As we boarded the train we were surprised to find 3 people already in our cabin and they explained they wanted one of us to switch with them so three could be in the same room! I told them we were together and not wanting to split up so two of them eventually left. It was rather frustrating to find they'd opened and used things like slippers left in the room for us to use.
The cabin fits 4 people, two in the top bunk and two in the bottom. There is a table in the middle with a kettle for boiling water. At the foot of each bed is a tv which plays 4 different channels. I was excited to see Inception was showing only to find it dubbed annoyingly in Chinese. Bedding is supplied as well as slippers and there are various plug sockets for charging devices. It was a little strange to be travelling sideways as it were, and also sharing a room with strangers of which the man was snoring really loudly throughout the journey....
Culture here is very different and it seems entirely normal to wander carriages in your pajamas and slippers and brush your teeth next to a stranger who is spitting up in the sink next to you. The journey time was about 11hours and 30 mins. Arriving in Beijing Railway Station it was very chaotic and we got away as fast as possible from the crowds.
Google maps in China are entirely inaccurate and showed the hotel as being in a completely different location! We walked a long way and I feel I asked about 10 different people for directions. Beijing people I find are friendlier than in Chengdu. Eventually when we found the hotel I made the stupid mistake of booking for yesterday! Luckily it wasn't very busy and we were able to get a room at the same rate. For 300RMB for two of us it wasn't too bad for a 2 star hotel and within walking distance to the Forbidden City.
After dropping off our bags we walked back to Beijing Railway Station to take the metro to Jishuitan Station. From there we walked to Deshengmen Arrow Tower to take the bus to Badaling gate of the Great Wall. By now it was already 11.30am and so many people. We paid 12RMB to take the bus which took just over 1 hour.
Entry to the Great Wall was 45RMB and was extremely crowded, I didn't walk much of it as it got rather steep and I feared my safety. At 2.30pm we started to leave and the queue for the bus back was so very long. We didn't board until 3pm and at this point we tried to use our ticket back but as it was a slightly different shade of blue many buses wouldn't let us on so we had to buy more tickets just to get back. The traffic was so bad we didn't arrive until 5pm.
Taking the metro we headed to Tiananmen Square and walked along until we got to a small paved area with lots of shops and cafes and a trolley car. We ended up eating in a Japanese restaurant before walking back along Tiananmen Square which had lots of lights on. Walking back to the hotel we stopped by Dairy Queen and had some good desserts ^^
The next day we got up super early and got to the Forbidden City by 8.30am which was when it opened and was so surprised just how busy it already was! We bought tickets and went in and was amazed at the size of this palace. We didn't have much time to detour and just stayed in one straight path. The garden was very beautiful and we got to see the golden throne. We then made a move to the Beijing South Railway station and the 5 hour journey back felt so much longer as there were so many stops.
I want to visit Beijing again for a bit longer as we were disappointed there wasn't a bus tour like there is in Shanghai. I'd recommend the sleeper train is a great way to travel, you get to your destination so very early and don't need to pay for a hotel.
0 comments:
Post a Comment