How Beijing beat me
Beijing, you win.
I knew I wasn't
choosing an easy city. I began in Beijing for a
Trans-Siberian trip all the way to Moscow (and beyond) by rail. I
figured starting with the biggest culture shock (I'm a newbie to
travel in China) made the most sense. And crawling back overland
towards home – currently London – felt intuitive. And like it might be something to shoot for when the long train journeys began to drag.
But Beijing packs a punch for a first timer. It's fabulously rich in
things to do, with countless places to eat and labyrinthine alleys to
explore. Its must-see sights alone would take a solid few days,
nevermind ambitions for Great Wall day trips and idling in the
hutong.
Beijing in winter. Dress appropriately. Image by Anita Isalska |
Beijing is a city
that eats time. Despite a zippy – and fantastically easy to
navigate – subway system, getting around always seemed to take
longer than expected. It's the little things, like long winding line
transfers in subway stations, baggage scans every time you enter a
station, and things being just a little further on the map than you
anticipated...
Then there's the queuing. A meek and mild Brit like me doesn't stand a chance in a culture where the sharpest elbows get to the front of the line. The same applied to crossing roads. By the end of my stay, my technique involved ploughing forward in spite of the honking cars, murmuring “oh shiiiiii—t”.
Little-known fact, cartoon characters in Beijing mock jetlagged travellers. Image by Anita Isalska |
Then there's the queuing. A meek and mild Brit like me doesn't stand a chance in a culture where the sharpest elbows get to the front of the line. The same applied to crossing roads. By the end of my stay, my technique involved ploughing forward in spite of the honking cars, murmuring “oh shiiiiii—t”.
That square. Not pictured - queues and security checkpoints to access said square. Image by Anita Isalska |
The city is
exhausting and energising at the same time. My eyes were on stalks in
Tiananmen Square, brain thoroughly boggled by Mao's Mausoleum, and
the Summer Palace was a feast of wacky boats and even wackier
homemade sledges skidding across the frozen ponds. But jetlag and the
Chinese capital are a feisty pair, so somewhere in between
temple-ogling and taxi negotiations, simmering hotpots and the
umpteenth stone lion, my eyelids were starting to droop.
I could fill another
whole week, fortnight, month with what I didn't manage to see this
time around in Beijing. It'll take me a while to drum up the energy for round #2 but Beijing, I'll be back...
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