Our trip to Beijing was off to a hectic start. We had run out of currency and had to exchange money. We had some US dollars that proved helpful. Moreover, the exchange procedure at a Bank involved some paperwork. It was time-consuming, but finally, we had some yuan in our hands.
We headed to Beijing Zoo to see some Pandas. The Beijing Subway is very efficient - just like that of Hong Kong, and it consists of multiple lines. It was cheap, and there were English translations available alongside as well. The Yikatong Card (Transportation smart card) had cost us 50 yuan, and it was available for use on buses and S2 trains as well.
The nearest subway station for us was Dongsi. After buying the Yikatong card, we took line 6. The train was a bit crowded, and it was unusual as we were the only foreigners there. We were indeed traveling, just like the locals. We got down at Ping'anli and changed to line 4. We didn't face any difficulty as there was a station dedicated to the Beijing Zoo. It didn't take much effort to get there as the zoo was just a few minutes' walk from the station.
The zoo was large and had a special dedicated section for the Pandas, which had cost extra. It was 15 yuan for the entry and 20 yuan, including Panda house.
We had come there to see the Pandas hence we took it. The experience was disappointing. The enclosures were dry and dirty. The Pandas looked dirty and didn't see to be in the best of condition. Pandas are not athletic but instead lazy creatures, but here they were simply lying around lazily in such dirt, and it was not a worthwhile experience.
We had spent some time in the zoo and unfortunately it didn't seem too appealing, maybe because we have already seen so many zoos in Singapore, Thailand, UAE, etc. The complex was big, and it would take up to a couple of hours to view most of the attractions. We didn't want to spend a lot of time; hence, we took a minibus ride inside the complex.
After traveling around the zoo, we headed towards the Temple of Heaven. The route to get there was simple; we had to go back to Dongsi and then switch to line 5 and get down at Tiantandongmen station. It was a long journey to get there, but it was an easy one. We took exit A and had to cross a road after taking to get there.
The ticket price was 15 yuan for the entrance and 34 yuan for the total price, including the main attractions inside. The tickets are cheaper from November to March. The timings for the attractions are 8 am to 5.30 pm local time. Unfortunately, we had reached late and hence had to be content with a leisure walk inside the park premises.
It was going to be a long and tiring day ahead as we were going to travel to the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China, about 80 km away from Beijing. The Badaling section of the Great Wall of China was the most easily accessible and the preferred route by the tourists.
Instead of taking a tour like most tourists, we decided to go by train. The route was pretty simple, travel to Huoying station on the subway, take exit G4 and walk towards Huangtudian Railway Station and then catch an S2 train and get down at Badaling Railway station, which was the destination stop for the Badaling section of the wall.
There was no problem at all in getting to Huoying station. The journey seemed that we are venturing out towards the suburbs and then outside the city premises. The marked signboards in English on the subway system made it easy to get there. We didn't have much difficulty in finding the exit G4 either, and we had walked a bit until we reached Huangtudian railway station.
The Great wall was too long and would have taken a lot of time to explore. We decided to return and catch the 5.37 pm S2 train. While returning, we encountered the same problem of communication and ended up walking once again to the station. We were already tired and had no clue about what was yet to come.
Upon reaching the station, we had purchased the ticket and waited. The train was late for one and a half hours. For the whole 90 minutes, we were standing in a queue after spending the entire afternoon walking and climbing.
It was a grave ordeal, and we had no option left as communication was a big problem, hence trying to take a bus would have been a problem. After we had given up, hopes the gates had opened, and people rushed to take spots. Finally, the train had arrived.
It was 7 pm, and there was darkness around. The weather had become colder with a breeze flowing around. The journey back to Huangtudian didn't seem longer now as the train took us there in an hour. It was again, back to using the subways and enduring the long journey back to Dongsi. No shopping or fancy dinner this time as it was late, and most of the restaurants had closed by then. Luckily there was a noodle restaurant open, so we had to be content with a noodle dinner for the day.
It was our last day in China, and we had decided to visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We got down at the Tiananmen East Station on Line 1 of the subway. As soon as we exited the station we saw lot's of people around us, it was too crowded out there. It was Saturday, and as expected, there were too many tourists out there.
We walked along with the crowds and had visited the Mao Zedong memorial first and then headed towards the Forbidden City.
The park was good for a leisurely evening walk. It was full of trees with systematically built pathways around them. There were many people out there who were strolling and jogging around.
After strolling for a bit, we headed back to Dongsi for our dinner. We found out a cool restaurant near our Hotel. The restaurant had a variety of wines, and we decided upon Watermelon, Mint, and Ginger. We had them along with fried chicken and called it a day.
For some reason, we didn't know, our Yikatong card wasn't working, while other people with the same card were able to gain access. The security personnel were unable to speak English; Hence, we had to purchase the tickets, which had cost us 7 yuan per ticket. If the Yikatong had worked, it would have cost 6 yuan per ticket.
It was a small station with basic amenities and just one big hall which acted as the waiting room for the passengers which packed with tourists.
The next train was scheduled to arrive at 12.40 pm. There was still some time to go, but people had already queued up to get the best seats possible. The train got delayed as the crowd kept piling on, and the queue kept on increasing.
Finally, the train arrived, and a few men in uniform came to handle the crowd. They didn't open our gates till everyone that alighted had dispersed. As soon as the gates opened, people started running towards the coaches like a racing competition; it reminded me of the dash to catch local trains in Mumbai. We too participated in the madness and rushed towards the coaches in the rear end before entering a compartment.
The train took off after some time and it was dead slow. There were a few people selling snacks in the trains reminding about trains back here. I had expected the train to pick up speed after some time which didn't happen. The train looked like a bullet train and was really spacious inside. The seats were comfortable and I laid down on the window seat watching the landscape change from buildings to empty plains.
After the painfully slow journey, we had finally reached Badaling. We tried asking people about shuttle buses or cable cars, but again the language problem had stuck. We walked along with the crowd, and after 15-20 minutes, we reached the entrance. The ticket price was 40 yuan per person, and we had two options - either go to the north end or the south end of the wall; we chose the north side.
It was a steep climb, despite of being the easiest route it was still a steep climb, we couldn't imagine what the difficult route would be like. There were uneven steps, some were large steps some were small, there were railings on both sides to help people ascend and descend. Some people were climbing effortlessly while some were panting and gasping for breath.
There was an endless green view on both sides of the wall. There was a gentle cool breeze flowing around that provided great relief to us.
Entry is allowed only through one side- the south side. The ticket price was 60 yuan, and they didn't issue separate paper tickets; instead, we had to use our Passports for entry. There were long queues as expected; however, the movement was swift.
As we began our sightseeing inside the forbidden city, we were greeted by crowds which had lots of foreign tourists as well. We could see some beautiful architecture showcasing the rich Chinese history and culture.
There are lots of galleries, halls, and alleys to see here; however, tourists were not allowed inside the rooms. You have to spend at least a couple of hours here to view most of the attractions.
After exiting the forbidden kingdom, we headed to the pearl market for some shopping. Hongqiao Market, which is popularly known as the pearl market, is located near the Temple of Heaven. Since we had already been to the latter, we had no problems finding the place.
The Hongqiao Market is a multi-level shopping complex that sells pretty much everything from food to clothes to souvenirs. We were hungry, so we headed straight to the food court, where there was an Indian Restaurant.
You should not go shopping there if you can't bargain; we bargained everything, and the final purchase price was 1/10 of the original quoted price. Bargaining can be justified sometimes when the quoted price is way too much than it deserves.
So our tour of China comes to an end here. We proceeded to pick our luggage from the hotel and went to the airport to catch our evening flight. The best part about Beijing airport was not the subway-like train inside the airport. It was the fact that we could flawlessly speak to the staff there as they had no problems understanding English or our accents.
