Playing Tourist in Beijing

So today was the first chance i've had to go into central Beijing to see some of the tourist spots - purely because I spent last Sunday sleeping off jet-lag (some would say it was a waste of a day but it definitely set me up for the week). Today was also the first time we've seen bright blue sky since we arrived - so it's been a hot day.

So navigating the Beijing subway was much easier than expected - but like the city the network is huge. The city is a bit obsessed with security checks so before you can get on the subway, they scan you, your back and colourmetrically check the contents of your water bottle! So 1 and a half hours later we arrived in Downtown (central) Beijing. Even though the station was geographically very close to Tienanmen Square due to all the security checks and the many underpasses to cross under the hectic roads, it took a little while to get there. So after walking through Tienanmen Square and taking the obligatory tourist photos we made our way to the Forbidden Palace - the place, like the rest of Beijing is enormous.

Some Tienanmen Square Pictures...

 I just liked this picture because is China close friends tend to walk holding hands or linking arms.

 The tourist group for the day

 Accidentally left the vivid setting on, but I still like the picture 

So I hadn't realised how big the Forbidden Palace was - but its an amazingly ornate place and very, very busy. We still haven't got used to the fact that the proportion of western tourists you see is minuscule in comparison to the sheer number of Chinese tourists everywhere - I suppose its not usually so obvious to see which nationality everyone is.

Sadly you don't really get to go into the buildings in the forbidden city (i'm clearly just too used to National Trust properties!) so as spectacular as the Forbidden city is I felt it got a bit same-y after a while (what a spoilt thing to say). However there were rooms that showed lots of artifacts from the various dynasties. The most interestingly named place in the whole city is the 'Hall of Mental Cultivation' (I think a sign saying 'you are now entering the room of mental cultivation' would make a great office door sign). Its really interesting because this part wasn't so shiny, pristine and well kept as the rest of the palace and you could see how time was wearing down the building. They also had a very old, untouched bedroom open to look into which was amazing - you could smell the age!

 Inside the forbidden City

 I think my favourite photo from the day.

The oldest looking room I have ever seen - you could smell the must and the age.

 The hall of mental cultivation - I liked how you can see the degradation in the building (I don't think it's a deliberate display!)

 Charlie and our amazing ice lollies

 The view of the pagodas in Jingshan park from the Forbidden City

The corner of the forbidden city and the surrounding moat

After the Forbidden city (and what tasted like the best ice lolly ever) we walked through Jingshan park (I think I spelt it right). This park was the highlight of my day. The tranquility despite being in the middle of the city was fantastic. The Pagodas are beautiful to look at from the bottom of the hill and even nicer to look at close up. The 360 degree view around Beijing is breathtaking when you get up there - I could have stood there all day just taking in the contrast between old and new.





I discovered my phone can do panoramas - I think I need more practice though!

Me at the top of Jingshan Park                                          The view from the main pagoda

I loved this day but i've never been so happy to drink water in my life, as I was when I got back!

G xxx

Flickr address

So this post is purely to say that i've started a Flickr account to put all my photos on so that everyone can see them. They are by no means arty, or edited (I'm clueless with editing software but it's something I want to have a go at sometime, when I get the chance). They photos are just (almost) everything I take while i'm here - I thought it was a shame that they may never see the light of day otherwise, because no one is going to want to sit through thousands of photos when I come home!

The address is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gillianyoung/

I'm probably going to update it pretty regularly so feel free to have a look and let me know what you think.

Enjoy and I hope you're all well

G xxx

The Great Wall of China!

So i'm one down on the '7 Wonders of the World' list.

I was never really convinced that it could ever be as amazing as people say but it really is!

I think the sense of achieve you get from walking all the way from the bottom, up A LOT of steps (i'm going to have to find out an official number there) and then walking up and along the actual wall - and shedding lots of sweat (thankfully no blood or tears) makes the experience and sheer scale of the whole thing all that more mind blowing and awe inspiring.

We were only there for about 3 hours so we didn't have that much time to walk off into the distance but the few miles we did do was amazing and have given me the bug back for hiking and hill walking (There better be hills in Foshan). Also the foggy/ mist/ smog stuff didn't clear all day so the views weren't endless but I don't think it's hard to imagine the magnificent views behind it all.

After walking all the way up (there is a cable car option as well) we took the toboggan option back down. The toboggan was basically a very long slide that you went down on little carts on all the way to the bottom (it's better than ruining your knees coming back down).

 Ticket time!

 Little bit of wall info

 The first glimpse of the wall - this was a VERY welcome sight

 Where we were headed

 Almost there

 The wall snaking off into the distance

 More wall and a little blue sky

 At the top (or our top anyway)

 The start of the toboggan run

 The toboggans.

After this we also had a trip to the (apparently 'very famous') Peking Duck restaurant - its was alright, the duck pancakes were good though. They really don't get the concept of wanting water to drink with your food though! 

Ps if anyone ever considers walking the whole of the Great Wall it takes at least 3 years - so make sure you have plenty of time on your hands and a good pair of shoes!

G xxx

Learning How to teach

So my first week here has flown by - which has meant new blog posts haven't happened.

We are staying in the Shunyi district of Beijing which is about 2 hours (on the subway) away from downtown (central) Beijing. Sadly this means that I haven't managed to get into the centre of this (GIGANTIC) city during the week but I managed to fit some of that in today (that's content for another blog post).

So this week we have been staying at the Shunyi Hotel, in the Shunyi district of Beijing. It's very nice (but the internet is rubbish - modern world problems!), and i'm gradually getting used to noodles for breakfast - it's definitely taken a few days. But I can quite proudly say that I haven't used cutlery yet, only chopsticks, and i've haven't had toast for breakfast (the only non-chinese option). Eating anything here is an adventure - most of the time we have absolutely no idea what we are eating - but so far the only thing I think i've actively avoided is the tofu, once was enough for me!

 You really can't miss our hotel after dark - it's a bit Vegas-esq.

The Garden outside the hotel - the green water isn't so attractive

Our 9-5s have been taken up this week with doing our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) training this week - I have now feel I understand why teachers do the things they do. The training has been really good - but intense, it's normally at least a 7 day course and we did it in 3 and a half. We did our training in the Shunyi No. 3 middle school, it was HOT because there was no air conditioning - talk about a baptism of fire. Our final two days were taken up with practice group teaching sessions and an EXAM - so much for finishing uni. China require all foreign teachers to have either two years of teaching experience or to have passed the TEFL course and exam, so since most of us are straight out of university TEFL it was (the results are still pending).

The outside of Shunyi No.3 Middle School

        Inside Shunyi Middle School - What does it remind you of?

There are about 100 of us are here to teach English (we will be spread throughout the country), so there are a lot of new people to get to know - something i'm enjoying as it means I to get to speak to new people every day. So in the spirit of of new-found friendship and post-exam fever we went out for a mass group dinner (to Ba-ba's) and then ended up going to a Chinese nightclub - J9 (not K9).

The restaurant has become a regular for some in our group - the food is good and the beer is cheap. So far my favourite dish is green beans cooked in chilies - I would love to see how many chilies that place goes through in a week - but I really need to find out the name of it so I can order it everywhere (that will be this weeks mission).

DINNER! - well some of it anyway

The Food safety rating of Ba-ba's made us laugh - we are all still alive and well to tell the tale.

Sampling some Chinese alcohol - This stuff could definitely make you miss a few days

So after some of the group participating in a beer drinking competition with the locals (the locals won!) we ended up continuing the party in a nightclub in Shunyi. Have to say my first experience of Chinese clubs was good, I was slightly scared it was going to be non-stop Chinese techno or something but surprisingly it was all western music - not that you hear back-to-back Maroon 5 or Lily Allen in the clubs in the UK normally. The club on the whole was pretty similar to the UK clubs except with more seating and less dancefloor (boo), and squat toilets - bit of a thought since i'm not a pro in that department yet! and the bizarre drinking contests they clear the dance-floor for half way through the night!

So overall it's been a great first week, which bodes well for our second and final manic week ahead.


 Some of Shunyi (it's not very picturesque)

 The view from the school.

 Our walk to school

 There are lots of bikes adding to the ridiculous road mayhem - I'm not sure there's any rules


 People...

G xxx

I'm here...

Hello, 

I have arrived in a sunny (and pretty warm Beijing). I'm absolutely pooped after about my 1 hours sleep but its 4pm here now so not long until bedtime (we are 7 hours ahead of the UK here) - and then the exploring can continue. So far we've found food, beer and water.

The scenery coming coming into Beijing was pretty amazing. So far we haven't really noticed lots of smog, but there is a bit of a haary layer floating above the buildings. We are staying quite far on the outskirts of Beijing centre, but it means we are being broken in gently to everything Chinese.

Since its a short and sweet post, this is the amazing view when I looked out the window on our decent to Beijing.

 

 

Also best airplane food ever - but why do they try and feed you so much?

G x

Leaving on a jet plane

So it's departure day. 50 minutes and I'll be out of Aberdeen for goodness knows how long. At least my slightly over-emotional state is being topped by the screaming toddler sitting next to me! In about 13 hours time I'll be half way across the world in Beijing after a quick stopover in Amsterdam. It will be strange not seeing everyone for a year but France was a good practice.

You never know this year might make me improve my message reply rate.

Look after yourselves and don't do anything dangerous whilst I'm gone. Keep in touch everyone

G x