Beijing – Nine Million Bicycles (plus two)
On my first morning in Beijing I woke up quite late, having managed about one hour’s sleep in the last 48 hours while I was travelling from Sri Lanka. I had planned to get the bus into Beijing from the airport, but I was that zombied that I got a taxi. I felt incredibly safe getting in, an official took my destination and the taxi number, made sure the driver knew where he was going, and handed me a card telling me how much I should pay. And we set off.
Let me tell you now, Beijing is huge. Just huge. I heard twice yesterday that it’s the size of Belgium. I can’t even begin to get my head round that. You come to Beijing and you could be fooled into thinking it’s capital of the Universe, not just China. Scary big.
So I got to the hostel fine, in a quiet hutong (one of the smaller alleyways off the big main roads) and collapsed into bed. The next morning, waking up late, I got chatting to some guys over breakfast. One of them, a Canadian, Morgan, was heading off to the same places as me that day, so we decided to go together. He also suggested we hired bikes. I laughed at first till I realised he was serious. Even though the last time I rode a bike I must have been all of 11 years old, I thought, ok, how bad can it be? You know me well enough by now to know the answer to this one.
We picked out the kitschest bikes available at the hostel – mine was a pretty pink one, apparently called ALICE, and Morgan’s was a sunshine yellow one, FOREVER. We looked like a little rainbow as we headed out onto the mean streets of Beijing. Or maybe a tattoo that you get after a few too many beers. They both had little baskets that were just crying out for a mini dog (Andy and Sam, could you send Jack out for a few days?), but I was gutted that I had no bell.
Now, Morgan is used to biking around Toronto, but I’m not even used to biking in Pennington Park. So he was a tad more relaxed than me, taking photos with one hand, weaving in and out. At one point he looked over and said to me “You’re shaking”. I tried to blame the suspension on the bike, but it was pretty hairy. He’d made me promise he could have my Jimmy Choos if I died, so I wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t swerve me on purpose under a bus. Still, it was actually so much fun, and we spent most of the way to the Forbidden City laughing and laughing. Beijing is actually a biker-friendly city (not surprisingly, given Katie Melua’s stats – 9 million bicycles, that’s a fact, that’s a thing you can’t deny – and I defy you not to have that song in your head all flipping day long as you’re biking round Beijing). We managed to get there in one piece, and find a bike stand to leave Alice and Forever.
After the obligatory photo before the massive Chairman Mao picture (I think I’m going to run out of superlatives here – the fact of the matter is, everything in Beijing is huge, so I might just give up and just start saying ‘big’), we headed through the gates into courtyard after courtyard, the home of the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties. It all looked very shiny and new, and we realised that the whole place is being tarted up in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. As we were trying to get our bearings from Lonely Planet, we were approached by three other travellers, who invited us to join their tour. It seemed really reasonable, especially split 5 ways, so we agreed. And it actually made so much difference. Normally I’m not a huge fan of these tours, but we learnt so much from Blue Heart (yes, really) that it was worth it. All about the different numbers used all over the palace, to what the different rooms were used for, to where the stone came from. Pretty impressive stuff. And the emperors really knew how to live. Not really fans of minimalism, these guys had separate buildings for sleeping, for resting, for thinking, for changing clothes. I asked where he kept his shoes, but was met with a blank look.
When the tour finished, Morgan and I headed to the Starbucks in the Forbidden City. Read that sentence back and tell me what is wrong with it. Starbucks in the Forbidden City in Beijing the capital of China. Yes, I know. Almost as good were the signs around the Forbidden City which proudly declared at the bottom “Sponsored by the American Express Company”. We loved having our photo taken outside Starbucks (in an ironic and postmodern way, obviously, although the German girl on our tour really thought we were just pigheaded capitalist westerners), and I’m ashamed to say the coffee tasted really good. No decaf chai tea latte though, which is just a disgrace, Forbidden City or no Forbidden City.
We then decided to grab some lunch, as biking is hungry work, and got a little pizza thing, two hotdogs, and a hunk of corn from a street vendor. As I was parking my bike, Morgan took a bite of his hotdog and got a strange look on his face. I asked him how it was, and was concerned to hear the word “interesting”. This is never a good word to associate with food, so I gave it a go myself and was disturbed to realise it was both chewy and flaky at the same time. We gave up on that and moved on to the little flat bread pizza thing, which was ace, but then made a rookie error by finishing with the tough, tasteless corn. It was so bad we had to stop elsewhere for this amazing little omeletty thing. I could have eaten a dozen.
Managing to go the wrong way up a major road, we somehow ended up at the Temple of Heaven, which was another MASSIVE space. This has got various temples and altars and things – again, all looking shiny and new, and the fabulously titled The Divine Kitchen (which I want to use for a restaurant name), but best of all here was an echo wall. This is a perfectly circular courtyard and, so the story goes, if one person stands on one side and speaks, someone on the other side can hear them. We were dubious but gave it a go, and were just in hysterics when it worked. I don’t know how, I’m not a physicist (Michael, hazard a guess?), but it rocked, however they did it. We also came across a lovely side show, what seemed to be a rehearsal for a choir or something, not for show, just for the love of it, so we stood and watched for a while. Lovely.
Finally, we got back to the hostel amazingly in one piece, had the quickest shower in the world, and headed out to the Acrobatics Spectacular. I’m always slightly dubious by the use of the word ‘spectacular’, but in this case, it was justified. The most amazing strength and grace was on display, as they contorted their bodies into wonderful shapes and brave stunts.
Slightly saddle sore and very weary, we drank a few beers back at the hostel with Leah and Jason, and I collapsed into bed yet again, tired but very happy to be here in this crazy city.
Tags: China, Travel
Suzanne
Hi Suze, this is fabulous. Reading of your first day in Beijing felt I was right back there. I’m glad you decided to go with the “official” tour of the Forbidden City. We wandered around on our own (and possibly missed a lot of the most interesting parts – we definitely never came across Starbucks). As you rightly say though it is huge and I kept wondering when the courtyards would end……. it felt like I was walking through a mirror as I came upon yet another courtyard.
We too took in an Acrobatic Show whilst in China (but not in Beijing) and were most impressed. It made me wonder what the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics will be like – pretty spectacular you can bet.
Stay safe and keep on enjoying Beijing.
Love you lots.
Mum
Ok Physics fans, the lesson starts here…
Sound travels a wave and will reflect off surfaces, especially hard and smooth ones.
When a hard smooth surface is formed into a concave shape, sound transmitted against the surface will be reflected back in the opposite direction. The concave shape also focuses the reflected sound in a similar way that talking through a tube or cone would – it stops the sound spreading out in all directions and keeps it focused in one direction. This enables the person at the other side of the room to be able to hear what is said without the other person having to shout.
It’s quite easy to do and only requires a couple of concave surfaces made of hard smooth materials. It’s not uncommon to find them set up in childrens play areas – as two shiny metal dish type surfaces about 10 meters or so appart.
Anybody still awake?
Looking forward to seeing more pictures, especially the hippy bikes.
Love,
Michael
i just like to look at the pictures. sri lanka consists of a big game of draughts played with chairs and tables.
some of us don’t have time to read all the pickle you write.
come on suzie
one wordsworth a thousand picasso
Suzie,
It all sound very lovely. Very impressed with the biking! Hope you’re not too sore.
Now that I have Katie Melua in my head going on and on about just how many bicycles there are in Beijing, I do feel you should take the opportunity, whislt you are there, to see if you can find any proof at all to back up her ‘fact’.
(By the way, Michael, very impressed. Have learnt my new thing for today. Thanks too for all the advice on things to do in Nice. We had a wonderful time and saw some marvellous places along the coast. Ta!) Sorry Suze, am I allowed to use this space to chat to everyone else?!
Keep safe and have fun,
Much love
Sarah
Hi Suze, have missed your blog a few times, so it has taken a while to catch up with you.
Bejing sounds like a weird and wonderful
place to visit, and yes, Katie Melua comes to mind!
Talking of the sounds that rebound, i think there is a part of the Liverpool Anglican
Cathedral where this can happen, i remembered, thanks to your dear brother
explaining it
You’re having a ball, please continue to enjoy!
love and God go with you from Angela xxx
Sound travels a wave and will reflect off surfaces, especially hard and smooth ones.
When a hard smooth surface is formed into a concave shape, sound transmitted against the surface will be reflected back in the opposite direction. The concave shape also focuses the reflected sound in a similar way that talking through a tube or cone would – it stops the sound spreading out in all directions and keeps it focused in one direction. This enables the person at the other side of the room to be able to hear what is said without the other person having to shout.
It’s quite easy to do and only requires a couple of concave surfaces made of hard smooth materials. It’s not uncommon to find them set up in childrens play areas – as two shiny metal dish type surfaces about 10 meters or so apart.
Best Regards
Mike
PS I have just noticed that Michael has posted the same as me.
Sound travels in waves and will reflect off surfaces, especially hard and smooth ones.
When a hard smooth surface is formed into a concave shape, sound transmitted against the surface will be reflected back in the opposite direction. The concave shape also focuses the reflected sound in a similar way that talking through a tube or cone would – it stops the sound spreading out in all directions and keeps it focused in one direction. This enables the person at the other side of the room to be able to hear what is said without the other person having to shout.
It’s quite easy to do and only requires a couple of concave surfaces made of hard smooth materials. It’s not uncommon to find them set up in childrens play areas – as two shiny metal dish type surfaces about 10 meters or so apart.