray puppy was clearly trying to get Dorothee to take it home, and I think it might have had a chance had we not been in another country.

So, what did you think of Day 3. I could have included about 300 more pictures/videos of elephants as well as another 50 or temples, but I think those included here were enough for you to get the idea. Given that I had not actually read any part of the itinerary, like you, I was quite curious about what we might see/do on Day 4. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading along, and don’t hesitate to leave your questions and comments in the section indicated below.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 2 (15 December 2024)

Hi everyone and Happy New Year! For those of you who were out having fun last night, I hope you are also feeling good today. For those of you who went to bed early last night like me, and those who didn’t, I hope that regardless of how you spent New Year’s Eve, you will find plenty of joy in the year ahead.

So, Day 2 in Sri Lanka started at 7:26 AM with a standard rite of passage for arranged tours, the breakfast buffet. Similarly, buffet lunches and buffet dinners are also quite common when travelling on a planned trip like this. While part of me wants to trash on buffets in general, to begin with, where does all the uneaten food go? These tend to be good ways to quickly feed a diverse set of travellers, and sometimes serve as ways to introduce us to foods that we otherwise would not have tried.

Erik then picked us up in our ridiculously large van at 8:30 AM, and we were off to see some of the local sites. We had some doubts about the fish market where we arrived at 8:40 AM, but it turned out to be far more interesting than I would have guessed.

While not an absolutely full proof deterrent, the salting process before the fish are left to dry in the sun keeps all but the most determined birds away, as they have evidently learned that at least by bird standards, these are not conveniently served tasty morsels to be quickly snatched up and carried away. This is evidently the way most Sri Lankans have traditionally stored fish before refrigeration became widely available, and it continues to be fairly popular for its convenience. I was pleased to see this, since it affords these artisanal fisherfolk a way to continue to have a livelihood. However, for those wanting fresh fish, that was also possible, and there seemed to be some birds on the lookout for those as well.

However, as we were not actually in the market to buy anything, at 9:02 AM we walked nearby to the remnants of a Dutch fort. As I have found is frequently the case in South and Southeast Asia, despite its “protected monument” status, nobody actually seemed all that interested in really preserving it.

Either within the area of the fort, or perhaps just in the immediate vicinity, at 9:08 AM we checked out St. Stephens Anglican Church, but no pictures were permitted inside. While it was tasteful looking inside, I honestly did not feel that they needed to be worried about it becoming an incredibly popular tourist stop.

From there we walked around a bit more before heading back to the hotel at 9:40 AM for a quick bathroom break before we started our road trip for the day.

As we were in Sri Lanka, I wasn’t sure why they needed to clarify that it was a Sri Lanka prison. Do they have prisons there from other countries?

Once we were on our way, we made a quick stop at 10:50 AM to get some fresh pineapple and coconut water.

Then connected to the aforementioned coconut water stop, we unsurprisingly stopped at 11:29 AM for a quick toilet break. I was very impressed by the cleanliness of the roadside toilet. Those of you who have travelled a lot will understand why I was understandably pleased. I wondered if all/most Sri Lankan public bathrooms would be like this.

Evidently Laurianne was also very happy about the cleanliness of the bathroom!

Now do remember that I told you to expect a lot of this. at 1:00 PM we stopped at a tropical lunch buffet place. There were plenty of options, and I was very happy with the variety of vegetables. The cost for the three of us was 7720 LKR ($26.41 USD).

At 1:39 PM we left the buffet and continued on towards our nearby lodging, Palitha Homestay in Sigiriya, where we arrived at 1:55 PM to drop off our bags before immediately heading out again at 2:19 PM to go to Sigiriya Lion Rock where we arrived at 2:23 PM. The cost of admission for non-SAARC citizens was $35 USD per person, but they accepted international bank/credit cards with no surcharge. The area was interesting, but I thought it would have been better to go with an actual guide; yes, Erik was along with us, but his real function was that of driver.

At 2:36 PM we started the actual walk up to the top of the rock, and by 3:01 PM I was even more convinced that this would probably have been a better experience with a properly trained guide. Having Dorothee and Laurianne along made it still be nice, but it really just turned into a test of physical endurance. I did not check, but the entry fee (as is logical) must have been WAY less for Sri Lankans, as the place was packed, and there was only one way up and one way down. Since so many people were struggling, and there was no way off the path and also no way to pass people, the pace was certainly manageable, and also less physically demanding than when I had visited the Great Wall of China in October, but it was still a bit of a challenge.

Once we were actually at the top, it did not seem so incredibly overcrowded, and there were many beautiful views, but we of course had no explanation for any of the ruins themselves. Still, it was pretty.

I thought that this abandoned cable car was a lost opportunity, since plenty of people (me included) would have happily paid to go down in it rather than get back in the horrible line . . .

We dragged it out for a while, but in the absence of any explanations, and also acknowledging that sooner or later we were going to have to get in the line to go down, and we certainly didn’t want to be doing it in the dark, at 3:34 PM we got in the line to walk down, but it was not until 4:01 PM that we were actually able to start the descent. Even more so than when we were going up, the many times unevenly shaped and sometimes slippery stairs were a bit of a challenge walking down.

At 4:21 PM we arrived at the yellow wall with apparently ancient graffiti and the fairly short flight of spiral stairs which led up to the paintings. No pictures were allowed there, presumably because if more people knew what they actually looked like, they might not go there. Don’t get me wrong, assuming they had not been retouched, the simple paintings were in good condition, but I would say that their true value was more in their age than in their artistic mastery. We were only in the actual area of the paintings for two minutes and then at 4:27 PM once more started the walk down the narrow stone stairs.

We passed the reasonably interesting “cobra rock” at 4:36 PM and then were at the bottom with the souvenir shops at 4:40 PM, quickly getting back into the vehicle at 4:42 PM and heading back to the nearby homestay where I was dropped at 4:47 PM while Dorothee and Laurianne went for Ayurvedic massages.

I am not really a big fan of all the oil they use, and to be fair I am not a big seeker of massages in general. I don’t know why, but unless it is an actual medical massage, I just find it makes me uncomfortable to be touched like that by strangers. However, I know that a lot of people are really into it, so maybe later on I will change my opinion. Anyway, while they were off getting soaked in oil, I took advantage of the opportunity to wander around a bit in the area near the homestay before it got dark.

While it was pleasant to look at, the paved road ended at 4:56 PM and I thought it unwise to continue along the rough dirt path, since I couldn’t really tell if it was meant for public access or not. Thus, at 5:05 PM I was back at the Homestay where I put the popup mosquito net on my bed (I’m not really sure why only one of the beds has a “permanently installed mosquito net”) and at 5:21 PM decided to take a shower and shave. I couldn’t figure out the hot water, so I just showered with cold water which given the heat was not so dreadful, but still a bit unpleasant. Furthermore, it was one of those horrible showers where you end up getting water everywhere since the toilet and shower and not actually separate. Then while shaving, the stopper got stuck in the sink, making it impossible to drain the water.

While waiting, at 6:17 PM I decided to do my Duolingo practice for Hindi, and at 7:53 PM we all sat down for a pleasant dinner before going to bed.

The sleeping arrangement was less than ideal, since the way the air conditioner was placed, it meant that the people in one bed would freeze, while the other bed would not get much coverage. This could also not be resolved by using the fan, since it did not actually work . . . Still, while not especially photogenic, the food at least had been fairly good.

And that was how the second night in Sri Lanka ended. The lodging was proving itself to be a bit of a challenge, but the Sigiriya rock, if somewhat overcrowded, was a nice place to visit. Honestly, it is hard for me to guess if I would have gone to the rock had I been on my own. I mean it is one of the “must see” spots of the area, but it is a bit expensive for what you get. For the most part, the food had been decent today, but not particularly outstanding. Still, it was nice to share with Dorothee and continue to get to know Laurianne while experiencing a change of scenery for a few days.

For those who are curious about what happened during our next day in Sigiriya, you will just have to keep on reading Day 3. Of course, if there were any details about Day 2 which I left out which you would like to know, shoot me a quick note in the comments section below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 1 (14 December 2024)

Hi there loyal readers, for those who have been following along regularly, you may have a bit of whiplash, since it may seem that I only just now got back from Beijing, but if you check the dates, you will see that I had actually just got really behind with the entries on the recent trip to China, and am now trying to keep the same backlog from happening with the trip to Sri Lanka. It is a bit odd that this was my first trip to Sri Lanka, as it is so close to where I live in India, but I have also not yet visited Mysuru, and that is just a two-hour train trip away. Still, especially since coming to work in southern India, I had always thought that I would eventually need to get around to visiting to Sri Lanka, and this way it finally happened. I would be remiss if I hadn’t mentioned that like several other great trips I have taken, this was actually my friend and co-worker Dorothee’s idea.

I will skip past the whole trip to the airport, as those who follow me know that I always opt for BluSmart, and once again I was not disappointed with their service when they showed up a bit early to pick me up and have me at the airport by 6:55 AM. Unfortunately, after having entered the car, I had checked my messages and saw that the flight would have a delay of a couple hours. However, since Dorothee was in the same boat, I thought it would be okay for us to just hang out and chat for a bit, which we did at a cafe outside until entering. Thus, it was not until 11:20 AM that we were actually on this non-stop, ninety-minute Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Colombo. Since Dorothee and I had booked separately, we were not sitting next to one another, but despite having refused to pay to get out of the dreaded center seat, there was a couple who asked me to move so that they could be together, and I ended up having my favorite aisle seat.

The flight itself was fine, but then for 90 minutes, pretty much anything would be acceptable. Still, despite how the plane looked a bit run down inside, I was impressed how in such a short time they served a nice juice and a surprisingly edible cheese and vegetable calzone before we touched down at 12:57 PM. At Dorothee’s suggestion, I had got my e-visa ahead of time rather than doing it on arrival, so at 1:29, already having been greeted by our driver/guide for the week, Erik, Dorothee and I had also both bought Dialog SIM cards before exiting the airport. Now most of you know that I generally advise getting an eSIM before travel, but I had done my homework ahead of time and had seen that this would be easy to get at the airport and also significantly cheaper. I paid 2450 LKR ($8.35 USD) for a month of cellphone service on Sri Lanka’s most recommended carrier with 50 GB of data! In short, it was a bargain, and I suggest you do the same when travelling to Sri Lanka.

Before I go on further, I should clarify that the first week’s travel was part of a tour package which Dorothee had organized ahead of time. There were three of us who would be travelling, Dorothee, Laurianne (a friend and previous co-worker of Dorothee’s, and me). At times the costs of the trip were a bit muddled, since the transport, triple lodging and some of the meals were included, but most of the activities would have to be paid for separately. Starting out on paper, this looked like it would be a bit more expensive overall than my standard trips, but I also doubted I would be returning frequently, so figured it would be okay to splurge. So, the upfront cost paid by each of us for the basic tour of seven nights was $695 USD per person, not including airfare, which can generally be managed at around $300 USD round trip from Bengaluru. Mai globe travel agency had handled all of our arrangements. Laurianne had flown in from Shanghai, so her ticket cost would of course been quite a bit more. Anyway, back to my first impressions as we exited the airport.

As we were on our way from the airport, I could see a lot of similarities to India, but at least in this area it seemed very clean, and more like a village than an actual city. It also looked like there was a lot more Christian influence around this area than what I was used to seeing in India. Our first night was not actually in Colombo, but rather in Negombo, so at 2:00 PM we were already pulling up out front Pledge Scape hotel.

Our triple room was lovely, including the view of the sea from the balcony, but my single bed was as had as a stone floor. Still, our intent was not to spend more than one night here, so I figured it would be fine. After quickly putting our things in the room, we headed straight out to do some sightseeing, even though Laurianne, who had arrived the day before, and had already been out to see a bit on her own. However, she had saved the “big stuff” so we could see them together the first time.

Our first stop along our self-guided walking tour was St. Sebastian’s church, which we came across at 2:52 PM.

We left there at 2:54 PM and continued walking towards the next church on Laurianne’s list.

While it was only 29 degrees Celsius (84 F), it was a bit muggy and anytime we were in direct sunlight the heat seemed especially intense despite me having my trusty travelling hat. However, it was only a short walk, and at 3:05 PM we were at St. Mary’s Church on Main Street.

After just about five minutes, we decided to head out once more in order to take advantage of the remaining daylight. Also, clouds had started to quickly roll in, and we were a bit worried that it might start raining heavily. We also had a sort of general plan to find a place to eat. Connected to the same, Dorothee took us on a bit of an adventure sponsored by Google maps to find a highly rated nearby eatery, but as frequently happens with Google maps, the place seemed to no longer exist. So, at 3:40 PM we decided to jump into a rickshaw and head back towards the hotel.

It turned out that this had been an excellent idea, since by the time we saw Chef Crab restaurant where we decided to eat at 3:49 PM, there was already a torrential downpour!

There were a lot of mosquitos, but Dorothee had some pleasant-smelling repellant which she passed around and that mostly dealt with the issue. I ordered the squash soup and a pork dish, which was actually quite nice; whereas Dorothee and Laurianne opted to share a crab dish which they acknowledged had been “alright” but not that filling. As we were soon to discover is normal in Sri Lanka, it had taken quite a bit of time for the food to arrive, but we weren’t in a big hurry either. The bill for the three of us was 10,098 LKR ($34.41 USD), which we would discover would be fairly standard throughout our trip. Incidentally, thanks to Laurianne, this trip we were all trying an app called Tricount in order to facilitate expense sharing and tracking during the trip. It was still raining a bit, but at 5:31 PM we dashed out and were back in the hotel just two minutes later.

There we rested a bit, and then as it had already stopped raining, decided to see if there was a place we could get an evening drink nearby. Dorothee and I also needed to get cash out of an ATM, as it seemed that most places in Sri Lanka had either a strong preference for, or only accepted cash. So once more, at 6:18 PM we were out the door, but quickly discovered that while there were plenty of ATMs available, no place “could serve” alcohol since it was a full moon. Evidently, every full moon in Sri Lanka is a type of holiday, and alcohol sales are prohibited. However, as we also soon found out, that prohibition is a bit tongue in cheek, since one pub owner suggested that we might be more comfortable sitting upstairs (where we would not be easily seen by those who would pass by), telling us that of course alcohol sales were illegal, but he might be able to help us.

For obvious reasons, I won’t mention the name of the place, but after we arrived there at 7:11 PM and were ushered upstairs, I had a lovely Blue Lagoon and a Bay Breeze. I am not sure what Laurianne and Dorothee drank, but we all seemed satisfied, and the bill when we left at 8:36 PM was 10560 LKR ($35.98 USD) for the three of us. From there, it was a short and comfortable walk back to the hotel, where we arrived at 9:02 PM.

So that was our first day in Sri Lanka. So far things had been going great, and I was really looking forward to the actual tour which would start the next day. The only downside so far had been my rock-hard bed, but I assumed that would just be for one evening. Starting to get to know Laurianne had been wonderful so far, and Dorothee and I also always make good travelling companions. Of course, if you want to really start to see some fancy Sri Lankan sites, you will have to continue reading Day 2. In closing, as always, thanks for reading along, and don’t forget to leave your questions and comments in the section shown below!

Beijing trip: Days 7-8 (2-3 November)

Hey there loyal readers. As you probably figured out from the closing of my Day 6 entry, things were winding down quickly for my trip to Beijing, but that doesn’t mean that I enjoyed my time any less. One of the best things about this trip has been that I have been able to spend a nice amount of time with Melody, Alex and Robin. For Robin, I am just some weird guy that his parents know from before, but Melody, Alex and I still have many fond memories of when we worked together at UWC Costa Rica, and we are slowly but surely starting to build non-UWC memories which I hope will keep us as friends for the rest of our lives.

One thing that really lets you know that someone is a good friend, is if you can see them again after many years, but there is no awkward reconnecting despite everything which has happened over the years. Of course, in the case of Melody, Alex and Robin, it may just be that they are amazing hosts, but I certainly count them as excellent friends. While my last two days were great for me, they might not be as interesting for you, so I will limit my comments to things which might be of interest to the casual visitor to Beijing.

Most of the day on November 2nd we just spent hanging around the house, and either today or the next day another friend of theirs came by to visit. She also seemed like a really good person, but with the months I am ashamed to admit that I have forgotten her name. That’s bad on me, as I had thought it might be nice to hang out with her sometime next year if I make a visit to Hong Kong.

While this may seem a bit odd to comment on, at 5:41 PM in the evening we were at Oasis International Hospital. Don’t worry, one of them just had a routine checkup. I was struck by how beautiful it was from the outside, and also the care taken to make it a welcoming place inside.

These vending refrigerators were intriguing.
Melody was not particularly impressed by the paintings, but I thought they were fine for a temporary exhibit.
While this was pretty, I hoped that the coins were washed.

Then after finishing at the hospital, we arrived to Jingzun Peking Duck. This was a very exciting even for me, since I had never actually had Peking Duck before . . . and to be having it in PEKING! I was also a bit giddy about actually using the lazy Susan thing on the table to get access to the food. I have no idea about the cost, since Melody and Alex invited me for this amazing feast, but it really was a special experience. I was interested in the fried milk but found that it was not as tasty as the fried yogurt had been from a couple of days ago. The duck though, really was divine.

The next day was again just hanging out and visiting, which was actually perfect for me. I wondered a couple of times if I might be getting on their nerves after so many days, but if I were, they definitely did a good job of hiding it. In the evening, I had a fun little adventure with Melody when we both bicycled to a couple of nearby grocery stores, and she helped me buy tons of Chinese snack to fill the empty suitcase I had brought specifically for this purpose. I didn’t think to take any pictures while shopping, but I bought SO MANY delicious goodies to take home with me! Throughout the entire thing, Melody patiently acted as my translator for all the food items and also gave me a couple of tips on where I might get nearby similar items for less money. I was able to buy a bit more than otherwise would have been possible, since the fancier grocer where we went accepted my international credit card, something which tends to not be extremely common in China. Afterwards we met up with Alex and Robin for a farewell dinner at a local Hong Kong style diner.

From there, we headed back to their house where I repacked my luggage two times, not sure of the best way to put everything in the bag, and at 8:47 PM Alex once again graciously helped me arrange a Didi to the airport, where I arrived just twenty minutes later . . . a definite advantage of staying in Shunyi rather than closer to the city center. The entire check-in, security check and immigration processes were incredibly smooth.

At 10:14 PM when I was then in the main part of the airport departures area, I was a bit surprised at how calm and relatively deserted the airport was at this hour. Almost all the shops were also closed. Also noticing that it was almost impossible to find charging points, I was tempted to use my Priority Pass lounge access, but I decided against it since I had already had a wonderful meal with Melody, Alex and Robin. Furthermore, it would only be an hour of further wait time before boarding.

My Singapore airlines flight, including the connection, were pleasant and uneventful, allowing me to allow rested and happy to back to Bengaluru at 10:41 AM the next day. I also had good luck at the BLR airport, where it only took me fifty minutes to finish all customs and immigrations procedures before being out the door at 11:20 AM, headed straight to the BluSmart line where I arrived at 11:25 AM. I was a bit annoyed to see that there is no longer any benefit to prebooking, so I had to wait in a line until 11:38 AM. In hindsight, that really was not much of a wait, but what’s the point of prebooking if anyone can just walk up and get in the line? So, it seems that BluSmart may no longer be quite as comfortable of an option as it used to be, but I will probably continue to use them, since I still like them more than the service I would previously get from Uber or Ola.

And on that anticlimactic note, my trip to Beijing and back was over. It was nice however to see some of the Diwali Rangolis that were still around as I arrived at my apartment. So, two months late, I finally finished reporting on my trip to Beijing. What did you think? Is it someplace you now think you might visit? What stood out for you the most? Once again, thanks for reading along, and don’t hesitate to leave your questions and comments in the section indicated below.

Beijing trip: Day 6 (1 November)

Hi again everyone. I hope things are going as well for you as they are for me. If not, take my advice, wait another day and reevaluate. There’s a good chance that you will feel better in the morning. If not, then repeat until things are going well.

Anyway, Day 6 in Beijing was for the most part once more courtesy of GetYourGuide; as much as I recommend them, I feel like I should be getting some sort of sponsorship! Today’s plan was Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven, and I had paid $51.50 USD.

As there was nothing new about how I got to the starting point of today’s formal activities, I will skip past all of that and start at 9:06 AM when our Guide Andy showed up just outside Tiantandongmen station, passed out the Bluetooth earpieces, and then we started off towards the Summer Palace. Evidently, those 60 and over can enter for free, so I was suspecting that it would be a bit more crowded inside as we entered at 9:09 AM.

Similar to my guided tour from a couple of days ago, there was a LOT of very interesting information, but I will only share those details which stood out for me, even if the details seem incoherent and of no interest to anyone else🤔. According to Andy, this whole Temple of Heaven area was built in 1420 and is actually 3 times bigger than the Forbidden City, which is also simply known as “The Palace Museum”, where I had visited yesterday. Amongst the other various fun facts shared were that ancient Chinese (like most other groups of people) believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and like a lot of previous civilizations with monarchs, the emperor was believed to be the son of God. As with earlier visits to historic sites in China, the number 9 came up a lot, but here they also seemed keen on the numbers 8 and 5. The most significant combination was 9 x 5. Even today in China, according to Andy, numbers are a big deal. Odd numbers are used to represent men and even numbers are used to represent women.

So far, this place seemed to just be a really big park. Connected to the same, I found out that the green plaques on certain trees mean they are between 100 and 300 years old, whereas the red plaques mean the tree is at least 300 years old. They figure this out based on the diameter of the different types of trees, so it is only a rough estimate. A bit of further investigation revealed then that the reason some trees have steel barriers around them, is that they are in the red-plaque category. It was right at 9:39 AM that we came upon the seven starstones. I am not sure why they are called stars, but they represent the seven most important provinces from that time. Ironically, there are actually eight stones, but the eighth one is much smaller.

At 9:48 AM as we continued along, I am not sure this is true since the people there did not seem particularly happy, we walked through an area which Andy claimed was a blind date market. If this was true, I assume it was older relatives looking for arranged marriages for their children and grandchildren. As is more commonly seen in Chinese parks, we also came across different groups of retired people doing Tai Chi and similar activities. I’ve got to say, if you have a bit of money in the bank, eastern China seems to be a good place to be a retired person, but then I guess that is probably true for older people with a bit more money everywhere.

The blind date market?
Tai Chi
Playing a game similar to hacky sack

At about 9:54 AM as we neared the actual temple, Andy told us that the round wall represents the shape of heaven. It was also about this time that I noticed that Andy seemed a bit frazzled or just upset. He had spoken on his phone a couple of times and also seemed to have a bit of a shouting match with some other random man in the park. To be fair, foreigners frequently think Chinese speaking to one another sounds like shouting, so maybe they had just been talking about the weather.

Then at 10:02 AM we headed into the actual temple area, and I was glad that we were able to enter very quickly and with no hassle. According to Andy, the outer middle gate, which was closed, is only for God, so I can’t imagine it get’s used that often. One of the other gates was only for the emperor, but I don’t remember which one. The blue tiles we saw were supposedly original, and about 600 years old. Pretty much everything here has symbolic meeting and is tied to a system of numerology which they were using at the time; it was unclear to me if that was different from the system of numerology which is still frequently used today.

Inside, the inner circle, there was a big group of people lining up to stand on the round mound which I think Andy said represented the Tridentine heaven (I guess they also had a sort of trinity?). He was quite annoyed about the people who were standing on the round mound in the middle and bowing/praying. He said they did not actually know what they were doing, since the CCP discourages real religious learning and belief. However, I thought to myself, they might not be doing it “the correct way,” but at least SOME of them must have been doing it out of genuine belief. So, if we remove the ones who were just doing it for the WeChat/Little Red Book picture, who were undoubtedly the majority from what I could see, then what was wrong with the ones who were doing it out of genuine belief? Regardless, Andy seemed rather annoyed/exasperated/disgusted with them; so, our group got the message, and nobody got in the line!

At 10:17 AM we then exited the central mound area and looked around a bit. The uneven paving stones are original, but the ones which look nicer were recently placed by the government. There in the distance, we could see a green structure, which was where the sacrificial offerings used to be cooked.

At 10:26 AM we saw the imperial vault of heaven “round temple” which used to be open for people to see inside, but that is no longer the case. The gold metal piece on the top evidently also functions as a sort of lightning rod. Then at 10:37 AM we came across the Nine Dragon Cypress, which many consider to be the holiest tree in Beijing; evidently a lot of people seem to use it as a sort of “wishing tree”.

Finally, at 10:50 AM we were entering the main temple. There was an extensive cattle entry system to enter, but fortunately there weren’t that many people, so we got in very quickly. This main temple is the hall of prayer for good harvest, and It’s 38.2 meters tall. There was a lot to see there, including a beautiful flowering tree contest display. At Andy’s urging, I and a couple of other people pushed our way through the crowd to take a picture of the interior.

We finished up there at 11:15 AM and headed out towards the minibus, arriving at 11:29 AM, then taking a forty-minute trip to C2 Xiyuan where Andy released us to get lunch on our own until 2:00 PM when the next part of the tour would start.

There were several “western” chain restaurants in this as well as various street sculptures. There was also a different area which was like a more local Chinese food court, and I sort of wanted to eat there, but I was afraid of accidentally getting lobster or shrimp in my food (I have an anaphylactic reaction to both), since there was no English anywhere and when I attempted to talk to a couple of sellers, they either did not understand me or didn’t want to deal with me. Regardless, the food court area also did not really seem to be a place for solo travellers/eaters.

So finally, at 12:42 PM I opted for Taco Bell. Yes, I know, but I actually DO LIKE Taco Bell, and I can’t get it with beef in India. My meal was 34.9 CNY ($4.90 USD) and I paid for it using my WeChat pay wallet. The food which arrived at 12:50 PM tasted exactly like a standard Taco Bell taco. The only downside was that the only sauce they had was ketchup. The french fries were also very tasty. One thing I noticed here was that everyone except for me used a disposable plastic glove to eat this sort of finger/hand food. This was odd for me since there was a prominent hand wash station right there (which I used) with soap and everything. My drink cup was also plastic, but the lid at least was ostensibly recyclable.

While I had tried to drag out my lunch as long as possible, by 1:31 PM I was outside sitting on a red bench, where I did some personal musings and people watching. While sitting there, I once again noticed that public smoking, at least by men, is still quite common here, but I haven’t seen any women. I also once again reflected on the fact that all the metro safety officers and the sidewalk sweepers in Beijing seem to be at least sixty years old. Are these specially reserved jobs perhaps for lower income senior citizens?

Finally, at 2:05 PM our guide Andy walked up again, along with a few new tourists, and we were off once again seeing beautiful sites and learning all sorts of fun facts about the area. The Summer Palace, which is both bigger than Macau and 3.5 times bigger than The Forbidden City was made for the emperor’s mother. The garden itself is 100% manmade, including the bat shaped mountain. The emperor who made the palace was Manchurian and was the longest serving emperor in China.

After walking through several gates, all with different names and symbolic meanings, at 2:48 PM we saw this sculpture of a mythical creature called a Chin. This particular one had actually originally been in a different even larger garden which had been destroyed by the French and the British. At some point, the front legs had been broken off, so the ones seen now are reconstructions.

At around 2:56 PM and for some time afterwards, Andy talked a lot about the Empress Dowager Cixi, who is considered to have been the most powerful woman in all of Chinese history. It is from her that we get the saying “The woman behind the curtain”, since she would sit behind the curtain and tell the emperor what to do. According to history, her son (who was six when he first ascended to the throne) and the first emperor she “controlled” died from syphilis. at the age of nineteen. I took issue with them saying that he got syphilis from going to prostitutes . . . I am fairly confident that he could have gotten syphilis from sleeping with anyone and also confident that there were no STD tests nor common preventative measures at the time. But anyways, that is the story.

Anyway, when her son died at the age of 19, she somehow orchestrated things so that the next to ascend to the throne was only four, and she stayed on as the Empress Dowager.

Like everything here, the lake is also manmade, and the dirt which was dug out to create it was what was used to the make the bat shaped mountain. Also, since the mountain is completely artificial, it is all dirt with no stones. At 3:22 PM Andy gave us the option of taking a boat for 160 CNY ($21.92 USD) each around the lake. He was clearly really pushing the boat idea, but on this one the entire group rebelled since we had come here to see the architecture rather than needlessly float around on a boat, even though we acknowledged that it would have been pretty. However, it seemed like things were already quite beautiful on the shore, and we all wanted to see as much as possible.

At 3:26 PM we were where the Emperor Guangxu was kept prisoner by the Empress Dowager Cixi when he attempted to throw off her influence. He spent the last ten years of his life imprisoned in this reduced area of the garden. His wife, the Empress of Guangxu, also stayed here, but it was unclear to me whether or not she was also a prisoner. Regardless, it was all a sham marriage, since she was the niece of Cixi and never actually consummated the marriage to her husband. All the furniture we could see here was original, and it was notable the Empress of Guangxu had a very simple single bed. As with all rulers, the Empress Dowager Cixi clearly was not managing all of this on her own, but I was very impressed at how she was able to maintain power for so long; later on, I would like to read more about her.

At 3:45 PM we were walking down what is supposedly the longest corridor in the world. It is more than 700 meters long. Honestly, I had my doubts about this claim, but I suppose it all depends on how you define “corridor”. Regardless, all of the different paintings, again, supposedly none of them repeated, were impressive.

At 4:01 PM I was thinking about how it really was very beautiful here, but for me at least, there were just too many people. I couldn’t begin to imagine the masses of people who would be here during high season. Certainly, this was most crowded place I had been during my Beijing trip.

At 4:03 PM we arrived at the main tower, which has a separate entry fee of 10 CNY ($1.40 USD). To climb to the top and back down can easily be done in forty minutes, so the guide announced that he would wait forty minutes for those who just wanted to wander around a bit and for the others who intended to go up. Nobody else in my group seemed keen on climbing the tower, but I figured that I may as well . . . it was unlikely that I would be here again anytime soon. Mercifully, either due to the climb or due to the separate entry fee, this area was much less crowded.

When I reached the highest point where access was allowed at 4:19 PM, I saw that there was a statue, presumably a version of the Buddha? A lot of the tower is off limits, but if you are feeling up to it and the temperature is pleasant, there is still quite a bit to see, and the light from the setting sun was also great at the time.

At 4:34 PM I walked down and rejoined the group. As we started walking out, we saw the opera building and an interesting boat shaped building. The tour itself actually ended at 4:55 PM, but we were welcome to stay in the park until closing time at 8:00 PM, even though it would be dusk at 5:30 PM.

By 5:10 PM I was outside and then quickly headed towards the subway where I paid 6 CNY ($0.85 USD) to ride on two different trains before getting off at Jiulongshan at 6:21 PM. From there I set off walking to meet up with a friend, who was a former colleague from my job in Bengaluru, for dinner. Along the way I was curious about the burning taking place in circles which were drawn on the sidewalk, but later on my friend explained to me that this was part of a religious ceremony which is permitted on certain special days. To overly simplify things, I think it was a type of ancestor worship.

Then came the unexpected highlight of the evening when I got to meet up with Mohammed for a delicious meal which his wife had graciously prepared. We had a wonderful conversation which could certainly have gone on longer, but as it was getting late, at 10:40 PM Mohammed very kindly arranged for a car to take me back to Shunyi, where I arrived at 11:20 PM. It had been a wonderful way to end a perfect day in Beijing. Thank you so much Mohammed!

So, wow, that was certainly a jam-packed day. While Beijing no doubt has many amazing more sites to be seen, I had finished off all of the “must see” sites and have also been able to visit with several outstanding friends. At this point I was thinking that it might be better to plan to take it a little easier the last couple days, but I still had not decided. Regardless, with such wonderful friends to visit, you can bet that the last couple days in Beijing were also outstanding. Of course, in order to be sure, you will have to keep reading the upcoming entries. Will you keep on reading, or have I finally exhausted you?

Beijing trip: Day 5 (31 October)

Hey there loyal readers. Welcome to Day 5 of my Beijing adventure. If you had already read Day 4, then you know that last night I stayed closer to the center of the city, at my good friend Csilla’s place. At 7:00 AM I was out the door from her apartment and heading towards Shangjing subway station. As I walked out, I noticed that they have a nice garden in the back for the residents. As with other places I have seen in Beijing, the neighborhood looks clear and well-organized. Furthermore, the trees along the street make it feel much nicer, despite being in a megacity.

At 7:13 AM I was in the station, quickly getting my 3 CNY ($0.41 USD) ticket and getting on the train by 7:21 AM. The train was quite full, but it was not oppressively crowded. Then at 7:39 AM I hit a minor hiccup when I needed to transfer to the capital airport express at Sanyuanqiao. I guess the name should have given it away, but I hadn’t realized that this was a special train which would require a separate ticket purchase with a cost of 25 CNY ($3.43 USD). The funny thing was that I only had to ride one stop!

Still, the total trip was very affordable and despite the transfer hiccup, by 7:57 AM I had arrived at the meeting spot, the B1 northeast exit of the Dongzhimen station. There were already a couple of people waiting there, and the guide had us put on stickers while waiting. As there were a couple of stragglers, it was not until 8:12 AM that we started walking, and by 8:20 AM we were on the bus. I put my phone into airport mode in order to conserve the battery, and our guide Jessica began the tourisms spiel. She said we would have 5 hours at our destination . . . the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China!

She said that this particular section was built just 650 years ago, during the Ming Dynasty, but the oldest parts of the wall are 2000 years old. In terms of what route to take once we were there, she suggested first going to tower 3 on the eastern route. Along with that she said taking the toboggan down would be a good option today since it would be a slower day. As far as the western route which we could opt to do afterwards, she said that tower 14 to 18 were relatively easy, but 18 to 20 were very physically challenging.

For those only wanting to do one route, she said that in her opinion the western route is a bit more beautiful, but she said that both sides would be manageable in the 5 hours, especially if we went up in the cable cars rather than walking the entire time; however, the cars had an additional fee. Via GetYourGuide, I had already paid $43.78 USD for the basic part of the tour. For those wanting to take advantage of the cable cars, she also gave us special instructions about our tickets since cable cars for each side are actually managed by two different companies. Finally, she advised that we do all sightseeing first and then get the included buffet lunch. After a bit of thought, I paid 280 CNY ($38.36 USD) to do both sides with the assistance of the cable cars . . . it was unlikely that I would be returning here again anytime soon, and I wanted to see as much as possible.

At 9:45 AM we arrived at the general starting point and many of us did a quick bathroom break. While the restroom was very clean, there was neither toilet paper nor washing hose, so keep that in mind. I of course had my trusty pack of wet wipes, so it was all good for me.

Then at 9:57 AM we walked over to the MuBus family building. This whole area has a lot of shops and restaurants. It is clearly a tourist trap, but there were few people. Remember though that I did this at the end of October, which was already the beginning of the low season. While waiting in the MuBus building, she reminded us that we needed to be completely ready to head out by 3:00 PM, as that was when the last bus would leave. For those who were wondering, she said that 30 minutes should be enough to comfortably eat the included buffet lunch.

Three of us had originally opted for a slightly more expensive architectural tour of the eastern section, and at 10:09 AM our separate guide came to collect us, and we were off to get on the shuttle which goes up the last 3.5 km. While it is possible to walk, the shuttle is included for all visitors, so everyone just rides it. We were on the shuttle at 10:17 AM and in only 4 minutes were getting off to head through the passport and ticket scan at 10:37 AM.

The first lift car was a bit of an adventure since it was just a simple bench that we had to quickly jump onto without it stopping.

I was on it at 10:40 AM and at 10:47 AM was jumping off at the actual starting point. The views had been incredible!

As is generally the case, I was quite pleased to have a guide. Furthermore, as there were only three of us, so it was highly personalized. At 10:54 AM we saw the general’s room, which was far less impressive than one might have expected.

At 11:07 AM the walk was starting to get a little bit more challenging. Shortly thereafter at 11:12 AM, the Italian woman in our small group gave up and said she was going to head back down on her own. I felt sorry for her, as like me, she clearly had not been properly briefed on how physically challenging this might be, but unlike me, she had come in far less practical clothing and shoes.

At 11:17 AM we looked at some original arches which were still there and had been built with no nails etc . . . Evidently this particular section of the wall had taken 200 years to finish. Next, at 11:26 AM he showed us where there would have been a ladder to get up to the upper level, but the ladder was no longer there. The lower area was where they would live, and the upper level was for the actual guard work.

At 11:35 AM, while this had nothing to do with the wall itself, our guide commented that it was in 1985 that China opened up to more foreign visitors. To be honest, I had not even known that. Then, in an odd moment of apparent openness when we were alone with the guide away from others at 11:41 AM, the guide was very candid about living in a dictatorship, but I kind of wondered if he was just saying that to please us foreign tourists. Regardless, he was particularly bitter about how during Covid-19 times people were kept like prisoners in their homes. This seemed to have been particularly hard in the village area where he was from.

At 11:48 AM I started walking down and at 12:00 PM decided I would take the Toboggan down rather than the cable car. I think just seeing the eastern side would be enough for most people, but I had paid to also see the western route, so I figured I may as well do it. The toboggan line which I reached at 12:10 PM was very short, and by 12:16 PM I was already down the slide. It was an interesting experience, but on the way down I was behind a very cautious older woman who kept completely braking her car, so it was not especially adventuresome.

The entrance to the western route was nearby, and I at 12:24 PM I was already in the next cable car, but this one was a completely enclosed “Sky Tram” type of vehicle. This ride also only took 4 minutes, so at 12:28 I was out and walking, but now on my own, since the guide had only been for the eastern route.

I was glad that I had done both sides, as there were some notable differences. To begin with, at 12:32 I noticed that the western route looked much more developed than the eastern route. There were also way more annoying people blocking the way, doing their overly orchestrated picture poses.

I really needed to rest!

Despite some doubts about whether I would do it, at 1:09 PM I was at the highest point one can go to on the western route. Along the way, several people had clearly given up before getting here.

I also had some concerns about my legs cramping up as I started walking down. Still, after just four minutes of looking around, I headed back towards the cable car.

As I was walking at 1:25 PM I felt that it was very important for me to have had a guide on the eastern route, as otherwise, the whole visit would have just been a big physical challenge. Don’t get me wrong, the Great Wall is EXACTLY like what you have seen in pictures. However, it all looks very similar. So, after the initial awe wears off, I think that without a guide it just becomes a fairly intense physical challenge. Due to the physical exertion required, I also think that in addition to the beautiful colored leaves, the Autumn temperature is ideal for this sort of a trek. Just a little bit colder would not have been very manageable, and much hotter weather would have been sheer torture.

At 1:45 PM I was getting in the cable car again, and in just three minutes was down at the starting point. There had DEFINITELY been other people around, in particular on the western route, but it had never felt overly crowded. Somewhere along the way I got lost, forgetting both where to find it and also that I needed to take the shuttle bus down to the main reception area. Asking people for help was also useless, as nobody really understood me. However, by 2:19 PM I finally somehow had figured it out and was entering the shuttle bus to head down, then arriving at MuBus family home at 2:27 PM.

The buffet was very impressive, and frankly, it was a huge challenge to quickly get food and finish eating by 2:58 PM. One new food that I particularly liked on the buffet was fried yogurt. Honestly, I don’t think I have eaten that fast in years.

I did barely make it to the final departure spot at 3:00 PM sharp, as we had been directed, but then they told us that we would actually not be leaving until 3:30 PM. It really was a pity, since I would have liked to be a bit more leisurely with my delicious lunch, but I am also happy that I did not miss the final transport!

However, it worked out since I realized at 3:23 PM that I probably needed to use the toilet before taking the long bus ride back. Unfortunately, they only had the Asian style squat toilet, and my legs were cramping up . . .somehow though, I made it work . . . which was good both for me and everyone else!

At 3:33 PM we were finally on the bus back to Beijing, and that guide was going the extra mile, trying to give us ideas of nice free places we could go to visit in Beijing, as well as suggesting affordable but tasty restaurants. I was particularly interested in the Olympic Park, which she said was a nice place to visit for a couple of hours in the evening. The chatter stopped at 3:45 PM, and we were mostly in silence up to 4:53 PM when we arrived back to Dongzhimen and said our goodbyes.

I entered the metro station at 5:02 PM, and the only thing that really stood out for me as I headed back to Shunyi on the subway, was when I was waiting for the first train, and I saw the same security guard from a couple of days ago who looked to be maximum 18 years old. Honestly, several of the guards I have seen look to be incredibly young . . .maybe it is considered a starter job?

Given that I was a bit closer to Melody and Alex’s place, this trip was only 5 CNY ($0.69 USD), and at 17:47 PM I was already walking out of the final subway station, this time having successfully remembered which exit to take.

As I was walking back, I reflected on how peaceful it was to walk here at night, so at 6:06 PM I decided to also check out the little park I had seen earlier even though the lighting was not very good. It was smaller than I had originally thought, and there was no sort of playground or anything like that, but it looked like it would be a good place to sit and read or just talk with a friend.

I did not spend too much time there and continued walking, at 6:16 PM noticing another similar small park, but I did not check it out, assuming that it was very similar to the first one. Thus, at 6:27 PM I arrived at Melody and Alex’s place where I was surprised to see Trick or Treaters! Oddly enough, from my point of view, Halloween seems to be a big deal in at least some parts of Beijing.

I had a nice time sitting out on the porch with Alex until we ran out of candy, and then we went in. Afterwards, with Melody and Alex’s coaching, I made my first ever Sushi Roll, and it was super delicious! So, what did you think of Day 5? Despite the fact that a Great Wall visit is a bit of a stereotype, I freely admit that I am extremely glad that I had visited! As I think I had mentioned earlier, this is one of the few places I’ve visited in the world which look exactly the same in person as what one has imagined when seeing pictures. Definitely, it was not something to miss.

As I had now fully leaned into tourist mode, if you follow along for Day 6, I think you will continue to be extremely pleased with what you see. Speaking of which, if you liked what you saw and read about Day 5, do let me know in the comments section below. If you completely detested it, you could also let me know in the comments section below, but please be polite about it! As always, thanks for reading along, and I look forward to sharing more in the near future.

Beijing trip: Day 4 (30 October)

Hey again everyone! So as promised, day 4 will probably be much more of what you were expecting from a trip to Beijing. The previous afternoon, noting how my earlier attempts to do things on my own, while not disasters, had also not been exactly as planned, I had booked a $40.50 USD Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square tour on GetYourGuide. I know it is not very “adventurous” but those of you who follow me know that I generally recommend this tour aggregator, and so far I have not been especially disappointed. According to the booking, we might not be able to actually get into the square, depending upon the political events of the moment, but it seemed that there would be no problem entering the Forbidden City.

I was out the door in Shunyi at 10:19 AM, once again headed to the nearby Capital Exhibition Center subway/metro station.

This time I took the little scenic path from the main street to the station.

In general terms, if possible, I like to use public mass transit, and in the particular case of Beijing, I have not been able to get the ride hailing app to work! As I am assuming that anyone who is reading Day 4 will already have seen my information about taking the subway/metro, I will not share any details beyond the most basic information. My ticket was once more 6 CNY ($0.82 USD), so I assume that around that amount is what it would generally be.

Having already done it a couple of times, the trip was now mostly unremarkable, and at 11:34 AM I was off the subway and trying to figure out how to exit and then get to the meeting place at the Grand Hotel lobby. My only complaint about the Moovit app in Beijing is that the formatting on it is off on the Android app, so you cannot see what exit you are supposed to take when coming out of the subway station. Perhaps they will get that fixed soon?

So, while trying to figure out where to exit, I somehow ended up in a mall and couldn’t easily find an exit. However, I then saw a delivery person at 11:42 and reasoned that if I were to follow him, there was a good chance he would be heading outside. As luck would have it, that was the case and at 11:48 I had arrived at the rather fancy Grand Hotel Beijing lobby.

As had been projected, our guide James arrived at 12:00 PM sharp and we waited a minute to get everyone checked in. In contrast to earlier days in Beijing, I now saw quite a few people who appeared to not be from East Asia. He gave us these handy little single-ear earphones which were connected to his Bluetooth microphone transmitter. Perhaps for others, these are common, but it was the first time I had encountered them, and I thought they would be a great idea for when we take our students on trips and tours from my school. Even with a group of no more than 10, it can otherwise be really hard at times for everyone to hear a guide.

Not having waited too long, at 12:08 PM we set off walking, and once again at 12:14 PM had a passport check. This was followed by some other sort of check at 12:19 which the guide managed without us showing any documents, but then again at 12:21 PM there was another passport check; in contrast to the earlier checks, they actually took our passports for a moment this time and appeared to be genuinely looking at them. Then at 12:23 PM we had a full airport style security checkpoint.

At 12:37 PM, while walking, we came across the Gate of Heavenly Peace. From there, in the distance we could see a pillar, and behind that is the Chairman Mao museum. We did not go there, but evidently that museum has a crystal coffin with Chairman Mao, but I understand it’s hard to get tickets to enter. The National Museum is the building with the red banner and star at the top.

At 12:44 PM James explained the design of the flag, with the four stars representing the four social classes of people. This was new information for me. Then at 12:55 PM he told us that the reason for the white and blue flags was because the president of Finland was currently visiting.

At 1:03 PM we decided to exit the square and head over to the next location. In case you are wondering, YES, I had some misgivings about visiting this place, but I also wanted to see where it all had happened. Even our guide quietly acknowledged that there have been terrible things happen here, but he also wanted to highlight that many good things have happened since then and before then as well. So anyways, yes, I was morally conflicted, but no, I was also not clueless about where I was standing.

At 1:07 PM James suggested that we do a quick bathroom break, as there were not many in the Forbidden City. Oddly enough, the bathroom building also had a gift shop and snack shop . . .I mean why not?

Then at 1:12 PM I noted that visibility was not so great, and James indicated that while air quality had been greatly improved in recent years, the visibility today was affected by a combination of both fog and smog. While walking, he also suggested that we come back on our own to this area when we have the time, since there are many museums around the square which have free entry to the public.

Having now seen several dragon images, at 1:20 PM the guide explained that the number of fingers/claws on the dragon tells us the type of dragon. Five fingers mean it is a king dragon, 4 fingers is a common dragon, and 3 is an evil dragon. Then at 1:24 PM we started to cross the bridge that before 1911 was only permitted to be used by high-ranking officials.

Looking at the map at 1:31 PM we learned that the gray area of the map is still not open to the general public. As we were getting ready there, he also told us that foreigners can buy an entry ticket on the same day, but Chinese citizens have to book their entry seven days in advance, and it is hard to get the tickets since they generally sell out completely within 30 minutes each morning. His explanation for this was that the Chinese government recognizes that for foreigners, this may be their only opportunity in their whole life to visit the Forbidden City, and it is unlikely that a foreigner would have known about the advance purchase rule. However, Chinese citizens should be able to adequately plan in advance. Still, this evidently causes some obvious discontent among the locals, so if asked when getting tickets, he told us to say that we were visiting on our own rather than with a group.

While standing in line at 1:39 PM to get my ticket, I was thinking that maybe this walk-up ticket purchase thing only functions if you already have a Tiannamen Square pass? Certainly, two days ago when I tried to get in through a different entry point, they did not let me do so because I did not have an advance ticket. Note, as my tour had been all-inclusive of all entry fees, the guide had given me 60 CNY in cash to pay at the window. The line itself was not terribly long, but it took some time. Incidentally, they don’t actually give you a ticket; rather, they record your passport information.

At 2:00 PM I was back at the table area waiting for everyone else to finish getting their tickets. While sitting there I ate one of the granola bars that Melody had thoughtfully put in for me in the morning. It was a Giant Bar blueberry flapjack bar, and it actually did taste like a blueberry pancake. Thanks Melody!

At 2:18 PM we were finally entering. Unsurprisingly, the automated passport reader did not work for me, but they just waved me through anyways. Starting from now, there was a lot of information given, most of which I was not able to write down.

For instance, at 2:28 PM James explained the difference between the male and female lions of the “lion gardens”. The female lion can always be recognized by the cub, and the male always has a ball which symbolizes unity of the state. While our guide did not tell us this, I think in a different tour I had been told that these sorts of stylized creature were not actually “lions” but I may be wrong. Regardless, they sort of look like lions. Again, there was a LOT of other information which I am not sharing, but you can definitely do a deep dive into everything found in the Forbidden City by looking online if you really want all the details about the symbolism and function of everything. I will just mention the random things that for whatever reason stood out for me.

On a practical note, at 2:37 PM the guide told us that the huge cauldrons here were actually water recipients for the purpose of fighting fires. A separate note of security was that there were 15 layers of bricks underneath the square in order to make it more difficult for an enemy to tunnel up from underneath.

At 2:41 PM we saw the hall of supreme harmony. This is where the Japanese signed their surrender in 1945. Then, at 2:46 PM we learned that up until 1924, the last emperor still lived in this palace. But at that time, he was completely removed, and the space became open to the public. While seeing the throne room at 2:53 PM (from quite a distance), we learned that through the 1950s, visitors were still allowed to enter the throne room, but they closed it off due to the room starting to be damaged with so much traffic. I think he said that this place is also called the hall of supreme harmony.

At 2:54 PM we were told that the crane and the turtle stand for long life. Separately, throughout the visit, he several times mentioned that there were not many visitors today, and that this was a positive thing. It was unclear to me if this was because it was late October, or if this was just a slow day. Regardless, I certainly appreciated that there were fewer people.

It seems that anywhere in China which is vaguely historic or pretty, you will see people, usually only women, dressed up in “period dress” to have pictures taken.

Even through I certainly was not really absorbing everything the guide said, at 3:22 PM I reflected that while coming here without a guide would not be a complete waste of time, it would certainly be far less interesting. Don’t get me wrong, but after a while, most things seemed to look more or less the same, but the tour spiel kept me engaged. So the takeaway is that if you come here without a guide, you will still probably like how many things look, but you will also probably get bored rather quickly.

At 3:37 PM we were in the garden of tranquility and benevolence. I think he said that the temple here was for the emperor’s mother and his concubines. Then at 3:39 PM I got a nice interior furniture picture at the palace of Longevity and Health.

I didn’t really understand why, but there was this golden pagoda we saw at 3:51 PM which was there to keep the emperor’s mother’s hair. Then near that, at 3:54 PM was a hall of Budhist sculptures and a few of the terra cotta warriors (not replicas).

Then at 4:06 PM we were entering the inner court. This was followed by the imperial garden and the study of the last emperor at 4:12 PM. Next, at 4:24 PM I appreciated the mosaics which were on the passageway.

Then at 4:38 PM we started to finish up and the guide gave us a small parting gift, a refrigerator magnet. I believe it is the character for luck. I would never actually buy something like this, but I admit that I took it home with me, and it is on my refrigerator today. All in all, I thought the guide did a very good job, so here is a positive shout out to Catherine Lu Tours, who were the actual tour operator for the tour I had booked through GetYourGuide. If anyone from the company reads this, I hope they will also note the great work which was done by our guide, James.

We could stay longer on our own, but I had made plans to meet up again with Csilla in the evening. Thus at 4:44 PM I looked for an exit, and by 4:48 PM I was walking outside towards the nearest subway station.

The walk itself was nice, and I arrived outside the Tiannamen East Station at 5:26 PM, but this time the ticket was only 3 CNY ($0.41 USD), since I only had to go 5 stations. It was a quick trip, so I was already back on the sidewalk again at 5:45 PM.

I lucked out, because Amap worked for where I was going when I wrote the name in English. I have probably already mentioned this in an earlier entry, but Google maps does not work well at all in China. IF you use an Android phone, Amap works great for walking and driving instructions, but the app is all in Chinese. For Iphone users, I understand that Apple maps works well in China.

So at 5:56 PM I arrived out in front of Beersmith with four minutes to spare. There were many beautiful building to see in this area, especially at night. Csilla arrived shortly thereafter. I had a very good hamburger and a 4-beer sampler for a cost of 214 CNY ($30.03 USD).

The original plan had been to stay later and listen to the live music, but Csilla was not feeling so well, and I also had an early start the next morning, so at 8:18 PM we were already back at Csilla’s place, having previously taken a couple of minutes to get some ice-cream at the shop across the street. After a brief chat while Csilla helped me get ready on her couch for the evening, we both turned in for the night.

So, what did you think? Was this more along the lines of what you had been hoping for when I said I was going to Beijing? If so, I think you will be even happier with Day 5, because it was a big one! As always, thanks for continuing to read along, and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Beijing trip: Day 3 (29 October)

Hey everyone, so by now you have figured out that it might be a full year later before I finish up writing about these trips. Nevertheless, I fully intend to try and finish them up. Today should not be that difficult, since the only thing on the agenda was a trip to the zoo; while perhaps not the ideal way to have this particular experience, I was very excited about the prospect of seeing real live Pandas! On a separate note, I was desperate enough to churn these entries out faster that I tried generative AI to do this entry for me, but it was such a mess that I ended up giving up entirely on that route, and I’m back to doing everything manually. So, if you like to read this, then I’m an amazing writer. However, if you don’t like it . . .well, then let’s not discuss that for now.

Anyway, on Day 3, I was up and out of Alex and Melody’s house at 10:38 AM. Once more as I was walking, I was really impressed by how clean and well-maintained both the streets and sidewalk were. However, since I had already seen it once, I was not as inclined to take so many pictures. At 11:00 AM I was back at the China International Exhibition Center, this time, having already learned how to navigate things easily the day before, I was able to quickly buy my one-way subway for ticket for 6 RMB ($0.83 USD), and then get on the first subway at 11:00 AM. This first trip was more challenging than yesterday, since it would involve four different subway lines. I won’t go into all of the details about the subway trip this time, but it’s worth noting that when I changed to line 13 at Wangjing XI I had to pay special attention to the indicator lines before actually arriving at the platform.

Most of the time in Beijing, you stand on the same platform and just check to see which direction, but there are several stops where you have to check ahead of time to make sure that you get the right entrance since the train only goes one direction on each platform. However, just like for day 2, as long as I was checking the Moovit app while making a transfer, it was very easy to see which entrance to take. Still, you definitely need to pay attention. At 12:10 PM, when I was switching to line 2 at Dongzhi Men, I noticed it was another “double platform”. I also noticed that this station seemed a bit more “industrial” (read as “slightly outdated and rundown”) looking than others; I assume that this is because the line numbers indicate when each line came into service, so this was probably an older station. Still, it was very clean, safe feeling and orderly.

My other transfers were uneventful, and I was even starting to feel very relaxed about the whole thing. No doubt if I were to do this on a daily basis, within a month I would not even think about it. With great anticipation, at 12:15 PM I was finally taking the exit to street level. Pandas here I come!!

And, this is what happens when you get too excited about something . . .

So . . . what to do? Clearly, I was not the only one who primarily sees the zoo as a place to see Pandas. Otherwise, they would not have seen the need to put this sign in the window. Still, I was thankful that they had done so, since I would have been incredibly sad had I entered and then discovered that they were not available. Despite all of this, between the walking and the four different subway lines, I had travelled for two hours to get here. Furthermore, the entry fee was only 15 CNY ($2.06 USD). So, using similar logic to what got me into the park on Day 2, I went ahead and bought a ticket and headed on inside at 12:28 PM. Given all of the generally negative reviews I had read online, my expectations were incredibly low, but for two dollars, how could I complain? Rather than focusing too much on the animals, I decided that I would approach this as another “park visit”.

For most Europeans or North Americans, that is probably the right approach to visiting this zoo. The landscaping really is beautiful, and it is very peaceful if you go during the day on a weekday like I did, especially in October. Honestly though, there is a good chance that you might not be very happy about the conditions of several of the animal enclosures. While the animals themselves appear to be well cared for, the larger animals in particular seem to have very little space. This definitely seemed to be the case for the Malayan Tapirs, and I also wondered why the three of them were kept separate from each other . . . perhaps they would otherwise fight?

However, if your goal is to actually SEE the animals, these smaller enclosures pretty much guarantee that you will get an up-close view of most of them. Unsurprisingly (due to their small size), at 12:48 I saw that the banded mongoose enclosure was a bit less depressing, but I was somewhat surprised to see the people ignoring the “Do not feed” signs.

Banded mongoose enclosure

The entrance to the “American animals” area was also priceless. I will let you figure out why on your own.

So, despite obvious criticisms, it really was pretty to walk around, and there was also the opportunity to see some interesting looking animals.

Then at 1:09 PM I realized that the Beijing aquarium, which has a separate entry fee, is actually located within the zoo. From the outside at least, it looked reasonably modern, and with a fee of 160 CNY ($22.02 USD) it was also quite a bit cheaper than other aquariums which I have visited around the world. I was a bit short on cash and WeChat funds, but I decided that if I were able to pay with my international credit card, I would go ahead and check it out. Furthermore, even less so than the zoo, it did not look crowded, so I figured it would be a decent visit.

My first impression as I entered at 1:33 PM was that while it was not “incredibly fancy” it seemed to be reasonably well maintained. Furthermore, if comparing aquarium costs elsewhere, it seemed to be entirely affordable. Of course, it also helped a lot that there were so few people. There was some signage in English, but most of it was only in Chinese. Unlike the zoo, there seemed to be only one set route, so as long as one continues forward, you will see everything.

At 1:50 PM I wondered if there might be something wrong with one of the sharks, since its body seemed to be permanently L shaped.

In addition to the aquarium sites, there were of course also PLENTY of opportunities to buy overpriced souvenirs.

At 1:54 PM I noticed that the Beluga tank seemed very small for an animal of that size, but the 2:00 PM Chinese sturgeon show (a diver giving them food) was particularly impressive. I had no idea that these fish were so huge!

At 2:25 PM I saw a fire shrimp. That was also something special which I had not seen before.

The nearby tanks I saw at 2:27 PM for lobsters and crabs were way too small, but maybe they were just happy that they were not being boiled/steamed alive to be eaten? Again, I noticed that they were REALLY working the gift shop angle. Parents with more than one small child beware . . .

At 2:29 PM I came across a fairly short aquarium tunnel, but the only way through was on a fairly quickly moving mechanical sidewalk. I guess that’s one way to keep it from getting too crowded while also eliminating long term gawkers.

At 2:33 PM I walked past the penguin exhibit, but the penguins were clearly not in a mood to cooperate.

There were also some tanks with some sea turtles which seemed a bit small, but maybe they don’t actually mind? At any rate, at least they were able to move around a bit. On a separate note, all throughout the aquarium there were abundant restrooms. I also went in to check them out, and all of them seemed to be very clean.

As is normally the case at aquariums, the jellyfish exhibits were especially beautiful. Note, these tanks also seemed to be very crowded, but for whatever reason, I at least was not that concerned about jellyfish not having tons of extra room.

At 2:51 PM I decided to head towards the marine mammal pavilion for the 3:00 PM show. As is usually the case with zoo and aquarium shows, there was no extra charge for any of the shows themselves, but there were always abundant salespeople trying to hawk overpriced “souvenirs”. I was seated at 2:56 PM and I noticed that even for a “slow day” there seemed to be a few hundred people. However, as the amphitheatre itself was made to accommodate many more, the first impression was that it was almost empty.

The show started at exactly 3:00 PM with a silly clown show. I have to give them credit; they did a very good job amusing the kids. Then at 15:06 PM a sea lion came out and they launched into what I can only assume was an educational spiel, but I of course understood nothing. Despite my lingering misgivings about this sort of a show, I had to recognize that they really did seem to be trying to keep the focus on education rather than forcing the sea lion to do all sorts of ridiculous tricks.

It was a similar situation with the two dolphins which came out at 3:15 PM. Again, the emphasis did not seem to be on making the animals do lots of tricks, but rather primarily on the educational talks. Still, it was nice to see, and I was happy to see that they were pushing the learning side of things.

Especially for someone who had not seen dolphins before, this would have been a very special experience. Finally, again, for what it’s worth, not that I am an expert, the animals seemed to look healthy. The entire show was exactly thirty minutes.

By 3:36 PM I was heading out the exit where there was of course one final gift shop. This was perhaps the most “troubling” of the shops, since they were selling small aquatic animals in tiny “cute containers.” Most of these animals will presumably die within a few days of being bought, and those which do not, being confined to such tiny quarters, will doubtless be miserable unless the thoughtful purchaser has a MUCH larger enclosure at home. I did not take a picture of everything, as I figured they might realize that I was being critical, but there were even tiny animals in sealed plastic key chain pouches . . .meaning of course that there would be no way for them to be fed unless they were cut out of the pouches. On the plus side, today at least, nobody seemed to be buying them.

Putting aside all of the questionable elements of the various gift shops, the aquarium visit was nice, and certainly worth the $22 USD. By 3:40 PM I was back out outside at the main zoo. As mentioned earlier, the gardens really were a treat, and since nobody else seemed that interested, I had them all to myself.

At 3:51 PM I admitted to myself that I really did like to see the bears, even though the Polar Bear in particular seemed a bit lonely. Of course, in reality I have no idea what the any of the them were thinking, but it is impossible to not speculate.

Then, unsurprisingly, at 3:58 PM, I noticed that the Red Pandas were absolutely adorable, even though they were not the type of panda I had planned on seeing today.

Yes, I saw a couple more animals, but at 4:18 PM I decided to go ahead and start finding my way out of the zoo and then head back to Shunyi. While it only took me 10 minutes, it was a bit more difficult to figure out the exit than I would have liked; I think they could work a bit on improving their signage. Again, as mentioned earlier, the gardens continued to be a big highlight as I headed towards the exit.

By 4:27 PM I was at the exit and headed out walking towards the subway, where I arrived at 4:39 PM. Now being an old pro, I was able to quickly buy my 6 CNY ($0.83 USD) subway ticket, entering the first subway at 4:44 PM, once more following the same route to get back to Melody and Alex’s place. As I have already explained a lot about transfers, and also how to best manage them (Use Moovit!), I won’t once again share all the details.

This is not an observation applying to only Beijing, but throughout this trip I have noticed that people here REALLY seem addicted to their phones . . .a benefit of this is that everyone is very quiet on the subway.

Several smooth transfers later, at 5:43 PM I arrived back to China International Exhibition Center and finished my walk back to the house, arriving at 6:16 PM.

So, once more, things had not gone quite as planned, but I was still satisfied with my second full day in Beijing. I was now a pro at taking the subway, and I was also happily rolling with the punches whenever my plans went a bit sideways. However, if you have the patience to keep reading Day 4, you will see that things really started to pick up, and you will start to read about some of the experiences and see some of the images you no doubt had in mind when you first heard that I would be heading to this part of the world. As always, thanks for reading along, and don’t be shy about putting any questions or comments in the section shown below.

Beijing trip: Day 2 (28 October)

Hey there readers, let me first begin by saying how sorry I am that these other entries are coming out so later. However, if you think this is late, just wait till I try to finish the entries for my last few days in Argentina back in June! As is probably obvious from the less than stellar quality of these entries, I don’t have any sponsorship, so these travel blog entries can be seen either as an act of love or a simple act of insanity. Keeping this in mind, I just write these when I have the time.

So anyways, as those of you who are regular readers will remember, I was staying in Shuyin, for my recent trip to Beijing. As I understand it, which may be completely inaccurate, Beijing is built on a ring system, and Shuyin is on the 6th ring. In lay person’s terms, if you are coming as a tourist, this is probably not the best place to stay, since it is quite far from the city center, but when staying with great friends like I was doing, it was a perfect location. Alex and Melody, like pretty much everyone else I knew in Beijing, regularly recommended me to just use DIDI (the main Chinese ride hailing service, sort of like Uber). However, I strongly suspected it would not work properly for me. Furthermore, I like to use public mass transport systems while travelling if it is at all feasible. This helps me both get a better idea of what “the average person does” and also forces me to walk more, which means I see more and also get a bit of exercise.

Thus, having had plenty of sleep, I left the villa at 10:19 AM and started walking towards the nearest subway station. It was a beautiful clear day, and the temperature was a comfortable (with the sweatshirt Melody had lent me) 14 degrees C. Both the street and the sidewalks were very clean and at least at this time of the day were not very busy.

I resolved to check out this neighborhood park later on.
For those of you not used to travel in Asia, despite having plenty of highly skilled English writers and even native speakers available to proofread texts, these comical translations of English are fairly common everywhere. Still, despite the errors, they are appreciated.

Alex had warned me that it was not a short walk, but at 10:46 AM I was near the turn in which would lead to the China International Exhibition Center subway station.

It looked like I could take this nature trail to the subway station, but I opted to stay on the road this time around.

At 10:52 AM I was in the station, quickly going through the security check and then trying to figure out how to buy the ticket. I had earlier used the Moovit app, to figure out my destination of Xidan and the associated subway transfers, so that part at least was already sorted. Seeing that there were no human ticket sellers, but rather a bank of machines, after much trial and error I finally discovered that the small machine on the end was the only one that I could get to work for me, despite even having money loaded onto my WeChat wallet. Still, I was not in a hurry today, so I didn’t mind that it took me twenty minutes to finally figure it out. Armed with my single use, plastic subway card, I was safely waiting at the platform at 11:15 AM.

It was a short wait, and at 11:20 AM I was in the first train which was clean, quiet and comfortable. I appreciated that the upcoming subway/train stations were listed in both Chinese and English.

I know that for my day 1 entry for Beijing I said that I would try to be more concise than I had been with earlier trips, but I think that some of these details about subway transfers could be useful for a first-time traveller subway traveller in Beijing, so bear with me as I give you way too many details. At 11:37 AM it was time to transfer from line 15 to 16, but this time around I forgot to note down the station. There was very clear signage which I could tell was also appreciated by Chinese visitors who might not be regular users of these subway lines.

At 11:44 AM I was on the next train and was even able to get a seat until it was once more time to transfer to the Red line at Dawang Lu at 12:06 PM. As mentioned earlier, using the Moovit app, it had also been easy to see which platform to stand on even though there were trains going both directions. Again, at Dawang Lu it was easy to follow the signs, and by 12:11 PM I was in the next train. As a side note, up until now, I had not seen anyone who did not look “East Asian” but at the same time, nobody seemed to think it was of particular note that I was in the subway. Finally, at 12:28 PM I exited the last subway car of this trip and was quickly outside at 12:32 PM, having exited from the Xidan north F1 exit. While it had earlier been my plan to walk to the Temple of Heaven from here, once outside I noticed that this was much farther away than it had appeared on the map, so after a few minutes of consideration, I decided to try to walk to Tiananmen square, which seemed much closer.

So far, things seemed to be going well. Then at 12:43 PM there was an ID card check which seemed to apply to anyone on the street. As such, I was glad that I had brought my passport, but it didn’t seem to be a big deal, since the official only seemed to glance at it before waving me through. Then again there was another check just four minutes later at 12:47 PM. This did not seem to make sense to me since the sidewalk mostly deserted and I didn’t even see how anyone could have entered the sidewalk from the last check. Then much to my surprise, there was another check at 12:49 PM! I started to wonder, was I in some sort of a high-security area? This seemed unlikely since they didn’t seem to care about me walking there, but once more it happened at 12:53 PM. Still, the ID checkpoints were quick, and nobody seemed alarm that I was there, so I kept going.

Then at 12:56 PM I saw this interesting looking building. However, with all the guards outside, I was cautious about approaching closer. They weren’t particularly intimidating looking, but I didn’t see anyone else going that way, so I figured that despite outward appearances, it probably was not a “tourist attraction”.

Then guess what happened at 1:00 PM . . . that’s right, another ID check. While these checkpoints did not seem particularly onerous, I had to wander at the point of it all. I mean there were already CCTV cameras. But when in Rome, or in this case, when in Beijing . . . Interestingly, at 1:02 PM a random woman asked to take a selfie with me; this was the first time during the day that anyone had seemed to even notice that I might not just be a regular part of the scenery. Also, around about this time it started to become clear to me that I was definitely in the Tiananmen square area, which was also where there seemed to be some other standard sites of interest, but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to actually get there. Every way seemed to be blocked, but at the same time, in the far distance I could definitely tell that there were apparent tourists.

By sheer chance, at 1:15 PM I arrived at what I thought would be another negligent security check which led to some place called the temple museum, but I was made to understand that I could not pass since I did not have a ticket and there also was no way for me to get a ticket. Interestingly, it did seem to be open, despite it being a Monday, and everything online said it was closed on Mondays. I continued with this fruitless wandering for the next hour, going down into tunnels, trying through alternative exits, and even attempted to ask several people for help, but I don’t understand Chinese and at least around here (as would make sense), people also did not seem to understand English. Oddly, I even ended up inside the National Center for Performing Arts. Needless to say, it was a bit of any adventure, and I had no clear agenda for the day, so it was fine.

I will admit that while I had no fixed agenda for the day, by 2:12 PM I was starting to get just a tiny bit disheartened. I was open to seeing random sites, but I seemed to be trapped in an endless maze of blocked sidewalks and tunnels which appeared to lead to nowhere new. Then finally at 2:15 PM, after trailing after a few people walking down the sidewalk, I saw a place which seemed to be selling tickets to enter, so I decided that I may was well give it a go. It was only 3 CNY ($0.41 USD) to enter, and at the point, despite the pleasant looking mostly empty streets, I was game to try anything different.

Once inside I discovered that it was called Zhongshan park. It really was very nice inside, and for $0.41 USD you can’t really complain about anything regardless. Like other places I had seen on my earlier trip to China, a big draw of this place seemed to be for women to rent period costumes and the services of a photographer. The goldfish pond was a bit sad, and there were several buildings which looked like they might be interesting inside, but all were blocked off, so it’s hard to say.

At 2:45 PM I came across a large plaza which as far as I could initially tell, served no purpose, but then closer inspection revealed that this was the “Altar of Land and Grain”. It’s hard to appreciate in the pictures, but the altar has a symbolic pattern laid out with dirt which naturally has five different colors. It’s hard to read on the sign, but the colors evidently represent the different types of soil found throughout China.

This was clearly a very large park, and as I wandered around, at 2:53 PM I reflected on the fact that steel must be rather cheap here, since they seem to put barriers made of it around countless items. I had earlier noticed this out on the street, but oddly inside the park I saw that there were even steel barriers around certain trees, despite the fact that those trees were already in a clearly roped off area. More intriguingly, other trees which at least to my eye looked identical, did not seem to merit the same protection.

Then at 3:15 PM there was an unexpected memory triggered as I entered an area of yellow Ginko trees. This reminded me of the Autumn sidewalk outside my residence hall my first year at Truman State University. I also tried to sneak a couple of pictures of two middle-aged women who had clearly identically dressed the same for the purpose of taking pictures together; for some reason I liked this idea more than the ones I had seen who were wearing period costumes.

I easily could have spent a couple more hours here, but at 3:40 PM I started looking for the way out, as I had scheduled to meet a friend and former coworker at 5:00 PM. Again, using the Moovit app, it wasn’t that difficult to find my way out and then once again find myself in the TianAnMen Dong subway station, quickly buying a 3 CNY ($0.41 USD) ticket. This time I remembered to take a picture of the type of ticket machine which seems to be the best option for foreigners. Things went well, with a well-marked transfer to line 10 at 4:37 PM, finally arriving to my general destination at 4:56 PM.

This the machine that foreign visitors need to use.

My friend Csilla offered to book me a DiDi to get to our meeting space, but by using the Amap app I thought that I would be able to manage it walking without too much trouble. Yes, it was still a bit of a challenge since the map is entirely in Chinese, but I was up for the adventure. Sure enough, things worked out fine, and at 5:08 PM I arrived at The Local.

The place itself was “fine” and the food was “decent” but not outstanding. The real treat of course was once again meeting up with my wonderful friend Csilla Szabo, who is currently working as a Drama teacher at an international school in Beijing. Csilla and I are friends from when we used to work together in Mumbai, and while we were both in India, I always greatly appreciated that whenever she would come to Bengaluru, she would make a special effort to see me, even though distances and traffic in the city can be quite a challenge.

Despite having had an amazing visit, by 8:20 PM it was time for Csilla to head home and me to head back to Shunyi. The total cost of our shared meal and drinks was 468 CNY ($64.57 USD). Due to the distance and the late hour, I was a bit cautious about trying to take the subway back at that hour. Thus, I tried to use my DiDi app, which disappointingly but predictably didn’t work; this however seems to be a “me problem” since most foreign visitors have no issues. Fortunately, DiDi allows you to book a ride on behalf of someone else, and that’s what Csilla did for me. The car arrived at 8:30 PM, and at 9:10 PM I was already back to Melody and Alex’s place, with a total bill of 75 CNY ($10.35 USD).

And that was the end of my first full day in Beijing. Yes, there were some challenges associated with transportation and finding places, but all in all it was a very satisfying day. Looking back, I could have been very frustrated with regards to my derailed attempts at independent tourism, but I still had plenty of time left to my visit. Additionally, as long as I don’t feel in danger or under unrealistic time pressure, figuring out how to do things in a new place is in itself part of the fun. So, did I manage day 3 better than day 2 or did I get stuck in another maze of blocked streets and tunnels? If you want to find out, you will have to wait for the next entry.

As always, thank you for reading along, and don’t hesitate to leave your questions or comments in the section shown below.

Beijing trip: Day 1 (27 October)

Hey folks, so this trip’s entries are going to be a bit different than my earlier trips as I am trying a couple of new approaches.

To start out, I am going to omit the entire process of travelling from Bengaluru to Beijing. For those of you who have been following along with me, you already know my routine and also know the general process for getting out of Bengaluru and my recommendations about the same. Furthermore, I am also not detailing any information about transfers; although, in this case I only went through Singapore, and it is so easy to find information about that airport that there is no real value in providing more narrative.

Separately, I am trying out a less detailed style, still trying to include what I think would actually be interesting or important information for fellow travellers, but not always giving the minute-by-minute explanations which some of you really appreciate, but others find unnecessarily tedious. So anyways, let’s get right to it.

After an almost entirely pleasant flight on Singapore Air SQ800, direct from Singapore, we touched down at 7:15 AM, but it was not until 7:41 AM that we were actually off the plane. I was pleased to see that there was easy to follow signage in both Chinese (which I could not read) and English. However, despite the signs, not everything was clear.

At 7:50 AM there were prominent instructions about needing to register one’s fingerprints at an impressive bank of machines. However, upon further investigation, it seemed very unclear as to whether or not this applied to people with actual printed visas in their passports, like me, or only for those taking advantage of China’s recently expanded visa on arrival system. At any rate, it evidently didn’t matter, since after trying four machines, none of which seemed to work, some sort of official just told all of us encountering the same problem to ignore the machines and proceed to the next step of the process, the arrival card machines.

The arrival card machines I encountered at 7:57 AM worked for me, but they clearly were not working for many other travellers. Presumably after a few minutes of watching this, another official told all of those nervous supplicants to simply ignore the second impressive phalanx of machines. Oddly enough, the extremely expensive looking machine only fills out part of the card, which seems to negate the purpose of having it automated, since I still had to fill out more than half of it by hand, but never question immigration procedures . . . Then at 8:03 AM I was on to the actual human operated immigration lines.

These seemed to go fairly quickly, and there was another required fingerprint collection station in front of each counter. There were no questions about where I was going, when I was leaving or why I was there, and by 8:31 AM I was through and on my way towards the train which would take me to the baggage claim area when I arrived at 8:45 AM. Like many airports, there was quite a bit of walking involved, but I didn’t find it to be tedious.

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By 8:48 AM I had the bag and headed towards the exit, but I made a stop along the way which might not make sense for you. Despite the many claims about it now being so easy for foreigners to use China’s ubiquitous online payment systems, that had definitely not been my experience when I had been in Fujian province in December and January. However, part of that may be because I was attempting to use Costa Rican and Indian “international cards” so your mileage may vary. Still, as I would not have Huixian chaperoning me everywhere this time, I decided to take her advice and get $200 USD changed to 1281 Chinese Yen (CNY). I did not get the best exchange rate, but the “lost” $20 USD was worth the peace of mind enabled by having emergency backup cash.

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Upon exiting at 9:00 AM, the fancy black sedan driver which Alex had arranged for me was waiting to collect me and by 9:05 AM we were on our way to Shunyi. The roads were very smooth and the ride pleasant. While it was “chilly” outside, it was clearly warmer than I had expected. Yes, there were some signs of Autumn along the way, but most of the trees were vibrant green.

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Upon arrival to Melody, Alex and Robin’s home about thirty minutes later, they promptly got me settled in. Seeing that my coat was much too heavy, Melody lent me three sweatshirts which were just my size; they were intended to be for Robin, but he was not keen on them, so his loss was my gain, at least for a few days anyways. Then Alex helped me load up my WeChat wallet in exchange for a bunch of my Chinese cash; that way I would not have to worry about the international card connection to Alipay and WeChat not working. Then a bit later they took me out to a sort of fancy shopping area which they favor where we had a very nice late lunch at Sue Cuisine. Robin of course no doubt did not remember me at all since the last time I had seen him, I think he was maybe 4 years old; I think it had been 11 years since we last saw one another in person! Regardless, it was great catching up, and I was extremely thankful for Melody and Alex for hosting me for the week at their comfortable home.

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Following a wonderful day of catching up and reflecting on old times, since Robin and Melody had to be at school early the next morning, we all turned in by 10:15 PM. I had no clear plan about what I would actually do the next day when I would set off on my own, but I was excited about the adventures (or as is often the case with me, misadventures) which were ahead. If you want the nitty gritty of getting around Beijing’s transport system as I attempt to see the sites, you will have to read along with me for day 2.

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So, what do you think about the new style so far? Have I become too abbreviated, or should I cut things down even more? Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.