China (Shanghai & Beijing) Jan'09: an accounting (part2)

tuesday-day 2
after a night of passing by manufacturing plants, open fields, and other trainstations (the sleeper train we're on had no stopovers), we reached beijing some time (7am?) and were greeted by a -2degree temperature. (note: at the end of each car was a digital monitor showing time and the temperature outside. along the sleeper train's corridor, one could also find wall-mounted seats.) one also need not worry about waking up late. if you're on the soft sleeper section, a steward would knock on your cabin door minutes before arriving at your destination. luckily for this round, our steward spoke english. before alighting the train, we asked him the nearest ticketing office for us to purchase our ticet back to shanghai. we were directed to a window right beside the exit door of the trainstation (before exiting the main doors of the train station, this window would be located on the left side. it's not an english speaking counter so better have your preferred train schedule written on a piece of paper in chinese text so you can just show it to the person at the window. if you were not able to find someone who could translate for you, then try looking for one of the younger chinese chaps. )it seemed china's younger generation had a bit of a practice in using the english language. jub said the use of english in china became more pronounced during and before the beijing olympics. this educational exercise, of course, was more instilled among the youth rather than their older counterparts. additionally, try reaching this ticketing window early. we were informed that it had a closing time. half-way in the queue, the window closed on us. fortunately, it did open after a couple of minutes. (sleeper tix back to shanghai:484yuan=3872php/person)

we exited the main doors and went for one of the cabs lined up infront of the trainstation.

beijing downtown backpackers
the beijing backpackers was located in one of china's hutong area. i'd consider this one of the trip's highlights. the place was clean. it seemed the beds were intended for caucasians as they were quite big for us. we had our own private bathroom. they had a lot of activities available for guests. there's a common area, a billiards pool and an internet area at the ground floor. they had prepared cut-outs for names of places people usually visit (names were in chinese and english text). reception was friendly. it was near the forbidden city. we were allowed to leave memories by writing personal messages of thanks on their walls. it's near areas where one could enjoy a stroll or a bike ride. they had free breakfast (yummy one). i'd personally recommend this place to anyone visiting beijing.
(note: we initially booked for Beijing Downtown Backpackers via hostels.com. it was higly recommended by its visitors and by lonely planet. it was not a disappointment. cost:225yuan=34.64usd=1663php; since there's 3 of us..554php/person/night )

a slight hurdle looking for the inn mainly because our cab driver speaks no english. we ended up offering to be dropped off anywhere in the hutong area and just search for the inn on foot (cab cost: 27yuan=216php; divided by us 3...72php each. luckily, the inn was just a few establishments away from where the cab dropped us.

when we arrived at the inn, our hired driver john was already waiting near the inn's entrance.

(note: prior our china trip, we checked various websites and found john's name. emails were exchanged and schedules were confirmed. email:johnyellowcar@hotmail.com; phone:13611079697, 13683040566; www.Beijing-driver.com)

a couple of weeks before arriving in beijing, we decided to hire a car. 1) we decided to head for the Mutianyu section of the great wall instead of the Badaling section where most tourist buses go. taking pictures with less crowd in the background seemed easier in Mutianyu than Badaling. 2) we could hire the car for an entire day and go to other places conveniently. remember, it's winter and we're tropical people. 3) we didn't have to go through the hassle of communication while finding the corrrect public transport. 4) personally, i couldn't stand the cold and walking around navigating all by ourselves would really try my patience, hence, john.

aside from being a driver, john also acted as our tour guide. he mentioned he already had 3 customers coming from the beijing downtown backpackers. he'd been driving the past 20yrs initially as a cab driver then as a driver for a car hire. he also spoke good english.
since we arrived at the hostel a little behind schedule (our sked with john was at 9am and we arrived 15-20min late since we had to buy return trip tickets to shanghai), we had to miss breakfast and settle for brunch. we asked john for a place where there's rice available as we had not eaten a rice meal the past 24 hours. he said that it was no problem and we could just have early lunch near the great wall.

we were brought to a restaurant 10-15min from the great wall. we had the option to choose our fish from their pool. they caught it, weighed it, and asked us how we wanted it served (note: one fish and a veggie dish were good for 3 people. however, mark decided to try one of the meat viands on the menu so we ended up really full. cost:175.50yuan=1404php ; 468php/person for a grp of3).


we invited john to join us. however, he politely declined and instead decided to buy firecrackers for his daughter hinting that chinese new year was coming in a couple of weeks. after the filling lunch, we headed on to the great wall.

Great wall (Mutianyu section)
after john parked his car at the parking lot, he informed us he'd be waiting at the coffee shop while we do our climb of the great wall. he also suggested that the view was better if we turned right instead of left when we reached the wall. as one had the option to take the cable ride going up, we really didn't have to do the climbing towards the wall (entrance:95yuan=760php each; entrance ticket includes 1. lift going to the wall 2. lift leaving the wall or a ride skidding down the side of the mountain. if you plan to skid (toboggan ride), carefully read the stipulations for skidding found at the back of your entrance ticket. #5 stipulates "Riders riding behind should be responsible for the accident when an accident collision happens").

reaching the wall, we turned right and began our experience of china's great wall. (note: we found 2 vendors selling coffee on the wall. we didn't try it though. also, be careful going up and down the steps as these are quite narrow. notice how some visitors keep and hold on to the side while going down the steps. quite steep too actually.)


after nearly 1 1/2 -2 hrs on the wall, we then headed for the coffee shop, found john, scanned at some jade pieces, checked out the souvenir shirts, and then headed on to the temple of heaven.

Temple of Heaven
the ride towards the temple was peaceful. jub and mark were asleep most of the time. mark was even snoring. commendable for john as it seemed he knew when his customers preferred him as a tour guide and when they preferred him as a silent driver.
we arrived at the temple of heaven (entrance:25yuan=200php each) and felt the chilling wind while walking the pathway.
before seeing the actual temple, a 'through ticket' has to be purchased (cost:10yuan=80php each. note: there seems to be a ticket booth if you decide to walk through a section. however, one also has the option of walking around these walled sections via walking the parks surrounding these sections. the downside, however, for this option was that one wouldn't be able to see the structures enclosed by these walls.) walking from one end of this tourist site to the other end nearly took us 1 hour. we then exited the other side and met up with john.



beijing shopping
before heading home, mark asked if we could pass by a market where he could shop, an hour at most. john then brought us to a mall. john was able to buy a gift for his daughter, mark was able to haggle for an imitation body bag, jub was able to check out some gadgets and jade pieces, and i got to have a headache. later, john brought us back to the backpacker's inn. (hiring john:900yuan=7200php; 2400php each for that day. this could've been cheaper if the chinese new year wasn't near our travel date.)

beijing street food
later that evening, mark and jub went to try out beijing's street food. as i refused missing the experience, i contented myself with hutong streetfood near the inn. delicious as it reminded me of fishballs, though, they'd have more ball variants. (cost:11yuan; 1 yuan per ball).

wednesday-day 3
after eating a sumptuous free breakfast at the inn, we took a cab then rode towards the forbidden city (cab cost: 15yuan=120php; 40php each. forbidden city entrance:40yuan=320php each).

(note: we checked out before heading to the forbidden city. we decided to leave our bags at the inn's storage room rather than pay for additional hours.)

Forbidden City and Tianan'men Square
the forbidden city's exits and entrances were located on either ends, one would not be able to cut one's trip short. hence, we walked the forbidden city which got all our morning.



upon entering the forbidden city, there were stalls selling goods from drinks, to noodles to souvenirs. however, we did not try these out thinking it expensive. additionally, we preferred having a full lunch upon exiting the forbidden city.
























upon exiting the forbidden city, we used an underpass and crossed towards the tianan'men square. (note: the cab which brought us to the forbidden city dropped us at one of the back entrances. he said unloading was not allowed near the main entrance where mao's photo was located. so we took the tour walking towards the front, walking towards tianan'men square)
upon reaching the square, we took a few photos then decided to have lunch. we walked alongside the buildings facing the square and found ourselves a small diner. afterwards, we grabbed a cab back to the inn and prepared ourselves for the overnight train ride back to shanghai. (lunch:10yuan=80php each. cab to inn:21yuan=168php; 56php/each. cab to trainstation:25.5yuan=204php; 68php each).

beijing trainstation
unlike shanghai's station, destinations on the monitors here were written in english (seen on the left side of the photo). as usual, one had to be on-time as the train leaves on schedule. for the train ride this round, jub and i tried the restaurant car (instant coffee: 10yuan=80php, viand good for one:11yuan=88php, 2cups rice=2yuan=16php). it was expensive. parang pulutan lang yung ulam, may mga mani pa na akala ko beans. first time ko mag-ulam ng mani. the soft sleeper car was also full indicating that people have started traveling in anticipation of the chinese new year.

thursday-day4
mingtown hiker youth hostel
though this was our last day in china, we decided to still book at an inn since we couldn't carry around our luggage on our last day. so we took a cab from the station and headed to mingtown hostel (cab:20yuan=160php; 53php each) this was a different inn from our first day . i'd recommend mingtown because it was literally a walking distance to Qi Pu Lu (15min walk. just cross a bridge, cross a street and you're there), to the street food near Nanjing rd (45-50min walk. bad idea to walk here under freezing temp't which we did), to Nanjing rd (20min walk), and to the Bund (20min walk)

upon arriving at the inn, we left our bags and headed to shop at Qi Pu Lu for nearly 3 hours (bought 3 bags:30yuan=240php each). mark bought a lot of imitation goods (rolex watch, LV body bag, armani shirts, an ipod, among others) jub bought bags for his brother and sisters and a watch for himself. we had lunch mid-shopping. translation: while searching the stalls, (mukhang greenhills yung lugar, think greenhills tiangge) we bought our lunch from a lady, standing at the mall's corner, offering packed lunch to the vendors and passers-by (cost:6yuan=48php each). we found a bench and ate our food.

after Qi Pu Lu shopping, we went back to the inn to prepare our bags, check-out, and then request if we can leave our baggages in their storage room. they accepted.

nanjing night lights
we then walked towards Nanjing road. the street was busy and very well lit. i've never been to new york but other visitors mentioned nanjing's lights were at par. the night felt exciting.


we then continued to search for the street food said to be near nanjing. later on, we realized it was not that near since it took us half an hour to find it coming from the establishments of Nanjing rd. (dinner:14yuan=112each) reaching the place, i actually didn't know what it was we were eating but it seemed like it was mussels, with eggs, with some seaweeds, and some gooey, sticky ingredient. we just took everything in and then went on our way to the bund.

the bund
after dinner, we took a cab and went to the Bund. (cab:13.50yuan=108php; 36php each) lights in this area was amazing that's why we scheduled to visit this place at night. however, since it was near the river, temperature was freezing. from this area, we were also able to see the Oriental Pearl TV tower from across the river. after a few pictures were taken, we decided to walk back to the inn.

(note: we booked Mingtown Hiker Youth online via hostels.com. we only booked for 2 since we didn't intend to sleep there, but just to leave our luggages. inn:100yuan for 2 pax=800php; 267php each for the 3 of us)

we then took a cab and headed on to the airport back to manila (cab:153yuan=1224php; 408php each).

as both mark and i still had a couple of yuan left, we decided to have it changed back to PH peso at the airport's money changer. we then decided against it after learning there's still a commission going to be taken away.

overall, i'd say this was one of the most challenging trips i'd had, basically, because of the freezing temperature. other than that, it would've been a fun trip.