The flight from Kathmandu to Beijing included a stop at Kunming Airport to clear immigration, customs and change planes. Our luggage had not been booked through to Beijing. During the flight an Australian red wine was served with dinner when I thought it would have been a Chinese wine. No matter, I drunk it anyway and it was nice! The airport looked very new and was very impressive with live trees growing in one part of the terminal.
Fuel Costs : Petrol Yuan 93/litre (92p/l), Diesel Yuan 98/litre (100p/l), Exchange rate £1 = 98 Yuan
Our residence for the stay in Beijing was the Central Youth Hostel across the road from the main railway station, the biggest in the East. The Hostel advertised itself as the budget hotel for business people and a first class hostel for backpackers. As hardly any of the staff spoke or understood English to any reasonable degree perhaps they should start there before giving themselves such airs. The bureaucratic requirements when booking in need to be seen to be believed but we eventually had twin rooms allocated. The place was not too bad but communal showers and toilets does not always work especially as there were times when there were not enough available. At least the toilets were marked ‘squatting’ or 'European’ style. The morning started about 0500 hrs with the Chinese people hawking, spitting and cleaning their noses very loudly then shouting to each other as if they were the only people in the place. Generally they seem to have no consideration for others in hostels and their hygiene could be improved if compared to that practised by the European.
Beijing's subway is really something to see and use. The whole system is clean; no rubbish, no graffiti, no ripped seats and fairly easy to use. Signs and announcements on the trains are in Chinese and English and it was possible to find someone to help out when I was lost though a person who actually spoke English was not easy to find. Before entering any subway station all bags were X-rayed, with no exception. The cost of the subway was 2 Yuan (20p) whatever the distance and this may be over one hour's travel. Set into the tunnel walls were video screen advertising products. It looked as though there were fifty or so screens in a continuous line so when flashing past them they looked to be one screen so that the same part of the advert could be seen. What they could do to someone suffering from migraines I hate to think. The subway was well used as most trains were very full.
The buses cost 1 Yuan (10p) for any distance travelled on that bus. They also had rolling screens with destinations and the next bus stop indicated in English. Finding out which bus to use was more of a problem so the subway was the easier choice.
The roads in and around Beijing were up to four lanes wide in each direction and this included those near Tiananmen Square. There was plenty of traffic on the roads and no driver had any patience for other drivers or pedestrians as first in won every time. There were a lot of policemen around and it was noticeable that when not waving their arms or telling people what to do they all stood to attention, even the ones directing traffic in the middle of the road. When walking anywhere singly or in groups they all marched, never sauntered.
Generally everything I saw was clean with people continually brushing up and removing rubbish. The population was very good in using rubbish bins. The one place that stood out in comparison was the site of the Ming Tombs, which looked as if it had not been cleaned for ages.
Following are pictures of the Forbidden City. They all look somewhat similar and I was disappointed with the visit there as about half of the site is closed. When I last saw it in 1983 there were many more building to visit and I think that it then made it more interesting. All it seemed like to me was that I walked in one door then straight through to the back door with little of interest in-between as the buildings looked somewhat similar. Certainly the place was big enough to disguise the number of tourists there, apparently more than usual as it was the school holidays throughout China.
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| Inside Kunming Airport |
Fuel Costs : Petrol Yuan 93/litre (92p/l), Diesel Yuan 98/litre (100p/l), Exchange rate £1 = 98 Yuan
Our residence for the stay in Beijing was the Central Youth Hostel across the road from the main railway station, the biggest in the East. The Hostel advertised itself as the budget hotel for business people and a first class hostel for backpackers. As hardly any of the staff spoke or understood English to any reasonable degree perhaps they should start there before giving themselves such airs. The bureaucratic requirements when booking in need to be seen to be believed but we eventually had twin rooms allocated. The place was not too bad but communal showers and toilets does not always work especially as there were times when there were not enough available. At least the toilets were marked ‘squatting’ or 'European’ style. The morning started about 0500 hrs with the Chinese people hawking, spitting and cleaning their noses very loudly then shouting to each other as if they were the only people in the place. Generally they seem to have no consideration for others in hostels and their hygiene could be improved if compared to that practised by the European.
Beijing's subway is really something to see and use. The whole system is clean; no rubbish, no graffiti, no ripped seats and fairly easy to use. Signs and announcements on the trains are in Chinese and English and it was possible to find someone to help out when I was lost though a person who actually spoke English was not easy to find. Before entering any subway station all bags were X-rayed, with no exception. The cost of the subway was 2 Yuan (20p) whatever the distance and this may be over one hour's travel. Set into the tunnel walls were video screen advertising products. It looked as though there were fifty or so screens in a continuous line so when flashing past them they looked to be one screen so that the same part of the advert could be seen. What they could do to someone suffering from migraines I hate to think. The subway was well used as most trains were very full.
The buses cost 1 Yuan (10p) for any distance travelled on that bus. They also had rolling screens with destinations and the next bus stop indicated in English. Finding out which bus to use was more of a problem so the subway was the easier choice.
The roads in and around Beijing were up to four lanes wide in each direction and this included those near Tiananmen Square. There was plenty of traffic on the roads and no driver had any patience for other drivers or pedestrians as first in won every time. There were a lot of policemen around and it was noticeable that when not waving their arms or telling people what to do they all stood to attention, even the ones directing traffic in the middle of the road. When walking anywhere singly or in groups they all marched, never sauntered.
Generally everything I saw was clean with people continually brushing up and removing rubbish. The population was very good in using rubbish bins. The one place that stood out in comparison was the site of the Ming Tombs, which looked as if it had not been cleaned for ages.
Following are pictures of the Forbidden City. They all look somewhat similar and I was disappointed with the visit there as about half of the site is closed. When I last saw it in 1983 there were many more building to visit and I think that it then made it more interesting. All it seemed like to me was that I walked in one door then straight through to the back door with little of interest in-between as the buildings looked somewhat similar. Certainly the place was big enough to disguise the number of tourists there, apparently more than usual as it was the school holidays throughout China.
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| Pot for keeping water to put out fires |
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| Door ornament |
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| Looks as if I should go and visit the Hall of Mental Cultivation to get in the right right frame of mind to continue travelling with some in the group that drive me round the bend |
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