Being In Beijing

After running around caves in the rain in Henan I took a fast train up to Beijing ready to welcome my mate Russell to the country on July 16th.

Beijing. The name alone is enough to conjure up images of pure history - imperial grandeur, communist repression and all that came inbetween. A world-famous city, if no longer a true world-city in itself. As the legendary capital of this country that I had been living in for a year, it was with great anticipation that I stepped out of my hostel that first morning to take a look around. I couldn't help but get excited. I was in Beijing!!With Russell collected from the airport, we went exploring. Not too far away from our hostel was Tiananmen Square. It certainly is a big old square and the haze from the pollution almost prevented you seeing from one end to the other. At one end is the famous Gate of Heavenly Peace, hung with Mao's portrait, while at the other end is the Front Gate, a relic of the old city walls. In between, severely disrupting the flow of energy according to Feng Shui (not just an interior designer's whimsy - the Chinese take this seriously), is Mr Mao's Mausoleum. Unfortunately Mr Mao was under repair when we were there so we couldn't see him in the formaldehyded flesh. There are other things to see there though, and once we'd shaken off the hustlers who wanted to take us to a 'tea ceremony' (and then charge us 4000 yuan afterwards) or to a student art exhibition so we could 'give some advice' (like what, eh? - Try lighter brush strokes? Stay away from Cubism? Watercolour is for wimps?! Use more black?!!) we were free to take a couple of pictures and wander off for dinner, which of course was Peking Duck.Deciding that the best cure for jetlag is beer, and seeing as we had a lot to catch up on, we later tried to find a bar. I'd looked up a decent one in my guide and set off to try and find it. Beijing is of course host of the Olympics in 2008, and the whole country is about ready to burst with pride and excitement about that fact. One of the consequences for Beijing is that the entire city is being rebuilt. Small stores near the central areas are having fake traditional fronts tacked onto them in an attempt to recreate the traditional, low-rise alley-way housing 'Hutong' atmosphere that is being lost elsewhere as these grubbier areas are simultaneously being torn down or replaced. This all makes trying to find anything a very tricky task indeed.

We hunted high and low for this bar. We walked down this street, we walked down that street. We concluded that it was probably in the middle of what is now a scaffolded building site. We had found a concentration of bars in this area called Sanlitun, but really were turned off to the idea. They were either karaoke bars or had a cheesy covers band inside playing eighties ballads. We could barely get close enough to them to look anyway. Everywhere we walked, we were approached by men and ladies alike with the greeting,

'Ladybar?'.

'No, thank you'.

We'd walk a few more footsteps and another one would come out at us.

'Hello Ladybar!'

'Nooo...'

Time to move on. A few more paces and a man came towards me with the usual refrain of 'Ladybar, ladybar', leaning into me as we passed, lowering his voice and growling 'seeexx'.

Jesus f**king Christ!!! No!!

We left without having a single drink. That was ridiculous. As far as I know we were not in any particularly dodgy area, we were in the ex-pat bar area. Is this what ex-pats come here for? Is this what the locals expect of ex-pats? I'd hope not, I'm just worried that these people know their market all too well...

With this uncomforable experience behind us, it was time for yet another. We needed to get a taxi home. We'd had a little trouble getting a taxi earlier but just put this down to chance. This time, as we watched empty cabs pass us by time and time again, we realised that the b*stards just don't like foreigners. They'd drive along, take one look and either shake their heads or wave us off before driving away again. On the rare occasion that one would stop, I'd try and tell them where we wanted to go, give them the card with the address of the hostel on it, for them just to say they didn't know it and dismiss us once again. It was written in Chinese! It's on a main road right next to the Forbidden City! What is there not to know? Beijing is big, but really... The streets are laid out in a grid, named systematically and logically according to the four points of the compass and certain well-known reference points. Theoretically it's easy enough to navigate with a little homework. How could they not know their city? Is a little street knowledge not a requirement for taxi drivers here? Sometimes I'd approach them and not even get as far as showing them the card before they'd dismiss us. I mean, hello, I'm speaking simple Chinese here, what is the problem? There was even a case where the driver knew where it was, we were sat in the back of his car, but he still told us to get out. The reason? He was going the other way... Does he not realise that we would pay for him to drive round the block for a minute or two until he was turned around again? Do any of them understand that this is their job? Do any of them actually want our money?

Apparently not. The taxi issue persisted throughout our stay, and we weren't the only victims. Everyone else I spoke to had had problems or refusals. I really do not know what will happen when thousands of foreigners flood this city next summer, all trying to get around without a word of Chinese. I think it will be a bloodbath.

For us it was a bit of an unpleasant introduction to the city, but what the hell, cities are big strange places. Things like this are to be expected. On with the programme...
Next morning was the biggie. The Forbidden City. The imperial palace, inaccessible to all but the most priviledged for 500 years. Home of emperors and the heart of the city. It promised to be something special, and it was.It is enormous. We spent the entire day there and hours had passed before we'd even made it past the complex of gateways and outer courtyards to the palace proper. The buildings were masterpieces in red and gold. I've seen a lot of Chinese traditional architecture, but they really do take first prize.Not so many interiors were open for view, but the ones that we did see were pretty lavish. We'd hired an audio guide to share between us that gave quite a lot of much needed information and insight, though sometimes it was a little too much to relay between whoever was listening at the time and whoever was not. As a fully automatic guide it was a bit surreal. You'd be walking along quite happily, chatting away when quite suddenly without warning the voices would start talking to you. It was funny to watch as the wearer would stop mid-conversation and turn to look at something, the eyes glazing over in concentration before beginning to relay the most obscure information like they were channelling some psychic waves. A lot of the complex had undergone renovation, or was in the middle of it. It was unfortuate for us that the most impressive hall of all, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, had it's turn during our visit and was hidden from view. No matter, there was still plenty else to look at and we by no means saw it all. Whatever you want to say about Beijing, it's taxis, the dodgy nightlife, the pollution..., you cannot deny that it has the best selection of attractions. The Forbidden City was just the first, but in my opinon, the best.