Life in South Korea: Beijing

On our way to Mongolia we had a layover in Beijing. It was a long layover- twelve hours long. We tried to get a visa, but China’s tourist visas are $150 for one entry. We were not about to pay that. We figured, okay we’ll just sleep in the airport. No Problem. When we arrived in Beijing, we couldn’t get into the terminal to wait it out. We couldn’t get boarding passes for the next flight until 2 hours before departure. We were sent to all of these different areas, because we didn’t have a visa and couldn’t go through immigration. Finally, we got sent to a special line. There were given a stamp and told that we could leave. We thought they meant, go to the terminal. We couldn’t there. Everyone kept telling us to leave. It didn’t seem right that China was just going to let us out into the country without jumping through all of the hoops everyone else has to go through. Finally, we were convinced. We walked nervously through customs. I was scared that China was going to hit us with a big fine or something. There were many people in the same boats as us and they were getting hotel rooms. I figured China’s not going to arrest 20 foreigners at once. Once we got out, we had no clue where to go. We tried to figure out the trains and buses. It was late at night, so transportation was limited. We found an airport shuttle that would take us to the outskirts of Beijing. From there we had to catch a taxi. Fine. We wanted to go to Tiananmen Square. The first taxis had no clue what we were talking about. We saw a Swissotel and figured they could call us a cab. We got in and there was swine flu screening and we couldn’t get in without a reservation. The man at the door did not speak English. It seemed like a lost cause, and then he got out his cell phone. He called an English speaker and we arranged a taxi. Things were coming together. It was getting exciting in the taxi. We started seeing Chairman Mao posters, we were there. Beijing. The taxi let us out and we started walking. We were hungry. We stopped to get some corn from a street vendor. While we were getting the corn, some peddicabs came over. They offered us a ride around Tiananmen Square, 40 min for 40 Yuan. It sounded like a good deal. It was fun riding around a deserted city in the middle of the night. Towards the end, they asked if we wanted to go somewhere for beer. We said yes and went on a huge tour. We rode the Forbidden City, some lakes, and lots of homeless camps. A strange thing about Beijing was the street culture. Men were gambling in front of every open store. Hardly a man was wearing a shirt. It was strange, because it wasn’t even that warm. I had to put a sweater on. The cab dropped us of in a very lively area. The problem came when it was time to pay. The price went from 40 Yuan to 180 Yuan. Ellen and I split the cost. It sucked and she was very upset, but that’s how they make money. We should have worked out the details for the longer ride. And, peddicab drivers have to really work for there money. Biking around westerns for over an hour is tough. Once we got the payment figured out we went out to eat. I was excited to have real Chinese food. The restaurant was pretty much out of food by the time we got there. They showed us pigs’ ear, chicken and beef. We took the chicken. Then we chose two greens. The chicken that came out was the picked over one they showed us. We thought we would be getting a new chicken, not left overs. It was a strange meal, but it was delicious. After that we walked around this lake that had all kinds of bars. It was really late at this point and most places we closed. Finally, we decided to catch a cab back to the airport. It was almost check in time. Our night in China was over.