17th Feb Beijing and the Wall
Off to THE WALL at 0800 with Eric heading towards the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall-a beautiful day we can see blue sky for the first time. Again our decision to travel now seems to have been vindicated (dumb luck) but it seems incredible to have the wall pretty much to ourselves. It is hard to determine what is original and what is new but the way the wall moves over the hillsides is impressive as is the scale of the work itself.
Then to the main tomb at Dingling, which was a surprise to us as it, hadn’t really featured in any of our must dos. But again the scale of the work is unbelievable as the main tomb is one of thirteen Imperial tombs in a valley outside Beijing that are all interconnected.
(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_tombs)
Although the article says three sites are open we were told that the government has only allowed the one tomb to be opened and fully excavated and made open for visitors. It is a couple of levels underground and the burial chamber has been preserved. On our way back to Beijing we visit another tomb (not opened) but famous for its “sacred way” with its never-ending honour guard of stone animals and warriors.
Tonight we left our beloved Courtyard Seven. Not only was it amazing to be in an authentic traditional hutong house but also its location within a neighbourhood enabled us to get to get to grips with Beijing. After all this trip was not about Beijing as a destination but rather the start of our Trans Mongolian train trip. After staying there though we both felt that Beijing definitely had its attractions and we felt comfortable being able to navigate around it.
The difference was evident as soon as we moved to our new hotel, the Penta, which we had chosen to be near the station for departure the next day. It was in a area with fast food restaurants, apartments, designer shops and an underground supermarket. The hotel style was hipster and comfortable.
After going to the supermarket for train snacks we the tried a Chinese dumpling fast food restaurant. After puzzling over the menu and looking at the pictures we looked up to see the entire kitchen staff peering at us. We got a wave; we waved back and then returned to confusing the poor young man with no English who had volunteered to take our order. What happened next belongs in the Guinness Book of Records for the most dumplings consumed at one sitting as we ended up with food for the whole restaurant on our table all for about 20 dollars. I am convinced to this day that we got someone else’s meal as well as our own. Not to turn down a challenge we finished the lot and repaired back to the Penta.
