Sooooo… Here I am, in Beijing. Also known by many (foreign) people as Peking. I got a very good located hostel, very nice atmosphere… but freezing in Winter, because it was not that well neither isolated nor heated, and the temperature was slightly low: my first day we had a windy day with -16ºC. The second coldest temperature in my life (the other one was in… out of the scope of this post).
Well, as I was saying, the hostel was really well located, in the middle of Beijing, next to Tiananmen Square. Probably, most of you have heard about this square, famous for the protests which took place here in 1989 (with a great picture of a student stopping a lane of tanks) and for holding a record: the biggest square in the world.
Well, this is the geographical center of Beijing, and they also pretend to place it as the center of China, but it is too eastern… But it does not matter, they have the zero point of the chinese highways there.
In the south of the square, you can see one of the old gates of the city, the Front Gate. Next to this gate to the north, you can find Mao Zedong‘s mausoleum, which I did not visit… because I would have had to queue! And because I am not eager to see dead bodies for free… or even worse, paying!
In the north side, you can find the Forbidden City, but before getting there, the National Flag flutters in front of Mao Zedong’s portrait, guarding the Gate of Heavenly Peace leading to the Forbidden City. To both sides, two stands wait for a crowd ready to see a parade, for example (1, 2, 3, repita otra vez), a militar parade. Anyway, this square was built with political purposes…
And they are doing great, with the combination of flags, Mao’s images, the well preserved doors, the Great Hall of the People, one of the main buildings for the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party.
I went through this square everyday… and I was always thinking the impression it must cause to see that square full… either with people or with other stuff… Is it possible at all?
I will start the trip from the beginning, so I also refresh my mind and do not miss anything… I will try not to to bore you… 😉
I already wrote part of my first impressions of China in this post. I flew to Hong Kong and crossed the border to Shenzen to benefit from the cheap internal flights in China. Hong Kong area is full of islands, and the ferries are a common transport there. So, I found the fastest way for my purposes to reach an airport in Mainland China using the Turbo Jet Sea Express ferry linking Hong Kong International Airport and Shenzen Airport. Really easy way to go to Mainland. Just remember that you have to pick up your luggage before the customs, and that there is a free bus from the pier to the airport (just 2 km).
The first image I got when I jumped off from the boat was this one:
Nice sunset, isn’t it? It is a pity that it was cloudy… Cloudy? No. China is the most polluted country I have ever been (ok, I have only been within Europe, Canada and Japan, but anyway…) and that could be seen at simple sight. The “cloud” is always present: in Shenzen, in Beijing, in Xi’an and even in Shanghai. But, of course, this was just the beginning, in one of the most industrialized areas of China, also called Special Economic Zones, where more factories are placed, and where tougher controls are carried out to avoid an overpopulation around it.
So, after this shock and the issue with the taxis, I took one of the last flights to Beijing, where it was snowing during the night… Nice image, but bad omen for the rest of the days there regarding the climate… Thanks to God, I was prepared. 🙂
I am back in Tokyo. I am getting used again to the silence of this country, to the big smiles even though they do not understand you, and to the fact of the paying what the price tag says,.reunion with real sushi, plenty of pending housework… :S
Today I went to Macau (I will tell you more about it soon) and during the breakfast I had the stupid idea of buying a newspaper to read during the trip… which finally became a good idea, as I spent in the whole day more than 2 hours queuing in immigration lanes (exit and enter HK and Macau). I read this I found it quite funny.
(…)
When I was a fourth-grader in Benson School on the West River Road north of Minneapolis, Mrs. Erickson gave us the essay topic, “What would you do if you had one day left to live?”
We had just read an inspiring story about Helen Keller (…) and Mrs. Erickson wanted us to write something inspiring about smelling flowers and listening to birds sing and watching the sun set, but I wrote that I wanted to get on a plane and fly to Spain.
I had never flown in my life, and we had finished a unit on Spain and learned about bullfighting, which seemed like a very cool thing to do. So it was Spain for me.
Mrs. Erickson told me to choose something else. “Spain is too far,” she said. “It takes almost a day just to get there.”
I stuck with Spain. Even at that tender age, I knew that life is the journey, not the destination. So Mrs. Erickson kept me indoors for recess, which was fine by me – if she wanted to punish me, she should’ve made me play outdoors with other children.
I’ve never been to Spain because I associate it with having only a day left to live.
(…)
Paris a fine place to wait out the big belch, by Garrisson Keillor.
It is not my last day left to live, but the last day of my China tour… and I am not going to Spain, but Tokyo to recover for a couple of weeks of “normal” life there (if we can call it normal).
Right now, I should be somewhere in a skyscraper in Hong Kong, cheering for 2009 with a mainly nordic group of friends, and about to party the new year. It is unlikely, therefore, that I am eating 12 grapes, like all my compatriots will do in 7 hours, and I will not run San Silvestre race like last year, but I hope that does not mean I will get a bad 2009, and my wishes are still valid. 😉
I wish you all the best for 2009. Feliz Año Nuevo!
PD: I have realized that 2008 would have been the shortest year of my life… for 7 hours if it had not been a leap year… Who cares, right? 😛