Our second, and full day in Beijing was a day full of, meandering mostly. Being Chinese new year most things had started shutting down for the holiday. Which was really inconvenient for our plans while in Beijing.
The day started with checking out of the Hai Inn. Meaning that for the rest of the day Derek, Dan, Ryan and myself were going to be lugging around our fairly heavy travelers backpacks. Greg was smart and packed EXTRA light (maybe too light). I was dumb and packed a tad way too freakin’ much.
Anyways. We started the day off right with American breakfast (….with bacon!) then took the subway to Tiananmen Square. Getting out of the subway and looking up at what I had seen so many times before in books was surreal. We stood there looking around for a few minutes, and I remember just thinking so cool, sooooo cool (this also would not have been the last time I had this thought while in Beijing). We walked up and through (the free) parts of Forbidden City. Which was, nice. While the overall splendor of the Forbidden City was impressive and all fine and dandy. It quickly became, like much else in China, a former beautiful imperial palace turned tourist stomping ground and money maker. Good thing we took the cheap route. Despite my “naysaying” the Forbidden City is pretty majestic. As read in Frommer’s it is the most intricate palace in all of China. The rest of our day was spent wandering. Like I previously said, a lot was closed because of it was the eve of Chinese New Year (a family holiday). We made a strong attempt to see the Sumer Palace. We did see it, I guess. We saw the roof and the gate to get in. But, not the interior because it, like everything else, was closed. We walked nearly an hour to get to the Summer Palace from the subway stop that we got out at. At this point in the day, it was getting late. Most of us were getting tired, and pretty hungry. After our failed Summer Palace attempt we decided it would be best to just head to the train station.
At about 9:30 that night we were taking the train to Xi’An. While our ride to Xi’An would last about 15 hours over night, our stay in Xi’An would be a mere 8 hours (or so). We were going with one stop in mind, The Terra Cotta Warriors. We get to the train station (Beijing West) and are all snapping pictures in awe of it’s exterior size and beauty. Of course, this is where the beauty ends. Inside the station it was packed! We nestled ourselves into a hallway near a McDonalds until boarding. The place was absolutely disgusting inside… though, I guess most of China is pretty disgusting (dirt and grime absolutely everywhere). Excited to get on our train, we wait in a long line of pushing and shoving Chinese people, this is standard China behavior, only to board the most hectic, repulsive, cramped area I have ever been in (excluding the outhouses at Bonnaroo). It had seemed as though we entered a train full of traveling gypsies. Not the loveable Esmeralda types either. The weathered, smelly, pushy, in your face types. The gypsies added to the initial disgustingness of the train by smoking, ashing, throwing garbage and chicken bones on the ground. There were countless gypsy babies too. Babies who were left by their sleeping gypsy parents to crawl in the dirt, eat chicken bones off the ground and meander about without being watched by their parents.
We had paid for the cheapest train, yes. But, oh wow. 15 hours of this garbage. I figured as long as I could nestle in a small spot and get some rest I’d be OK. Which I was. The other guys were not as lucky. Ryan, being a pro at falling asleep in any position was good. Derek was however left with no room for his tall self and was crammed in a “booth” with Dan, some lady, and two men. Dan, in an even worse position was squished between Derek and some lady. And, Greg, was left alone in a separate seat. Left to sit next to a hobo gypsy seat snatcher. Greg adjusted his position, and before he knew it she had moved in and was sprawled spread eagle across their shared bench. We soon started referring to this hat wearing, absent toothed, wrinkly bag of gypsy unaffectionately as, Toquey. Luckily Greg is a good sport, and cut his losses by falling asleep whilst leaning against Toquey’s legs. Not something many people could, or would want to do. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I was squished between a wall and Ryan… which was probably the best seat of us all. Other than the teenage Chinese girls seating across from us. They decided to sing, loudly, for the majority of the ride. I was happy when they got off at a stop about 7 hours before ours. Thinking back on this train, I feel like we were acting out a scene from a mid century film. Homeless, freeloading gypsies sleeping where they please. Probably robbing us as we close our eyes. Carrying bags upon bags upon bags of who knows what. The gypsies were, gross. But it was definitely an experience.
The train, and diseases we all probably inhaled was well worth it though. The Terra Cotta Warriors were awesome! I had vaguely heard of the warriors prior to traveling to China, but did not know too much. But, at the Ottawa airport when Greg and I were getting our money changed the woman working there said that we had to go. She even had a book and showed us pictures. It was so worth it. The history behind the Warriors is so interesting. Worth googling I’d say (finish reading this blog first though).
After a few hours of hanging around the Warriors we heading back to the train station, where we waited in McDonalds for our train back to Beijing. Xi’An didn’t seem to offer a whole lot in the winter. In the spring and summer it would have been nice to do a bike tour. There is a wall where you can bike, pretty much, around the whole city. But, it was snowing when we went, and biking with backpacks would not be very enjoyable.
We got on a 13 hour train back to Beijing. It needs to be noted that this train was substantially cleaner, and lacking in homeless gypsies… which really made it much more enjoyable.
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