The Wall and some famous Peking Duck
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04 September 2015 | China, Peking
Day 5 - Beijing
Today was the day in which one of China’s most important sites would be visited. You might think we will go to the Great Chinese Wall, well then you’re right, because we will. I thought the wall would be cool to visit, maybe a little like the Forbidden City (busy and ok), but I couldn’t be more wrong. The Wall was just amazing. The wall was built as early as 600 B.C. and this just shows how developed the Chinese were already in ancient times, because they constructed such a piece of art, high on the mountaintops. Unfortunately, building the wall took some time, maybe a little too much time, because when the wall was finally finished, it could not prevent invasions from the Mongols and definitely those from the powers in the West because of the simple reason that they came over seas. Yes, that is something to think about, but amazing it still is! Anyway, maybe you associate the wall with many Chinese and Western tourists (at least I did). However, that does not have to be true at all. We had hired a van that drove us 150 km from Beijing (3 hours away), to Jinshanling. The consequence was waking up early and driving for hours, but it was more than worth it. When we arrived, we saw mountains, the wall and just 3 of the 1.3 billion Chinese, and no Western tourists at all. It surprised me that there are not many Western tourist at all in the country, something I like a lot! The lack of people at the Wall was amazing because now we could see the beauty of the wall without any distractions. The hike to the entrance of the Wall was hot and steep (up the mountain), but when we finally got there, it was just amazing. Clear skies, far views, high mountains and the wall meandering on the tops of them, it was just perfect. We (at least I) could sit here for hours and just look without getting tired of the stunning views. After we had taken a left on a not restored part of the Wall and after we had eaten something, we started walking down the Wall, towards the West entrance. We hiked over watch towers where Chinese who would sleep on the wall, made a living of selling water. We hiked over steep parts where sweat was dropping down our bodies and finally we hiked down the path and enjoyed the shaded areas under the trees. This Wall is a great one to visit, so do not forget to do so. Think about where you want to go, get out there and climb it! To end this day, we decided to chill and smoke some Shisha, why not right?
Day 6 - Beijing
Today we had to switch hotels. Every room of our first hotel was booked for our last night in Beijing, but fortunately we could go to a hotel around the corner. Unfortunately, it was not as far as nice as the first hotel. Since it took us long to make the switch to the other hotel (partly because the English of our Chinese host was not that stunning), we left for town quite late. The plan was to bike around Beijing really just chill and do some shopping. Since we were with 4 women, shopping was an activity that could not be absent on this trip. While we were biking towards the main street with its expensive shops and enormous shopping malls, we biked passed a little shop that was called Rager Pie. We needed to get lunch anyway so in a way the Rager Pie was nice. In another way it wasn’t because the shop was so small that there were just 6 spots in an area of maybe 3 square meters. Since there were just 4 of the spots left and since we were with 6, my parents decided to give in and walk around in the heat while we were eating in air coed lunchroom. The shop sold all different pies, from breakfast to dinner pies and the ‘bartender’ of this hipster toco had a lot to tell and to show us. Four pies, an extra free pie and free brewed coffee (from Ethiopia and brewed in a special way) and a lengthy explanation later, we were allowed to leave. Arriving at the shopping street, it was so busy, some sort of Kalverstraat, but then 10 times as big and 20 times as busy. After we spend some hours there (without buying anything) we went to Beijing’s most famous Peking Duck restaurant. Fien wanted to take us there because she enjoyed it so much the last time she was in China, and we were not disappointed. After we had to wait for over an hour, after the waitress let us to a multifunctional room, totally taking away the charm of the restaurant (luckily we refused these spots) and after we had to wait a long time for the food, we finally got our Peking duck. Damn what was that good, definitely recommended to try before you die!
Today was the day in which one of China’s most important sites would be visited. You might think we will go to the Great Chinese Wall, well then you’re right, because we will. I thought the wall would be cool to visit, maybe a little like the Forbidden City (busy and ok), but I couldn’t be more wrong. The Wall was just amazing. The wall was built as early as 600 B.C. and this just shows how developed the Chinese were already in ancient times, because they constructed such a piece of art, high on the mountaintops. Unfortunately, building the wall took some time, maybe a little too much time, because when the wall was finally finished, it could not prevent invasions from the Mongols and definitely those from the powers in the West because of the simple reason that they came over seas. Yes, that is something to think about, but amazing it still is! Anyway, maybe you associate the wall with many Chinese and Western tourists (at least I did). However, that does not have to be true at all. We had hired a van that drove us 150 km from Beijing (3 hours away), to Jinshanling. The consequence was waking up early and driving for hours, but it was more than worth it. When we arrived, we saw mountains, the wall and just 3 of the 1.3 billion Chinese, and no Western tourists at all. It surprised me that there are not many Western tourist at all in the country, something I like a lot! The lack of people at the Wall was amazing because now we could see the beauty of the wall without any distractions. The hike to the entrance of the Wall was hot and steep (up the mountain), but when we finally got there, it was just amazing. Clear skies, far views, high mountains and the wall meandering on the tops of them, it was just perfect. We (at least I) could sit here for hours and just look without getting tired of the stunning views. After we had taken a left on a not restored part of the Wall and after we had eaten something, we started walking down the Wall, towards the West entrance. We hiked over watch towers where Chinese who would sleep on the wall, made a living of selling water. We hiked over steep parts where sweat was dropping down our bodies and finally we hiked down the path and enjoyed the shaded areas under the trees. This Wall is a great one to visit, so do not forget to do so. Think about where you want to go, get out there and climb it! To end this day, we decided to chill and smoke some Shisha, why not right?
Day 6 - Beijing
Today we had to switch hotels. Every room of our first hotel was booked for our last night in Beijing, but fortunately we could go to a hotel around the corner. Unfortunately, it was not as far as nice as the first hotel. Since it took us long to make the switch to the other hotel (partly because the English of our Chinese host was not that stunning), we left for town quite late. The plan was to bike around Beijing really just chill and do some shopping. Since we were with 4 women, shopping was an activity that could not be absent on this trip. While we were biking towards the main street with its expensive shops and enormous shopping malls, we biked passed a little shop that was called Rager Pie. We needed to get lunch anyway so in a way the Rager Pie was nice. In another way it wasn’t because the shop was so small that there were just 6 spots in an area of maybe 3 square meters. Since there were just 4 of the spots left and since we were with 6, my parents decided to give in and walk around in the heat while we were eating in air coed lunchroom. The shop sold all different pies, from breakfast to dinner pies and the ‘bartender’ of this hipster toco had a lot to tell and to show us. Four pies, an extra free pie and free brewed coffee (from Ethiopia and brewed in a special way) and a lengthy explanation later, we were allowed to leave. Arriving at the shopping street, it was so busy, some sort of Kalverstraat, but then 10 times as big and 20 times as busy. After we spend some hours there (without buying anything) we went to Beijing’s most famous Peking Duck restaurant. Fien wanted to take us there because she enjoyed it so much the last time she was in China, and we were not disappointed. After we had to wait for over an hour, after the waitress let us to a multifunctional room, totally taking away the charm of the restaurant (luckily we refused these spots) and after we had to wait a long time for the food, we finally got our Peking duck. Damn what was that good, definitely recommended to try before you die!
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