Trans-Mongolian Railway - Part 7: Beijing
We arrived at the end of the Trans-Mongolian Railway: Beijing. But before flying back home, we have a few days to explore Beijing. Near our hotel, we visit a day-market. We don't know where to look. We see all kind of animals in small cages for their new owners. Well, owners...
That evening, we went to a restaurant near that market. We would never have entered this restaurant, but our guide said that this was a great place to eat traditional Chinese food. When we received the menu, we realized that there was a small problem: we don't know what to order as the entire menu was written in Chinese. Based on the pictures, we showed the waitress what we wanted to order, hoping it was eatable. We still don't know what we have eaten that night, but one thing for sure: it was delicious!
We were advised to spent the rest of the evening in Houhai. When a taxi drop us off, we only see a dancing crowd. Taking a second look, we also identify a number of smaller bars. In one of these bars, we have one sociable evening. But as we have a busy day ahead, we decide not to make it too late.
The next day, we start our tour through Beijing at the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. At some point, we have the feeling that we are not looking at an attraction, but that we are the attraction. Many Chinese want to take a photograph of us. Being tall and blond are not always very pleasant. Really, if we would have asked money for every photo, we would have become rich that day. But just as surprised the Chinese might have been by our appearance, we were surprised by the fact that everybody was eating melon on a stick (sorry, we don't know how we should describe this any better). Where we normally eat ice-cream, the Chinese eat melon on a stick.
Now we are in Beijing, we also want to try the real Peking Duck. That evening, we get the chance to try it at a local restaurant. Because of the language barrier, we don't know if this was the traditional Peking Duck, at least we can tell that we liked this one. The next days, we continued exploring Beijing, including the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Olympic Village and we made a Rickshaw through a Hutong (traditional narrow alleys). Lastly, we also visited the Chinese Wall (near Mutianyu). Because of the chaotic city center of Beijing, we were prepared for the worst. But to our surprise, there weren't a lot of people at the Chinese Wall. A welcome surprise after the hectic days in Beijing to end our Trans-Mongolian Railway on the Chinese Wall.
