Beijing

On Friday 7th September, after an exhilarating taxi journey, which saw us rolling and flailing around the back seat of a very tired Volkswagen Jetta to the pounding beats of Germany's finest Euro-trance masters, we boarded the lunchtime high speed train to Beijing and sat nervously watching the sky grow darker by the second ahead of us. As we sped out of Shanghai Station, surrounded by giant pitchforks of lightning which crackled and boomed around us, a sub-tropical rain storm swallowed the city in a rolling cloak of thick cloud and apocalyptic rain which blasted the windows and sizzled on the power cables overhead. Accelerating to over 300km per hour, we were soon out of Shanghai, out of the storm and back under the hazy Chinese sunshine. Lush fields, small villages and what seemed like a million electric pylons soared past as the train sped northwards.

Almost 6 hours later, and like the travelling pros that we now are, we sussed the Beijing Metro in seconds, purchased tickets and soon found ourselves in the neighbourhood we'd call home for the next 10 days. Squashed into a tiny ivy lined alleyway away from the main road, and with a winding approach illuminated by dozens of swaying red lanterns, our hotel lured us in through the early evening darkness, alleviating the weight of our rucksacks with each step into its warm glow. Our room, up on the fifth floor and overlooking the hotel's beautiful courtyard, is quite stunning compared to the hostel rooms we have stayed in so far. Having decided to 'go posh' during our stay in Beijing, we are very fortunate to have our own bathroom, and, among other simple but by now much appreciated furnishings, a beautiful wooden four poster bed carved with traditional Chinese designs and enclosed by red chiffon curtains. The room looks out high over the city, with the skyscrapers of modern China to the East and the temples and pagodas of the ancient Forbidden City to the West which shimmer enticingly on the fuzzy horizon, awaiting our arrival later this week.

Compared to Shanghai, Beijing immediately felt different. Having left the hotel to explore, we quickly became lost in an maze of endless alleyways (or 'Hutong'). Built over a hundred years ago these neighbourhoods are now strung with tiny independent bars, shops, cafés and restaurants - all unique and all utterly charming. Whereas Shanghai offered us little more than trendy cocktail joints and expensive rooftop bars on top of the finest hotels (which left us sat in the hostel bar on most evenings), we were now spoilt for choice of watering holes, each offering cheap local beer and a friendly buzzing atmosphere beneath the wooden rafters and crumbling brickwork above. In terms of shops, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and the other so-called 'designer' monstrosities of Shanghai's 'Parisian' avenues have been replaced with quaint and perfectly kitsch souvenir treasure troves (Chairman Mao hologram mouse-mats etc.), delicious street food vendors (3 feet of juicy skewered chicken for £1, for example) and funky home-wares and clothing stores (it's a kind of Angel meets Camden vibe, for the Londoners among you).

Although Shanghai was amazing to see, and kept us entertained for a week or so, within hours of arriving in Beijing we realised, "we don't have enough time", and began working out how we could stay longer than the ten days we'd originally allowed. While sitting in another new café this afternoon with the faithful laptop aglow, we shuffled our itinerary around, cut short our stay in Xi'an and our final stopover in Shanghai and booked a further 4 nights in Beijing. Having buzzed our way through Japan and China for the past three weeks, it is a nice change of pace to have so much time to see the sights while being able to spend the odd day here and there relaxing with a book and a beer or sitting writing postcards as the world files past in the alleyway outside. Yes, Beijing appears to be the slice of China we'd been craving......and one of the Great Wonders of the world lies just 2 hours drive away.

Having taken some time to fully settle in (and because there are so many different fascinating nooks and crannies right on our doorstep that need exploring) we are yet to venture into the wider city, although we did take a long ride out on the Metro on Sunday morning to one of Beijing's biggest antiques markets...

We opted to ignore the guidebook's advice to “be there before the sun comes up for the best bargains”, and instead set the alarm for a compromising 6am (although we did note that the pubs back home in England would still be packed with the Saturday night crowd with it being 11pm there) and were heading to the far side of the city by 6:30 not knowing quite what to expect. What met us was probably the largest market I have ever seen, playing host to permanent buildings and your average temporary stall holders housed beneath large tin shelters. One area was crammed with vendors offering barely a handful of goods laid out across a sheet on the concrete as they squatted back to back with the person behind them.

Having arrived so early, we were pretty much on our own for an hour or so and were able wander in the eerie calmness and soak up the baited anticipation of the frantic day ahead as the market community tucked into their steaming bowls of breakfast noodles. During this 'calm before the storm' we had ample time to seek out the true gems we'd read about; those unique items hidden among the rows and rows of identical carved stone sculptures, artificially aged statues and jade bracelets. Keen to cash in on the cheap postage rates, we wanted to choose a few items to send back to England to remind us of our time in this unique country. With some experience of haggling tucked under our belt during our stay in Shanghai, we were determined not to fall foul of the 'tourist premium' the traders are known to attach to their wares when quoting prices. Spotting a 70's style vintage, 'made in China', wind up alarm clock, (with novelty 'ticking' table tennis bat and ball) we haggled, if I may so myself, like pros, starting out by shaking our heads and laughing as the guy handed us a calculator with his opening offer keyed in. We hastily deducted 50% of this and handed it back to him confidently. We took his 'angry' response and marginally reduced offer as little more than a test of our nerve and batted a slightly increased offer back to him without so much as blinking. Taking the calculator back from him again, we shook our heads harder and began 'the walk away', returning for a moment to tap in a “final offer”, gesturing its finality with a firm swipe of my hand. He glanced at his partner, looked down and held out another figure with pleading arms – we were down to a field just fifty Yuan wide (£5) and concluded the rally by finally walking away with our not-so-shiny, not-so-new alarm clock ticking proudly in my rucksack having negotiated the guy down from almost £30 to a ping ponging'ly satisfying £16..... and it's still ticking! Conversely, the lady who asked for 20 Yuan (£2) for a cool communist propaganda poster (who clearly couldn't understand why we wanted the torn and battered one as opposed to the crisp clean version also for sale) suddenly tried to increase her price to £5 when she was met with none other than the said 20 Yuan in cash after Rosie & I agreed that £2 was a pretty good price for what will become a cool piece of communist artwork once framed.

On Monday we're hiking along the Great Wall of China.......(though not all of it).