Sorry for the delay in blogs... it's been a wild past few days!
Beijing – September 13th to September 15th, 2009
After a long haul flight from Vancouver to Beijing (with stopover in Hong Kong) I made it to the big smoke! Having slept for a good portion of the flight I didn’t feel any jet lag, nor did I feel sluggish when starting my day. This was awesome because I only had 72 hours to check out the city. The Beijing Airport is huge and fairly simple to navigate through as most of the signs have english written underneath the Chinese. Once I picked up my bag my hostel driver, Bruce, picked me up and I got the day started.
After checking into the Downtown Beijing Backpacker’s Hostel, I attempted to hop onto the subway and head for the Olympic sites in the North of the city. 3 trains later and about a 45 minute walk to and from my hostel, I got to the Birds Nest and the rest of the sites.
With Vancouver hosting the 2010 Games, I thought this was cool to see how another country set up their Olympic Village and compare that to ours when they are all finished. Inside the Birds Nest is the track for running, it was also host to the opening and closing ceremonies. This place was really cool! Everything was clean, the stadium was shaped in such a way that no seats were bad seats and as well, the sound system pumping music was better than that of GM Place!
After the Birds Nest, I walked around checking out the memorabilia from the Games and how they’ve kept the legacy of what happened. The coolest spot I found was the Wall of Fame, which had photos of every podium medal winners from the entire Games. Of course I had to check out those that I knew – so big ups to the Canada’s Men’s 8 Rowing Team and Ben Rutledge! Out for an authentic dinner around the corner from the hostel and straight to bed – I’m hiking to Wall tomorrow!
6:30am rolls around quickly when you’re anxious to get going on something… I was meeting my driver to go to the Great Wall and specifically, the section from Jinshangling to Simatai, about 4 hours from Beijing. About 3.5 hours into the drive traffic came to a complete hault. There was an accident. Not too uncommon on these roads as drivers are total maniacs and have no care or attention to the rules of the road! So after an hour delay (and hearing that the accident was a 5-car pile-up with some that didn’t walk away) we made it to our destination. I was in complete awe of this Wall. Having heard stories of the section we were hiking, I wanted to get going so I could experience it first hand and see how technical it actually was.
Beijing – September 13th to September 15th, 2009
After a long haul flight from Vancouver to Beijing (with stopover in Hong Kong) I made it to the big smoke! Having slept for a good portion of the flight I didn’t feel any jet lag, nor did I feel sluggish when starting my day. This was awesome because I only had 72 hours to check out the city. The Beijing Airport is huge and fairly simple to navigate through as most of the signs have english written underneath the Chinese. Once I picked up my bag my hostel driver, Bruce, picked me up and I got the day started.
After checking into the Downtown Beijing Backpacker’s Hostel, I attempted to hop onto the subway and head for the Olympic sites in the North of the city. 3 trains later and about a 45 minute walk to and from my hostel, I got to the Birds Nest and the rest of the sites.
With Vancouver hosting the 2010 Games, I thought this was cool to see how another country set up their Olympic Village and compare that to ours when they are all finished. Inside the Birds Nest is the track for running, it was also host to the opening and closing ceremonies. This place was really cool! Everything was clean, the stadium was shaped in such a way that no seats were bad seats and as well, the sound system pumping music was better than that of GM Place!
After the Birds Nest, I walked around checking out the memorabilia from the Games and how they’ve kept the legacy of what happened. The coolest spot I found was the Wall of Fame, which had photos of every podium medal winners from the entire Games. Of course I had to check out those that I knew – so big ups to the Canada’s Men’s 8 Rowing Team and Ben Rutledge! Out for an authentic dinner around the corner from the hostel and straight to bed – I’m hiking to Wall tomorrow!6:30am rolls around quickly when you’re anxious to get going on something… I was meeting my driver to go to the Great Wall and specifically, the section from Jinshangling to Simatai, about 4 hours from Beijing. About 3.5 hours into the drive traffic came to a complete hault. There was an accident. Not too uncommon on these roads as drivers are total maniacs and have no care or attention to the rules of the road! So after an hour delay (and hearing that the accident was a 5-car pile-up with some that didn’t walk away) we made it to our destination. I was in complete awe of this Wall. Having heard stories of the section we were hiking, I wanted to get going so I could experience it first hand and see how technical it actually was.
SO after almost 4 hours of hiking, our 8.5 km section was almost finished. There are two options when you get to the finish: 1. Hike around the lake and down the mountain into the parking lot OR 2. Look the lake straight in the face and say, “Not today buddy… you’re mine!” and take the zip line across, suspended about 300 feet in the air to the other side.
My final day in Beijing was more touristy than anything. I went to the Forbidden City (very cool), Jinshangling Park to see the temples, locals dancing and how the Chinese spend a typical Monday morning in the park, then finished with a walk-through of Old Beijing where you really get a feel for how life was way back in the day with bartering markets, tiny ally ways and local cuisines like you couldn’t imagine.
So that was it for Beijing. I came, I saw, I conquered! It was a great puddle jump trip through an amazing city and I got to see everything that I had intended on seeing in such a short time. I would go back for sure but I would skip Beijing – I would like to see other places like Xain (Terracotta Warriors), Hangxiou (National Wldlife Sanctuary) or Shanghai.
I’m now in Nepal and have been checking out the busy street for the past few days with some friends from Vancouver. It’s really nice to have them around as a friendly face and someone to have a second opinion on what local foods to have for lunch.
What a trip. It’s toughted as one of the seven wonder’s of the ancient world and I can see why. It’s technical, historic, beautiful and will simply take your breath away when you see it.
Being completely knackered from the hike, I fell asleep in my hostel and slept from about 7pm onwards until 7am the next day!
Being completely knackered from the hike, I fell asleep in my hostel and slept from about 7pm onwards until 7am the next day!
My final day in Beijing was more touristy than anything. I went to the Forbidden City (very cool), Jinshangling Park to see the temples, locals dancing and how the Chinese spend a typical Monday morning in the park, then finished with a walk-through of Old Beijing where you really get a feel for how life was way back in the day with bartering markets, tiny ally ways and local cuisines like you couldn’t imagine.
So that was it for Beijing. I came, I saw, I conquered! It was a great puddle jump trip through an amazing city and I got to see everything that I had intended on seeing in such a short time. I would go back for sure but I would skip Beijing – I would like to see other places like Xain (Terracotta Warriors), Hangxiou (National Wldlife Sanctuary) or Shanghai.
I’m now in Nepal and have been checking out the busy street for the past few days with some friends from Vancouver. It’s really nice to have them around as a friendly face and someone to have a second opinion on what local foods to have for lunch.
Next posting... our rafting trip down the Trichule River.
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