6th July 1992 Day 352

The Diary

Ken, Debbie & I caught a taxi to the Mongolian embassy. We were the first westerners there and we only had to wait about 45 mins before we got our visas but I think some people in the queue must have been waiting all day. The whole process was slowed by a couple of people coming in and plonking a pile of passports on the table which they processed before anyone else. For some reason the visa was more expensive for British passport holders. I don't know why, they weren't one of our colonies.

 I then caught the underground to CITS and picked up my ticket. As usual I was the only westerner on the underground. China seems to have few independent travellers but lots of package tourists who are transported everywhere by bus or taxi by their ever-present guide. They might have visited China and seen a few monuments but they haven't experienced China or its people. They'll all have certainly missed the fun of getting on & off the underground trains. Everyone gets off as everyone else tries to get on - all at the same time.

In the afternoon the three of us booked a trip to the Great Wall for the following day and then I went for a walk to Jingshan Park behind the Forbidden City, having abandoned the idea of hiring a bicycle. Apparently there are about 8 million bikes in Beijing and I would have said that was a low estimate. The government has banned croggying & riding non-hander. Spoilsports.

The park was filled with the hordes of Chinese holidaymakers with their tour guides and cheap auto-focus cameras that seem to congregate in their snap-happy millions at every tourist attraction in the city. It's impossible to take a photo of a sight without at least a hundred snappily-dressed (a bit of sarcasm) locals in the photo. I then went to the stupa in Beihai Park and the crowds were just the same there. At least I got to look at some of the terracotta soldiers that had been put on exhibition there.

In the evening the three of us ate at a genuine Chinese sidewalk cafe that we picked out at random. With the help of a phrase book we managed to order some dishes which turned out to be exceptionally good. It was reasonably cheap even though we were probably charged at foreigners' rates. As usual.


2012
I think we were after Peking Duck. When in Rome.