I was surprised and happy that I was invited to
Beijing to present a paper at the Tsinghua University. This was my first trip
to China. I had several apprehensions-people had warned me that the English
language could be a challenge and being a vegetarian I may find it difficult to
find “pure vegetarian food”. Of course the only solace is that I eat eggs, but
did not want to project this as a preference. I went through all the formalities
in office and received all the required documents. While I was planning the
professional aspects of the trip, I also started planning the personal itinerary
for the trip.
I had decided to stay back 2 days in Beijing post the
conference. So I started talking to friends who had visited Beijing earlier. I
took a lot of tips from them and planned accordingly. Then I conducted some
research on the internet and jotted down things that would be of interest to
me. In all my travels, I am quite clear
that there is a 2-pronged aim. One is to visit some of the places of tourist
interests or something that was always on my bucket list. The second is to
amble on the streets, tiny alleys with no agenda. This is mainly to understand
the people, culture, traditions (whatever little I can).
Keeping the above in mind, I planned accordingly. Before
I embarked on this sightseeing trip, I had a fantastic time with a journalist
friend Feng whom I had established contact with, prior to my visit. She took me
out to dinner to a vegetarian restaurant. The ambience was lovely, the menu
card (I should rather say book) was even lovelier with graphics and a huge
menu. With help from Feng I believed I chose “pure vegetarian” dishes. However,
I think I ate fish which was supposed to be rice crispies!!
I then launched on to the solo touristic trip. With
the help of one of the organisers of the conference, I booked myself on a coach
to visit the Great Wall of China. This would be the second wonder of the world
I would be visiting (the first being the Taj Mahal). I had to go to a meeting
point from my hotel and it was an ordeal asking the receptionist to book a cab
for me, due to the lack of English language at the hotel and lack of Chinese
language from my side. Of course my experience in playing dumb charades and
sketching came into use. I enacted walking up the China wall and drew the same to
explain my requirement.
I reached the
meeting point and Victor our guide came to pick me up. The journey was for
about 1.5 hours. This is where I met
some Indians, Pakistani and tourists from other countries. Victor explained the
tour and set the expectations for the trip, for the next few hours. On our way,
we stopped at a small village (Huairou County) to pick up snacks, coffee etc.
According to Victor, it was inexpensive to buy from the small shop than to buy
at the Great Wall of China which would be far more expensive.
Then we passed a village Mu Tian Yu where the
government has encouraged local artisans to set up their wares and artefacts for
selling. It is said that it mandatory that all tourists need to walk through
the village street and pay a toll, which goes towards the up keeping of these
artisans.
We continued our
journey to the Great Wall of China. Apparently the wall measures up to 629 kms
in Beijing alone and the official length is 21,196.18
km across
the whole of China. History claims that small fortifications were built as
early as the 7th century. The wall also served as a defensive shield
apart from being a corridor to transport goods for trading purposes. The wall
is intermittent with openings to act as defensive barricade. Officially it is
over 2,300 years old. Once we arrived we
purchased tickets for the cable car and were asked to choose number 14 which
takes us right to the top and brings us down. It costed us 100 yuan (to and
fro).
The ride was
awesome and it really made me and the other co-passengers admire the skills of
the craftsmen who had built it without any modern technology or conveyance to
carry the material where they had to walk miles and miles up the hill, and here
we were traveling in a cable car to admire the same. I believe the wall has
several memories. Along the wall are several arch gates which are built of
brick and stone. They are cemented by a mixture made from rice starch which
holds it fast.
The wall has several watch towers which served in
identifying enemies and also in protecting the city. The steps are narrow and
steep in some places. The walk on the wall is quite easy in most places, but it
is a very long walk. I could only cover three towers and then returned to wait
for Victor - our guide and co-passengers at the base. Talking off Victor,
apparently all Chinese people have 2 names-Chinese and English counterparts. So
Victor’s name in Chinese is actually Wu
(meaning victory). We then had lunch at Mr. Yang a small restaurant. The
vegetarian meal we got consisted of boiled cauliflower with red chillies, tomato
with scrambled egg, lettuce salad, aubergine and fish and chicken (which is
considered vegetarian and of course I did not eat it).
We returned to the city and I visited the Lama temple
with some friends (from India and Pakistan) I had met on the tour. The temple was beautiful and the building and artwork of the temple is a
combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.
We then visited the Silk market where we shopped a bit
and went for dinner to Ganges (an Indian restaurant run by a Gujarati-Yogesh Patel
from Mumbai).
The next day I
decided to take it a bit easy and visited the Tianaman Square. It was initially
built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.- 1644 A.D.).
History claims that this was the front door of the Forbidden City. It was used
for celebrating ceremonial events and was meant for only the royalty. It is a
well-guarded place with several security men placed all over the square. The
entry to the mail square is free.
Unfortunately
I could not enter the Forbidden City (also known as Palace Museum) since it is
closed on Tuesday’s. However, whatever exterior I saw, was lovely and huge. It
is said that the palace was the home for over 24 Chinese emperors from 1420 to
1911. The Palace is surrounded by a moat which is 3,800 metres long and52
meters wide.
One of
the unique things I discovered in Beijing, was the number and different types
of electric vehicles. The 2-wheelers would appear silently and if you are not
careful bump into you and receive some swear words from the rider!!
Tips to Travellers:
ü Research
well before going to Beijing
ü Contact
people who have visited earlier for some guidelines
ü Write
down names of key destinations (perhaps along with some pictures) in Chinese
and English
ü Wear
comfortable shoes since there is a lot to walk
ü For
vegetarians please equip with some pre-prepared food (and MTR ready to eat
stuff)
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