Beijing

Day 331 (May 25, 2019) – Beijing, China

Beijing is enormous. I feel like we only ever saw a tiny section of the city during our time there. It was also noticeably more expensive than other places we had been in China and, to our surprise, much hotter. We were staying in a hotel near the drum and bell towers, which are just north of the Forbidden City. Around the neighborhood were many small residential areas with narrow, interconnecting alleys called hutongs. Most of the neighborhoods were quite historical, with some houses and courtyards being hundreds of years old.

One of the many alleys in the area around our hotel.

Walking through the hutongs was always entertaining. They were quiet streets lined with parked bicycles and scooters. There would be an occasional parked car if the alley was wide enough, but more often we saw these funny looking three-wheeled vehicles that look more like go-carts than cars. These three-wheeled vehicles were everywhere in China, but they were usually more like motorcycles with a tiny flat bed in the back. But given that it can get very cold in Beijing, the three-wheeled vehicles were entirely enclosed, making them look like little mini cars. There were usually a few people walking down the alleys too, often with a kid in tow. Public bathrooms seemed to be on every street corner and used often by locals.

I thought these tiny tricycle cars were so funny.

We were very pleased to find a bunch of craft beer bars scattered across the city, although most were very pricey even by western standards. They weren’t congregated in the same part of town so we would usually pick one to walk to for a drink before dinner and then find a restaurant nearby to eat at. Our favorite was Great Leap Brewing, which seemed to be the most affordable, starting at about $5 a pint. They also had a really nice enclosed patio. At night it was packed with people, mostly westerners, which sort of made it feel like we were at home somewhere, with lots of English being spoken all around us. It was kind of a strange experience to have in the middle of a huge Chinese city.

In the courtyard of our favorite craft beer bar in Beijing, Great Leap Brewing.

We had two classic dinners while in Beijing. The first was simply meat on a stick. This was eaten absolutely everywhere but especially as a street food snack around tourist attractions. It’s not any more complicated than it sounds. A huge variety of different meats (and occasionally a vegetable) are seasoned, skewered, and grilled. You order by the skewer. Although we saw this everywhere in China, Beijing seemed to have a surprising number of restaurants that specialized in this for lunch or dinner. We ended up at two different places where we had an eclectic collection of grilled items for dinner. We would usually supplement the skewers with a couple leafy side dishes and a pint of Chinese beer.

Meat on a stick for dinner. I think we also had some tofu on a stick and mushrooms on a stick too.

Our other culinary classic was the Peking duck we had for lunch one day. This may have been our first ever authentic Peking duck prepared in the traditional way. It was served with sweat bean sauce, cucumbers, and radish that were wrapped up with the duck in little pancakes. The skin was super crispy, and the taste was very good, but it was extremely rich and heavy. It didn’t look like that much food, but we were stuffed by the time we finished it. Although very tasty, I have to say that I think I prefer the French preparation of duck confit over Peking duck.

Peking duck.

According to the guidebooks, no visit to Beijing is complete without seeing the Forbidden City. So naturally, we had to check it out. Despite the cultural significance, I think we both agree that the site is a bit overrated. The main problem, like most things in China, was the insane number of people who were also there to see it. The Forbidden City was used by China’s emperors as their palace and grounds for hundreds of years. The name is in reference to the fact that no one could enter or exit without the emperor’s permission. The most shocking thing about the Forbidden City is simply how big it is. It really is the size of a city. We walked for hours and didn’t come close to seeing all the buildings and courtyards. There are temples, theater stages, gardens, ceremonial buildings, and residences for hundreds of imperial family members and staff. The buildings and courtyards seem to stretch on forever. It was clear, however, that the city was not intended to accommodate as many people as there are visiting today. Despite the enormous buildings and open squares, most areas are connected to one another through narrow passages and doorways, ideal for creating human traffic jams. It was impressive to see everything and learn about all the history, but we were tiring of the crowds before we even finished our walking tour and we were happy to escape to find some breathing room.

Inside the Forbidden City. 

There were  hundreds of ornate buildings all within the walls of the Forbidden City.

Far more interesting to me was seeing the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Like all good communist leaders, Mao was embalmed and displayed in a crystal casket in his very own massive mausoleum. After a tremendous amount of confusion and security checks, we finally figured out where we needed to go. Working our way from the subway to the Mausoleum in Tiananmen Square through the crowds of people was not an easy task. After finally making it to the Mausoleum I was turned away because of my backpack, which had to be check in the building all the way across the street where we had just come from. After properly checking my bag and crossing the busy street twice, we managed to get in the long line to the mausoleum. Fortunately, the line moved fairly quickly. We had to go through another round of security yet again but we eventually made it inside. We were in a line of people as we slowly walked past the preserved Mao, which afforded us a viewing for about 30 seconds, before being ushered out the back of the building. It’s hard to say why I found the experience so interesting, but I’m really glad we went.

The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. You can also see the line of people waiting to enter.

Tiananmen Square.

When we left Beijing, I felt like we had hardly seen anything. We had walked for hours in every direction around us, but we were still only in one small section of the city. We could probably go back a dozen more times and still not see everything, but we got a small taste of things. We left Beijing by bus. We were headed northeast a couple hours to see the Great Wall of China again.

Kids playing in a park between an ancient bell tower and drum tower.