Beijing

We arrived in Beijing at 5:46. I was still sleepy and at the same time wide awake: I had no idea what the day would bring, for a change. It was still dark when we left the train and I joined up with the two Germans and the guy from Switzerland I had met in Zabaikalsk. Despite the early hour, the station and the station square were crowded, and initially I felt lost in the labyrinth of people and bright lights.

We were all hungry, but first things first: we needed cash, so we went to find some ATMs. The machines all pertinently refused to accept any of my cards, but one of the guys was nice enough to withdraw some money for me. While the sky was getting lighter, we looked for a place to eat breakfast and we ended up in the Chinese KFC. We all had no idea what kind of food we ordered, and it turned out the pictures in the menu were a bit misleading. My dish turned out to be tiny, while another was much bigger than expected. So we all shared.
When we got back outside, the sun had come up, revealing high, modern buildings, busy streets, and, most remarkably, a blue and almost smogless sky. We didn’t admire it for long, however, before we went underground. At the metro station, we went our separate ways to our hostels.

I was surprised at how easy and convenient the metro was. Even if I hadn't been able to speak a word Chinese, I would have easily found my way, since every sign is both in Chinese and English. Tickets are really cheap, so it’s not surprising that it was quite crowded, even that early in the morning. I was just before rush hour, so it was

doable, but of course as the only westerner in the whole metro I attracted quite some attention, and my large red backpack only made it worse.

When I arrived, I was immediately pointed to my room, a dorm with 6 beds, still empty that morning. I gladly put my stuff in a locker, to relieve my backpack (and my back) from some of its weight. I went for my second (free) breakfast to the restaurant next door, expecting something simple and Chinese – and was almost disappointed when what I got was an English breakfast!
Stepping out of the restaurant, I realized that it was still morning. What a day. I set out to find the supermarket first, and then spend quite some time exploring the huge store. They had almost everything, from life fish to plants to clothes and towels, from nuts and fruits to strange herbs and seeds. The place was enormous. I even spotted pasta, and oatmeal! But some proper bread was nowhere to be found.

After the supermarket, I had another mission: buying a smaller bag. My hostel was located in one of Beijing’s hutongs: small streets and alleys, traditional buildings, lots of shops, and since it was the weekend, getting more and more crowded by the minute. My backpack was just too big to manoeuvre through all of it.

I spend the rest of the morning exploring the hutong. It was such a nice feeling, to just be able to set out, with no worries about train times or getting back in time. I spend several hours just walking in and out of tiny shops, taking in all of the strange sights and smells, camera in hand. I was one of the few westerners in the crowded streets, but to my surprise, everyone acted like tourists, looking at souvenirs, taking pictures, buying snacks. The hutong really was souvenir heaven, but the food trumped it all: I saw Belgian waffles,

macarons, fries, ice cream, frozen yogurt, fried squid, all kinds of meat on a stick, and of course all sorts of Chinese snacks I didn’t recognize. For lunch, I had trouble finding a place that wasn’t full. When I finally sat down somewhere and ordered something, it turned out to be so spicy, it almost made me cry!

The hot food, the crowds and busy streets, Chinese characters everywhere - I was in China for sure. But it didn’t really feel like Beijing. I had been expecting huge streets, skyscrapers, cars everywhere. The traditional hutong was quite different, and didn’t give you the feeling at all that you were surrounded by a huge city and millions of people.

That afternoon I visited the Bell and the Drum tower, to get a beautiful view of the city. The weather was great, exceptional even: there was blue sky, sun, and hardly any smog! In the evening, I felt I had dealt with Chinese food enough for one day and bought myself from French fries for dinner. With a whole year ahead of me, I would have time enough to try countless dishes.