Beijing

Our cabin in the sleeper train

The night train

I was very skeptical when we were booking the night train from Shanghai to Beijing. I imagined it to be loud, uncomfortable and dirty. The boarding started 15 minutes before departure and I was shocked when I entered the train (shocked is maybe too big of a word; I was pleasantly surprised). The sheets were clean and the bed was big enough for one person to sleep comfortably. However, the bathroom was a bit stinky. We were assigned middle row and, maybe because I was super tired, I fell asleep almost immediately. Later at night, I started waking up and realized that this journey has a potential to be very loud and sleepless - all thanks to a man in our cubicle who was snoring. Very loudly, may I add. But thanks to my Erik, who offered me his earplugs, I slept like a baby and didn't hear a thing. In the morning, Erik reported that around midnight people started to get angry at the snoring guy and apparently tried out different techniques of silencing sounds in order stop to guy's snoring. Nothing worked out. But I wouldn't know.

Temple of Heaven

After we managed to find our hotel, which turned out to be on the fourth floor of a chinese-russian shopping mall, we dropped off our bags and headed out. The reception was kind enough to check us in four hours early. Our first stop was Temple of Heaven, which is a complex made up of imperial religious buildings, like a sacrificial altar, built in 1420. We didn't have tickets beforehand but we had no problem purchasing them at location (in a lot of tourist attractions in China, including Temple of Heaven, students get 50% discount!). Coming from Japan, it was a nice change to see something different - a very colorful finish on the circular temples. Similarly to Japan, people still seem to dress up in traditional clothing and take loads of pictures. Thanks to the vast empty space between buildings and parks, the complex had a very serene feel. We finished this peaceful walk with Fasting Palace, which is connected to the rest with a bridge, underneath which Erik noticed a cat, which unintentionally became the favorite thing we saw :).

Street lanterns surrounded by small shops and restaurants

798 Art zone

Visiting the Beijing 798 Art zone is not only for people who love art exhibitions but also for anyone who likes to be creative or get inspired. It is full of small shops selling anything from vintage jewelry to extra artistic statues, camera stores, art museums and even a ThinkPad exhibition. The whole area feels industrial yet very creative. We had a simple lunch (rice, chicken, vegetables) in PitaPita at Locomotive square and then decided to make a big mistake to go across the road from the Art Zone into Beijing Minsheng Art Museum. The tickets came to 156 yuan and the current exhibition about Origin of Civilization was highly underwhelming and for us not at all interesting. We did enjoy the permanent art showcase, but overall it wasn't worth the high entrance. At the end of the day we took a bus (which, with its radical driving, caused motion sickness for both of us) and after 45 minutes we arrived, completely shaken, to Annie restaurant. We wanted to try how does Europen food taste in China, so we chose this Italian place for dinner. The service was exceptional and the food was very tasty. Good end to a good day.

The Palace Museum

Tian'anmen square and The Palace Museum

The metro arrived around 10 a.m. to its destination of Tian'anmen and it took one full hour until we passed all of the checks and controls and got to start our exploration. The checks were more thorough than at the airport, they scanned our bags, opened them and took out every item one by one (they even opened my journal and looked through the pages), our passports were scanned at three different locations before entering the Palace, and we even got a proper body check. After an hour full of queuing and scanners, we finally got to see the infamous Tian'men square. The events on this square from 1989 remain one of the most sensitive topics in China.

The Palace Museum

We reserved our spot to visit one day in advance and with what could have been around 20 000 other people, we entered the Palace complex. For us, the most impressive thing about the Palace museum was its size of 720 000 meters squared. It was huge! Even though the views of the gates and walls start to repeat themselves, there was always something new to see at every part of the tour, especially noteworthy is the Imperial garden at the north side of the complex. Going into alleys on the left- or right-side of the main buildings, we found souvenire shops, caffes, historical rooms of the emperors and relics exhibitions. The whole visit (including checks) took us around 3.5 hours, but we could have easily made it into a whole day trip if we would have purchased extra tickets to the palace museums, or to a hike in the Jingshan Park, which is visible from the palace.

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall

I firmly believe that the Great Wall is a must-see when visiting China. I was keeping myself from being too excited about it because I didn't want to be disappointed on location, but it was undoubtedly my favorite thing I saw in China. There are multiple locations that can be visited and hiked, the most popular for tourists being Badaling, hence we chose a less touristy spot at Mutianyu. We took an Express Bus from Beijing to the parking lot underneath the Wall and then a five-minute shuttle bus which drove us right under the ticket entrance. Half an hour later, after a short but steep hike up the stairs, we took our first step on the Great Wall of China. And I was stunned! The views were breathtaking and a walk along the wall felt magical. All I wanted to do was stay there for hours and just walk and think and reflect. Unfortunately, the wall was closing at 5 p.m. so we didn't have all the time we would wish for, but still, I loved it. Just ticked off one of my Bucket list items!