Hi all,
Last night our tour group met at 6pm. There are five people who were part of a group that has been going for two weeks, and 11 of us newbies. I haven't really spoken to my roommate yet but she's from York and seems nice :) The newbies are four couples (from Ireland, NZ, England and Austria), Tim from the US, Brenton from Melbourne (who is a teacher too and we know heaps of people in common!!!) and me. The tour guide, Howard, seems great too.
We went out to a local restaurant for dinner and had so many different delicious foods! These included deep fried mushroom, spinach and beans, eggplant in a special sauce, prob meatballs, beef, tofu noodles with greens and finally Peking duck which Beijing is famous for. All were delicious - being in a group is great for this reason!! We went back to the hotel and had a drink and then most of the group went out dancing. I'm so exhausted that I didn't, I need to be really careful not to get sick again. Not really what I'm here for anyway so I enjoyed my sleep.
This morning I woke up with a tiny bit of a cold anyway. Our first activity was a bicycle tour of the Hutongs near the drum tower. Apparently all of Beijing used to be these little laneways but now only 10% of them remain. We went on a really chilled out bike ride, Brenton and I talked heaps about school (oops!) and all the people we know in common. We all took in the sights and smells. Unfortunately it was raining a little bit, but it wasn't too bad.
Afterwards, we went to a local family's home. We met Mr Liu and his father. Their family has lived in this house for 150 of the 800 year Hutong history. It was tiny! Just a kitchen area and a bedroom, the toilet is down the block. Apparently though it is worth 400,000 yuan per square metre (roughly $80,000).
The older Mr Liu is famous - he is the number one cricket fighter in China and has appeared in many magazines around the world in interviews. He was so proud of all this and animatedly showed us photos and tools such as cricket coffins, a house he keeps them in and then eventually the crickets themselves. Apparently here they are worth a lot of money. We thought we would get to see them fight but apparently it's not the season. Seeing as they only have a life expectancy of 100 days though I'm unsure as to how that all works!!!! Apparently though the emperor used to enjoy watching cricket fighting and crickets were often used as currency for gambling or buying things. We also saw (and held) some grasshoppers!
Afterwards we had some free time. Brenton, Tim and I walked around the same laneways I saw on Tuesday. We had lunch and I had the best lemon chicken I've ever had - none of that greasy deep fried crap we get at home. It was so fresh and delicious!!
Then we caught a taxi back and the three of us as well as Sam and Emma followed Howard to the Forbidden City. At this point the rain was torrential, but my raincoat and umbrella combination worked perfectly and I stayed dry. My hiking shoes are awesome too as my feet didn't get wet at all. Woohoo!
The Forbidden City is where the emperor used to live and is 3.4km long. We entered via the Meridian Gate in the south and spent the next three hours looking at beautiful halls, gates and a few artefacts as well.
There are 3000 buildings (consisting of 9999 rooms) in the complex and it is the largest palace in the world. The complex was built in 1420 and saw 14 Ming emperors and 10 Qing emperors live inside its walls. The last emperor moved out in 1912. I don't know too much about the revolution, but Brenton teaches it to his year 12s so I'll have some more information about it later on for you!
We didn't get to see too much unfortunately but that's what it's like travelling sometimes, you can't see it all! We did see some beautiful thrones and architecture though, and had a good laugh at all the Asian people taking not so sneaky photos of us! I got a photo with two people who had asked us for one. The girl was so happy, we felt like celebrities! She was gushing and so happy she could hardly speak haha.
I bought a beautiful glass bottle with pandas painted on its inside. It was a little expensive but such a lovely souvenir, so why not!!
We walked back (still in the rain - it rained pretty much the whole day!) and now I'm at the hostel. Tonight we are going to a Kung Fu show and Hannah will be moving into my room. Tomorrow night we will be on a sleeper train to Xi'an after a day at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, but I think I should have some time in the afternoon to post the blog. I will try my best but if there's no blog you know why!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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