June 2010 - Beijing & Ping Yao via KL

Hello Kuala Lumpur !

In our recent June vacation after heading out our back gate and catching the bus across to Johor Bahru, we ended up on a very comfortable double decker bus - in the front two seats - heading up to KL for a long weekend before our early Monday morning flight to China.

We had time to take in the great architecture around KL railway station. Mogul inspired, British designed and built - you can tell they'd been in India before they got here.

Contrasting mosques: the grand and very modern National Mosque and the traditional, mogul style Masjid Jamek, both very commanding.

We also spent an (air-conditioned) day at the Petronas Towers - fantastic buildings - which finished with a 5.30 pm trip up to the sky bridge to take in the sights of KL. Who is looking most spooked by the heights... surprise , surprise it isn't me!

Sunday we did Chinatown and the outstanding Islamic Arts museum which houses arts and crafts from all over the muslim world.

... onto the middle kingdom...

Monday morning, due to an Air Asia flight time change, was an obscenely early start but we got to Tianjin airport in China ok then took the fast train into Beijing Nan Zhan ( Beijing South Station). It doesn't feel like you're going fast but at one stage I looked at the information panel and we were chortelling along at 325 k per hour !!!

Getting round on the Beijing subway was so easy. The new lines they put in for the Olympics took us straight to our hotel.

Highlights of China included the Great Wall. We did the 10 k walk from Jinshanling to Simatai. Man those steps are steep. We got up to the wall on a cable car, even that is a hike in itself, and after a testing 10k, we came down harnessed into a flying fox - wasn't hard to talk 'em into that one!!!.

We also visited the Forbidden City (Gu Gong) and the Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan). We actually cycled to the Temple early (5.30am) on a Sunday morning. No traffic going there but plenty coming back as we went straight through the centre of Beijing and around Tiannamen Square, past the Forbidden City and back through the hutongs to get to our hotel. Quite an adventure, but plenty of other people out riding bikes too and as Beijing is pretty flat, its very easy to get around on bike.

Getting round Beijing's Hutongs on bicycles.

There was no shortage of Chinese tourists wanting to have their picture taken with the boys - we could have started a small business!!! At Tiannamen and The Forbidden City we had queues!!

The Forbidden City...

We also took the subway out to Olympic Green to have a look at the Bird's Nest and the Acqua Cube. They keep them lit up till a certain time, then with no warning all the lights go off and the area is suddenly deserted. Not even a train back to the city! Thankfully we had a decent taxi driver, she delivered us to our hotel for a fair price.

Our hotel 'Red Lantern House' was fanastic. In Xinjiekou - a good spot in a hutong area. Our rooms were in a quiet courtyard, very pretty and peaceful. The food was great, the boys lived on toasted chicken sandwiches, whilst we favoured the chilli chicken or sweet and sour zhu rou (pork). It was a very friendly place, and I would thoroughly recommend it. They really looked after us and made us feel welcome. A great place to come back to after a day out on the bikes in Beijing. The shot below shows the courtyard with the doors on the left leading to the room we stayed in.

Oh yes, this shot actually verifys it - Xave did eat scorpions at Wangfujing snack street on our first night in Beijing. Given the greasy, oil-sodden noodles they dished up to us, the scorpions were probably quite appetising.

After Beijing it was off to the Ming dynasty city of Ping Yao. Completely surrounded by 6 meter walls and without cars (well almost, if you don't count the little scooter vans that are constantly ferrying tourists around). It is a preserved, walled town where banking first developed in China. It was wonderfully atmopspheriic, if a little hot and dusty at this time of the year. Once again, we stayed in an old courtyard house with traditional layout and decor, fantastic screen doors and detailed windows. We actually got there on yingwo (hard sleeper) from Beijing. The others', but not my, first taste of sleeper trains in China. Felicity was wondering about the cost of ruanwo (soft sleeper) on the way back - not a chance!!!

The walls and entry gates to Ping Yao.

Harmony Guesthouse where we stayed.

The delightful streets of Ping Yao.

A Confucian temple and school inside the walled city.

Confucian school - preparation for the entry exam to the Chinese civil service - not likely!!

So those were our June travels, a great experience to have glimpse of the Middle Kindgom. For now its back to Singers and to work & school for another term.