China, Train Trip - Part 2, The Views

After hours of small villages, mountains and a very gravelly river it was dark and when I woke up the next morning all was different:

The trip was great. I hope to go back to China and if I do I will try to do more train trip. The girl who when with us to Xi'an had told me that the train trip from Chengdu to Beijing was not worth it and that you could see nothing on it but I am very pleased that I did it. To me the "all bunch of nothing" was really nice and very much worth it.

China, Train Trip - Part 1, The Train

I took a train trip from Chengdu to Beijing (28 hours) and bought myself a "soft sleeper" seat lower bed. Which is pretty much the best seat you can get and the most expensive. The ticket cost about $70.

Here is the inside of the compartment with my seat/bed.

Not much to do but look out the window...

....or sleep.

You can see in the window of the train opposite us at the platform, people go to the restaurant car and stay there for the entire trip, at least some do. If you want a seat you have to go right away but you really don't have to go (mostly because it is a smoking area) because a cart comes throught the train and sales food three times a day and you can buy pretty decent food for about $3.

Theplatform at one of our stops in a small town.

The label on my train.

I should say that trains in China are incredibly safe. I had originally bought a special kind of net you can put around your bag to protect it and tight it down thinking that in the train my bag would be alone when ever I was going to the bathroom or stepping away anywhere, but in the end I would get up and just leave my camera on the seat or on the little table at the centre of the compartment and had no problems.

China, Beijing - Part 6, Bei Hai Park

Again not "The Essential guide to Bei Hai Park" but just some shots that I liked.

People do all kind of things in the parks of Beijing, they do Tai Chi, ball room dancing, play instruments, sing etc. This guy is writing using just water to add the aspect of all things being temporary to what he is writing.

The nine dragons screen.

A closer view.

Of course people pause in front of it.

Every pauses for photos even little girls. She is doing a peace sign.

China, Beijing - Part 5, May 1rst

May 1rst is obviously a big day in China.
By May 1st I had been in China long enough to know that most tourists in China are Chinese on holidays and I knew that May 1rst was going to be a very busy day regardless of where I was going. I thought of going to Badaling (a very popular site on the Great Wall) to see it at its "worst" but thought I probably should not waste the effort of sorting out a bus etc and instead I decided to go to Tiananmen Square and back through the Forbidden City. The all idea of going into the Forbidden City was cancelled when I saw this:

(You'll recognize the great big red structure in the background as the main southern gate of the Forbidden City)

The subway station for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City southern gate (the same station since they are next to each other) was closed and the side streets leading to the entrance looked like this:

Tiananmen Square is so big that it did not seem so busy.

Apart from its southern end.

The only access to Tiananmen Square (which is surrounded by busy multi-lane avenues) is through underground pedestrian passageways. The crowd in there was crazy and in fact a little boy near me nearly got trampled by the crowd and was only safe once his dad took him on his shoulders.

On my way "home" I walked through Bei Hai Park close to my hostel and the lake was busy with the little boats you can rent there. All the parks, tourist places etc in Beijing were very busy. It was actually quite an experience and I am pleased I saw it.



China, Beijing - Part 4, Temple of Heaven

China, Beijing - Part 3, Forbidden City

Just some sights of the Forbidden City which I liked. I am not even trying to be fair and show you "The Essential Forbidden City".

China, Beijing - Part 2, courtyard doors

 Chinese doors are very photogenic.

This is the door of a courtyard. Look at the number of electrical counters above the door. How many family live behind that door?

Red is of course a favourite colour.

I love the way it feels like you are in the countryside when you are in the alleys but you really are in a huge city. The 2010 census counted 19.6 million people in Beijing compared to 13.8 in the 2000 census.