Beijing, China
November 04, 2013
Well thankfully I woke up in time to get my taxi to the train station for my train to Beijing. I had a bit of a heavy night on the local Vodka in Mongolia so was a bit rough but thankful that I woke up at 6am just in time for my taxi pulling up.
It was a bit of a shorter train ride this one, just 30 hours from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing! and I guess that is it really the end of my Trans-Siberian adventure now, I’ve done it. One of my dreams ticked of my list and now the Asian adventure begins. I’m so please I’ve done it, Russia and all. As rough as some of the times were that’s all part of the experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
The trip from Mongolia into China was a good one. Such a contrast between the two countries once you start getting further into China. The landscape changes dramatically and as soon as we crossed the border you could tell you were in a different country. Little scooters at the train stations everywhere, the shop in the station selling every kind of coloured sweet known to man and the change in quality of infrastructure was clear to see. What did surprise me was how easy it was to get into China. Non of the usual sniffer dogs and bag kickers that I experienced crossing the Russian border….no…just check my passport and off you go. I was surprised to say the least given the reputation of China and the lengthy visa application I had to complete.
We whistled past small villages, mountains, lakes, temples on the hillside, agriculture and smooth fresh black roads that snaked their way through the terrain. It was interesting. We went through tunnel after tunnel. The train in China stopped for nothing. No mountain too wide, no lake to vast, China seems a place that does what it wants, and nothing will stop it. Civil engineering to the maximum was evident all around.
I met a couple of lads on the train, one called Pete who is from the UK originally from Yarm just down the road from me who I’m meeting up with for a beer later this week and Sebastien from Chile who is staying at the same hostel as me in Beijing. A very small world when you consider how many hostels and hotels there must be in a city like Beijing. Beijing is vast, with a population in excess of 20 million. So at least I had a travel buddy once we got off the train to work our way to the hostel together. We also had directions to our hostel thanks to the help of Pete’s mate who lives in Beijing he pointed us in the right direction for the subway to get here which was great.
Once off the train and onto the streets Beijing is a sensory shock to the system after Mongolia. It smacks you in the face. Smells, people, sounds, neon lights, everything. Its overload and its everywhere. You simply can’t get away from it, it surrounds you and it’s interesting. I’m not going to hang around in Beijing too long but it’s certainly going to be an experience in itself by the look of it.
The hostel is really good. The biggest hostel I’ve stayed in which has a bar and restaurant downstairs. The good thing these days is that websites like Hostelworld are really handy for weeding out the good from the bad so finding good cheap accommodation is fairly easy now, along with word of mouth from other travelers you meet along the way.
One of the things I’m enjoying the most is meeting new people along the way. It’s a bit like when you meet people at work. Some of them you know you wont keep in touch with, others you will but it’s company along the way all the same and I’ve met some great people so far.
Once I had showered, changed and settled in at the hostel I headed out for my first Chinese with Sebastian and David another lad at the hostel from Switzerland…..and what a Chinese it was! We ordered 3 main courses and a few beef skewers. What we didn’t expect was that each main course they brought out was increased three-fold as there were three of us as opposed to a normal main course size. It was a lesson learnt, but still it was cheap enough and far better than any Chinese I’ve ever had at home.
With heavy bellies we made our way back to the hostel bar to catch happy hour which is where we met Natalie from Russia, Inga from Denmark and Alexis from France. Yet again it was the United Nations sat around one table sharing a few beers, stories and laughs. The local brew is very weak so we headed back out to the 7-eleven round the corner to grab a few supplies to bring back.
Now this bit is very important folks. Never and I repeat never drink Vodka with a Russian girl. You wont win, you will just end up a crumpled heap in the corner which is exactly what happened to me. I don’t remember leaving the bar, I lost my coat…but found it again, I think at some point I slept on the floor of my room as opposed to the bed and it’s taken me several cups of coffee to allow me to even focus and see which direction I am headed in today. It was a great night though and I have a feeling China is going to be another place that is very good to me as I work my way through it.
