5th July 1992 Day 351

The Diary


Woken at 10 to 6 by the guard as we were soon to arrive. The previous morning we'd been awoken by some horrible muzak - I don't know which was worse. Everyone decided to leave getting washed until we were in our hotels. The train arrived spot on time, exactly 33 1/2 hours after it had left. On the platform I saw the English lad with the heavy rucksack. He'd been in hard class and he looked like shit. Mind you he looked like shit before he got on the train. At least he's flying home in a couple of days time.

Ken & Deborah are on the same Peregrine trip as me but we had different people to meet us and we had two chauffeur driven cars to take us to the Xinqiao hotel. I'll have to hand in my independent traveller permit & declare myself a bona fide tourist. At least I don't have to follow someone holding a flag. The hotel was playing a muzak version of Auld Lang Syne as had the train. The train also had a muzak Jingle Bells. I was given my instructions about getting my train ticket by my guide & then I headed for the shower.

It was about 8am by this time & I was starving. I headed to the Western restaurant and for 20 Yuan (2 pounds) I tucked into their buffet. A bit biased towards eggs and the food was going cold but it was edible. They're trying but they've not quite got it right. Maybe they should visit the YMCA International.

Then I headed out into Beijing. The city is very orderly with huge, wide and long, perfectly straight roads. Each block is about a km long but it all seems pretty peaceful as the majority of the traffic is bikes & buses. There are trees everywhere which provide plenty of shade from the sun, which is a good job as you have to do a lot of walking to see everything.

I visited the Forbidden City and Palace. Big & imposing but I was disappointed really. I'm not keen on these foreigners only ticket offices where you have to pay umpteen times more than the locals to see the same things. The palace cost 3 pounds to get in (another 2.20 if you wanted a taped commentary by Peter Ustinov) whereas the Taj Mahal cost 2p. I know which was the better value. Tiananmen Square was absolutely huge and was exactly as I'd imagined the centre of Moscow to be. It was all very Orwellian with a huge painting of Mao beaming down from the Tiananmen rostrum. I spilt some of my own blood on the square. Did I cut by knee on some glass or did it start to bleed spontaneously in sympathy for the students? I'll never know.

I then walked out to the CITS building to try & get my train tickets. No luck it was closed. I caught the subway back to the hotel & then went to McDonalds round the corner. How fortunate to be so near. Then I went to the Temple of Heaven passing through some windy lanes where the people actually lived. No animals, probably all in the cooking pots, only people and bikes. And it was spotless. The Indians could learn a thing or two. I've hardly noticed any spitting either. Someone's been giving the Chinese a bad press. The temple was quite interesting but I took a few more photos of the people as I wandered around. Much more interesting. Back at the hotel I had a can of beer, given to me by Ken, my first since Bangkok and then took it easy for the rest of the evening. Highlight of the day: pulling in to Beijing & watching hundreds of OAPs doing their Tai Chi all along the tracks. Slow motion kung fu. It's a bit more hygenic than the Indians shitting by the tracks.


2012