Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 46 - Friday June 24th 2016 - Beijing, China

So getting off the boat was relatively straight forward to be honest. We woke up before the alarm (as you do) and headed down for a last Starbucks before leaving the ship. As you would expect it was a hive of activity on-board with barriers going up and rows for queuing passengers being laid out. We dragged our hand luggage cases down to the Two70 space at the back of the ship to have some breakfast and wait for our departure group number to be called out so we could leave. Departure had been delayed for everyone on board, something to do with customs clearance and the queue was just like the other day when we were waiting for our visa to be issued for going into Korea.

We saw the lovely Dan Dan clearing breakfast tables in Two70 and said our goodbyes (again) and then headed ashore. The queue to get off the boat was moving well now and that was that. We were off Ovation and a serious part of our journey was over.

We now have the bang bang bang tour of China which is pretty nonstop but first job was to clear immigration and customs and collect our cases and find out driver to take us into Beijing.

As we got into the main terminal after collecting our cases it was again a mass of activity. Tonight the Ovation of the Seas was having its inauguration celebration party with Chinese VIP’s in attendance and a firework display and the ships official naming as China will be the ships official home. There was a stage being put up, flags and banners everywhere advertising and promoting the Ovation, they were really going to town.

We left the terminal and found our tour guide for the next three days in Beijing, his name is Randy (well at least that’s his American name given to him by a form of translation). We also have our mafia boss looking driver Mr.Pound complete with ray ban mirrored aviator sunglasses that never seem to come off. They loaded up the car and that was it we were on our way to Beijing and it was going to take about two hours.

Our first observation was how empty and how wide the motorways were, also at how erratically our driver changes lane (we were to learn this is Beijing style driving). We were travelling in a limousine made by that world renowned car company Red Flag. Not heard of them? No, we hadn’t either but they look just like a Cadillac. After making a brief stop and a service station (seemingly along with everyone else from the boat) we carried on the deserted roads. There really was little to see apart from miles and miles of road. We passed a few tower blocks, industrial units that kind of thing. Some of the new tower blocks look abandoned or unfinished but the landscape gave little clue to what laid ahead of us in Beijing. What was a surprise though was how green it was, as in they had planted trees and hedges everywhere and the sky was a beautiful blue, no sign of the facemask pollution we had been expecting.

As we got into the outer limits of Beijing the traffic began to grid lock and we continued at a snail’s pace for about an hour before reaching our hotel. We passed the mega malls, tall glass high rises everywhere with all the usual brands from Starbucks coffee to Prada and Chanel, it’s all here and feels like any western American city you have visited before. It does feels tremendously clean though, you just don’t see any rubbish like being in Singapore. Sitting in the back seat of our Red Flag it all felt very big city, shiny box, cookie cutter modern city.

Our hotel is right in the middle of things, both for the shops and the sights that are to be found in the centre of Beijing. Let’s put it another way, we can walk to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The hotel is far from great, and I might even be being a little kind there. Its four star but let’s just say these must have been awarded some time ago as it is very shabby indeed. Its clean though and it will do. All the accommodation was booked by the tour company not us so there is not much we can do about it.

Like I said earlier, we are in the middle of things here though so once we had settled in the room it was time to go and explore Beijing, or at least the local area. We had a free day today, no tours and no place to be so at least we could get some bearings.

Before we headed out though we have to acknowledge the UK referendum result. As soon a s we got to the hotel we connected to the WiFi and starred in disbelief at what the BBC news website was telling us. The UK had voted to leave Europe…..

I can’t talk about this result on here but I will say we felt numb for the rest of the day and all we can do is hope that we are wrong. For us this was absolutely terrible news and we believe it will be for our nieces and nephews and their children going forward…..we are shocked and beyond words of disappointment and despair.

So back to Beijing…..

So we headed off down the pedestrianised area of shops and malls that runs just around the corner from our hotel. It’s just like a typical big city high street with malls, tall buildings, large advertising hoardings and all the brands you can think of. We stopped at a coffee shop just around the corner and it was like walking into a really trendy eatery. All funky lighting hanging at different levels, designer seating and a regular coffee house menu (and there was us thinking they drank tea in China).

We walked around a few malls and shops before we found a more traditional Chinese area known as the porcelain market. Now I don’t know why it’s called that as they didn’t sell any porcelain that we could see but they did sell live wriggling scorpions on sticks to eat, deep fried seahorses and starfish alongside many other looking foods that looked like they had just jumped off the nearest Chinese’s menu at home. The other thing that hot you was how clean all the food selling stalls looked. Although there was no way that we would be eating a live scorpion anytime soon the hygiene standards were absolutely spot on and nothing like you normally see in Asia. As we were walking around the market the heavens opened and the rain came down.

It has to be said that there must have been a big rainbow somewhere as the suns was out with a vengeance and yet the rain was pelting. There was no sign off any pollution in the air just clear big blue skies above, we dashed into a mall to escape the rain until it passed which did not take very long at all.

Now we did not need to shop, we didn’t need anything or want anything so after taking n our local surroundings we briefly headed back to the hotel before going off on our first walking adventure.

We had a hotel map that showed all the nearby places of interest to visit and on that map was a place called HouHai Bar street (just like Cambodia). The description was that it was an area of bars and restaurants set around a lake which sounded good for the centre of Beijing so with the map and an iPhone for directions we headed off to to walk the streets of Beijing and some areas I’m sure we should not of!

We headed out towards the Forbidden City (we are going there tomorrow) after navigating our way through some narrow side streets in a residential area (all full of local small cafes and restaurants and small corner shops) we really were the only western people out walking these streets. We got to the forbidden city walls and hung a right then walked along the back of the palace complex. We walked right along the edge of the moat, saw the watchtower and one of the exit gates before crossing the road and heading into Jingshan Park.

The park was part of the imperial gardens but not the private gardens of the Emperor. It has temples and a high pagoda and the most beautiful planting of trees and shrubs, even a row of sunflowers. We didn’t really get the time to enjoy the park, it was more of a cut through but after forty minutes of fast walking on foot we arrived at the lake and Bar Street.

What a sight it was, a huge lake complete with pedeloes and lotus Lilly fields, truly quite beautiful. Around the lake stood a whole range of restaurants and bars, Chinese food kiosk selling fresh ice creams and fresh fruit lollies. The bars made up the majority of the outlets and every single one of them seemed to have live music playing, it could be a whole band or just a beautiful Chinese girl on a lone guitar.

The place was a real find for our first night even though it had been quite a hike to get here. At one point the GPS on my iPhone had led us through a narrow labyrinth of paths and shack style houses, this really felt like the proper backwaters of Beijing and we really did get stared at. We were following the wall of a park and had got the turning wrong and ended up in this residential maze. It would be fair to say that I think that our walking pace sped up as we found our way back out of there but that’s what these sort of things are about. Getting lost in a city takes you to places you never thought you would see and you always find your way home.

So back to the lake, we ate in the most fantastic place, a table for two right by the lake side with flowering lotus lilies floating right beside us. Our first Chinese meal in China! So we had to try some old favourites didn’t we? So it was hot and sour soup for two followed by chilli prawns with nuts. I’ll be honest and say the food was good but not exceptional, we like it a bit hotter and spicy but it certainly was not bad and the location was fantastic. Now we just needed to find our way home in the dark.

The GPS worked its wonders, we avoided the narrow alleys of the way here and again within about forty minutes we were back on the pedestrianised shopping strip.

What was different now though was that it was lined with dance groups, people doing traditional Chinese dance in headdresses, other people doing the tango in front of the church and then a group of old ladies trying out there best Zumba moves on the side of a pavement, Asian cities really do come alive at night!

We were shattered though and needed some sleep after all that walking and we knew it would be a busy busy day tomorrow so it was soon lights out at the hotel.

Beijing has been a real surprise so far and all in a good way, can’t wait to see more of the city and also fore fill a lifetimes ambition of visiting the Forbidden City.