What else is going on in Beijing ?

So what else has been going on here in China's capital... Well, I've been taking it easy recently, studying some Chinese, reading and generally just recuperating and contemplating, getting ready to switch back into travel mode and head off to some new and exciting places... or maybe get a job... or maybe something else. Meanwhile I popped into the Imperial Palace better known as the "Forbidden City", visited the Dongyue Temple and revisited the Sanlitun area and the Workers (Gongti) Stadium where I stayed in 2002, to see what had changed around the area. This was quite sad in some ways. While the stadium is being redeveloped ready for the Olympics, across the road where used to stand some nice cafes where I ate a few times, there now stands a building site.. Further into the old and full of character Sanlitun South area which used to be a maze of winding streets, full of local traders with little stalls or shops, kids running around, many homes and some foreign oriented cafes and bars, there now stands just piles of rubble for hundreds of metres around, the cafes I used to visit for a beer in the evening, the homes of the previous residents, all long gone.

Last time in Beijing I met a Norwegian called Torborg with whom I saw many of the sites. Something that amused us was when she spotted a toilet in the Forbidden City with a star rating, jut like you would have on a hotel, we had never seen this before and found it funny. I saw it again on my recent visit, the Forbidden City toilet had a 4* rating.

I also went along to another city temple called Dongyue. With spring festival holiday period now over, it was nice and quiet until a large tour bus of Chinese tourists arrived, but I managed to stay ahead of them and enjoy the peaceful surroundings in relative quiet. There were thousands and thousands of red new year cards, whose proper name I do not know, hanging around every railing and some stands around the grounds. This and a few other decorations made this a very colourful temple. I noticed though the toilet there had only a poor 1* rating, they must do something about that !!


Left: Red Chinese New Year decorations hanging at Dongyue temple.
Centre: Forbidden City's **** toilet.
Right: Dongyue Temple still have some work to do on their toilet, just one * rating.

Crossing Tiananmen Square, you can be sure of being approached by various people trying to sell you a kite, a Chairman Mao little red book of quotations (no other colours available ;-)), a Chinese flag, a map of Beijing, their services as a tour guide to the Great Wall/Forbidden City or maybe they just want to speak English, some unfortunately also want to take you to an 'art gallery' or have a chat over a 'cup of tea' with you, which are scams intended to relieve you of the loads of money they believe all foreigners have in abundance. Each day I walk past the square you can see the clock outside the Chinese National Museum showing how long until the start of the Beijing Olympics, now just around 500 days away.


Left: Something that hasn't changed, Mao Zedong still watches over the gateway to the Forbidden City.
Centre: On Tiananmen Square, everyone tries to sell "Mao's little red book" of quotations.
Right: More red New Year card/decorations at Dongyue temple.

Finally on my wanderings I found just off the main shopping street a newish tourist street,selling typical Chinese souvenirs. Often on my travels, I have mocked souvenirs available in various places; bizarre Soviet items such as cosmonaut's helmets in Kiev, Bush/Blair/Hussein matryoshkas (Russian nesting dolls) in Moscow, freaky masks in Transylvania, but here it's different. There are some oddities; I wonder why they sell Russian matryoshkas, CCCP (USSR) slogan t-shirts and Saddam Hussein playing cards (which some guy shoves in my face every time I walk past his stall), but there are many attractive and interesting items. Silks and traditional Chinese clothing which are really nice, if you like tea, there are all sorts of tea pots and tea-cups available, cuddly Beijing 2008 Olympic pandas, beautifully painted snuff bottles, jade carvings, Chinese scroll paintings, calligraphy and other art, decorative chopsticks and jewellery all of which are quite appealing even if sometimes of dubious quality. If I had space in my rucksack I could easily have bought a load of things.


Left: Here I am in the first main courtyard of the Forbidden City.
Centre: The Hall of Supreme Harmony, is not as attractive as last time I visited !
Right: Cute pandas in the markets.