我爱运动

 

Well my travel blog has to have a post about Beijing… and where do I start?

Beijing is without a doubt the busiest place I have been to, including Hong Kong. It is situated in the Scandinavian part of China. Beijing city has an area of about 17²km with a population of 14 million people. Now that is big! A quarter of the UK in one city!!!

Beijing is the capital of China and is the centre of their political, economic and cultural world. Beijing plays a very important part to the education of the Chinese with the best universities in Beijing.

My flight to Beijing was pretty good, I flew with British Airways and received excellent service, but as usual still became uncomfortable after a while… if only I could have flown to Beijing first class. Just reminded myself I have travelled first class with Emirates to the Maldives which was amazing. But this was a cheap flight, as had many others to pay for. Arriving at Beijing airport I was immediately hassled for money from the toilet cleaners, needless to say I didn’t give them anything I had just paid a fortune for the ticket.

Anyway I stayed in the Beijing Far East International Youth Hostel which was really nice, I also got to stay in their Beijing hotel opposite! I Couldn’t stay in youth hostels the whole time.

Now my lunch is over so I had better get back to work and finish this later…

Chengdu Hotpot, China

The reason for my visit to Chengdu was purely to visit the Wolong Panda Reserve. However heard many people say “You haven’t been to Chengdu until you’ve tried Chengdu Hotpot” and now I know why!

After a 32 hour train journey (even though it was a luxury train journey with nice beds and flat screens) I was still wondering why I never brought a cheap flight to Chengdu… then I remember my other internal flight in China and remember why! They didn’t have the greatest of safety records, and the landing was by no means the best I have encountered… but I was warned! The rough guide actually advises you to take other means of transport over internal flights in China.

Anyway after meeting a Chinese English teacher who desperately wanted to make the most of us English to practice on decided to take us on a tour of Chengdu. For half the day we sat in a Chinese tea garden drinking many cups of tea. I mean free refills all day how can you resist?

And after that we didn’t need any of the Chengdu car hire companies courtesy of our new guide, so off we went round the back streets to get a traditional Chengdu Hotpot.

Yes that is a frog… and worse its actually still alive! Chinese like their food fresh! The worst part of this dish was watching our guide dive in with his chopsticks and pull off the frogs head and eat it whole, to then spit the scull out. This is the delicacy. I did eat the frog but didn’t dare try the head on the second frog. The meat wasn’t too bad as you could wash down with a nice beer, but the skin tasted just like 9v battery terminals across your tongue. The actual organs were pretty horrid too.

The hotpot consisted of two half’s, one side for hot & spicy the other sweet & sour in a dish which looked pretty much like the yin yang symbol.

Other tasty ingredients consisted of ducks intestine, ox stomach, cow tongue and some other stuff which our guide couldn’t translate… so im still puzzled today.

All in all Chengdu was a fantastic trip especially to get to see the Giant Pandas, but due to our Hotel forgetting to book our train journey had a very unpleasant hour arguing with them as we had no where to stay! Everywhere else was fully booked which they found highly amusing.

I have to say I couldn’t wait to get to Shanghai after this!

Wolong International Panda Reserve, Chengdu, China

Well at first thoughts of traveling to Chengdu it seemed highly overrated! I mean a 32 hour train journey from Xian, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go that much to see the Wolong International Panda Reserve and sanctuary. Honestly could it really be worthwhile?

Short answer YES! It was absolutely amazing to see Pandas in an almost real environment, they were extremely well looked after in their nature reserve. Unlike other relations in the Beijing Zoo where I have heard many stories of money being thrown at the animals to get a reaction!

I even got to hand feed some young Red Pandas, I even got to hold one. Normally I wouldn’t be up for this due to the welfare of the animals, but I was sterilised and basically couldn’t get them off me after feeding them apples. I had never seen a Chinese Red Panda before or even knew they had existed.

It was unbelievable to see a baby Giant Panda, they are tiny! I was told that if a human were to have a baby in the same proportion as the Giant Panda the child would fit in a match box! The baby is 1/100th of the size of the parent. But due to the small size of the infant it is quite common that the Panda accidently kills it. Most of these deaths are for the first infant as the Pandas are quite scared and do not know what has happened.

Anyway on the positive side latest scientific evidenece using DNA testing on Giant Panda poo in the wild has shown that there are greater numbers of Giant Pandas in existence than previously thought. Lets just hope that the fantastic Wolong Panda Reserve continues to help look after these amazing animals.

Beijing Major Shopping Area

Some people say the Silk Market (Xiu Shui) is for foreigners and Xidan is for Beijingers. But whatever you are looking for, shopping is good sport and a pleasure for those who like to search for bargains. Big shopping centers in Beijing contain just about everything anyone could imagine. Many offer free concerts, fashion shows or other entertainment. Lufthansa, SOGO and Chung-yo are favorites, but so are the renovated Wangfujing and Xidan areas, Beijing's most modern shopping malls. For more down-to-earth shopping, why don? you try Beijing's open-air markets? In these places, successful shopping requires patience, time, a good eye for a bargain and bargaining skills.

                                     Wangfujing

This street is named for the 10 princes” mansion and their sweet-water well that was built during the Ming Dynasty. It was forbidden in those days to dig wells at random near the Imperial Palace. According to the principles of Chinese geomancy, the position of a building or tomb in relation to its natural landscape affects the fortune of its occupants. Drilling into the earth near the emperor's home without allowances for fengshui (wind and water) might have brought ruin to the royal family. As the only well in this neighborhood, and because it was prized as a scarce commodity, the well was closely monitored by the resident aristocracy.

The street, forever a trendsetter, has been reformed to a mostly pedestrian shopping mall, although bus services still use the street otherwise closed to vehicular traffic.

The best-known shop is the Beijing Department Store. To the north of the department Store is the One World Department Store, which features a collection of Chinese and foreign name brands and fine quality products. Sun Dong An Market is the largest market in Beijing with 100,000 square meters of floor area housing more than 200,000 kinds of goods.

Qianmen

Dashilan street was a commercial center of Beijing more than 500 years ago. Its old shops and small stalls are preferred by Beijingers.

                          Xidan

The Chung-Yo Department Store and the Xidan Market provide an ideal shopping, dining and entertainment environment. Chung-Yo's business is usually brisk. It offers monthly promotions, such as its Teacher's Day promotion on September 10, a "Clone Competition" (Chung-Yo takes photos of families and selects those that resemble each other the most). Discounted prices cause even the thriftiest of consumers to open their wallets without a thought. All the world's name-brand products are abundant here, which reflects Beijing's growing cosmopolitan presence. Rock'n'roll, shouting assistants, fashions make Xidan a paradise for shoppers.

Beginning this month, shoppers can enjoy "Open-air shopping", two corridors will link the four shopping centers. One is between Chung-Yo Department Store and the Pacific Department Store; the other lies between Huawei Mansion and its opposite building. Shopping promotions are being featured.

Silver Street

Silver Street is in the Dongdan Beidajie. It is where all the franchised foreign name-brand shops are concentrated.

Jianguomenwai Dajie

Jianguomenwai Dajie is famous for its colorful metropolitan scenes. The street is lined with star-rated hotels, office buildings, fancy restaurants, beauty salons and shopping centers. The well-known shopping centers are Friendship Store, SCITECH Plaza, Guiyou Department Store and the China World Shopping Mall.

The Silk Market

Despite its name, the Silk Market has much more than just silk. The silk products here are cheap, and therefore popular, but there are also a lot of cashmere garments, down jackets, leather goods, shoes, hats, watches and some handicrafts and trinkets. The Silk Market basically consists of a long, narrow street (XiushuiJie) lined with dozens of stalls. One of the main things about the Silk Market is the fact that none of the prices are set. It is often helpful to bring along a Chinese friend who can help you bargain.

Liulichang

The famous Liulichang street lies in Hepingmen since the Qing Dynasty for 200 years. There, those who failed in the imperial examination usually sold their books and inkslabs, and the declined families' heritages exchanged money with their antique collections. It became gradually a market consisted of about 100 shops dealing in traditional works and articles.

Works of Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese paintings, old wood block-print books, Chinese ink brushes, inkslabs and paper for calligraphy known as the for treasures of the study and other scholars traditional tools can be found in Liulichang.

Rongbaozhai, being the most important shop there, has more than 300 years' history and a fine copy technique for old Chinese painting.

Tourism-administration-designated stores

Tourism-administration-designated stores are specially open for overseas guests but an increasing number of local residents also shop here because of the stores unique stock and good service. They are ideal places to buy arts and crafts, antiques and other Beijing specialties. Money changing, postal and consigning services are often offered.

Century-old stores

Century-old stores, like those in Beijing's hutongs (alleys) and siheyuan (courtyards), have become part of the city's history. Their fame and location in some of the most bustling downtown areas keep them busy but, at the same time, the stores are small and offer a relatively poor shopping environment.

Panjiayuan

This is a Saturday and Sunday morning antique and collectible market. You name it, it's there!

Hongqiao

The Pearl Market is in the permanent building at the northeast side of Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven). You'll find pearls and cloisonnet ware at the top level shops. The first few floors are fabulous as well -- traditional Chinese clothing, knock-off handbags, luggage, beaded evening bags, shawls, children's shoes and clothing. Wow!

Xiushui

The world Market is on the west wide of Ritan Park (Temple of the Sun Park). This is where you'll find fur coats, clothing, hats, bras, toys, bathing suits, and more "stuff"for example, nike shoes, nike dunk, nike air force one , nike shox nz, nike r3,nike r4, nike shox Energia,nike tl,nike tl 2 shoes,nike tl 3,nike tl 5,nike air max 97,nike air max 2003,nike air max plus,nike air max 360, nike football shoes,nike basketball shoes,nike women’s shox NZ shoes,nike women’s shox R3 shoes,nike women’s shox R4 shoes,nike women’s shox Energia shoes, Nike women's air max 97, Nike women's air max 2003, Nike women's air max plus,nike women’s air max 360, than you can imagine -- all destined for world in bulk quantities.

While other markets may come and go in Beijing -- these seem to have some staying power.