I have been fascinated with China since I was a child and my trip there was a dream come true. My husband and I flew into Beijing and booked into the Eastern Sun Youth Hostel. It was just like a backpacker’s hostel that you’d find anywhere in the world and it was clean and comfortable. Our first evening meal in the capital was at a little restaurant down a narrow alleyway. The food was so good that we went back on the next night.
We went on a coach tour to see some of the sites. The first stop was a jade factory where we watched the process and then saw the finished products in the shop. The green, and sometimes red, jade is magnificent and the displays included a life size sailing ship. Then, came the Great Wall of China. It is awesome and it’s very steep to climb. We walked the popular Badaling portion of the wall. It was very busy and there were several vendors, selling souvenirs. It was tough but I did it and I got a real sense of satisfaction. We were then taken to the Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology Training Center for a talk on traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. The last stop was the Ming Tombs where the Ming Emperors have their burial chambers. Some of the signs here have been badly translated into English and they are hilarious.
Breakfast next day was ham and eggs at the Oriental Plaza Mall. This is where the newly wealthy Chinese go to shop for designer clothes and jewelry. There was even a sports car showroom. We were certainly seeing the contrasts in Chinese society. Of course, you can’t visit Beijing and not see Tiananmen Square. It’s very imposing and a huge picture of Mao Tse-tung overlooks the square, which is guarded by soldiers in their best uniforms. The Forbidden City is another must see and it more than lives up to the hype. We did the audio tour, listening to Roger Moore’s urbane commentary. It was time to leave the capital and get the sleeper train to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. Beijing had been overcast and noisy. Bicycles have largely given way to the sound of car horns. There are a lot of people trying to sell you things in the street or offering to get you a taxi, but the people are very friendly. Beijing isn’t the most attractive city in the world but it has some of the most interesting sights.
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The train to Xian was surprisingly comfortable and I got a good night’s sleep in my bunk bed and a tasty meal in the buffet car. It certainly rivaled anything the train networks in England have to offer. The scenery was a mixture of worked over fields, rows of bamboo trees, and occasional terraced hillsides. The warriors are everything you’d expect and more. They are spread over three large hangers and there are still more to recover. Each face is different. Each horse’s face is even different. Rows upon rows look out from thousands of years of history.
I only managed to see a portion of China, as I was visiting Honk Kong and Japan too, but it was thrilling and I’ve promised myself that I will return one day. More to come about the rest of my travels.