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INDIVIDUAL VOYAGE THROUGH CHINA DURING 7 WEEKS PEKING XIAN CHENGDU CHONGQING YANGTZE RIVER MOUNTS HUANGSHAN HANGZHOU SUZHOU SHANGHAI PEKING
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
ARRIVAL
19.9.1990
www.flickr.com/photos/jeanette
Finally in China! The train curries us away towards Xian, 1165km in the southwest of Peking but what happened until now?
Departure from Belgrade (17.9) by plane to Peking via Warsaw. The flight is calm; I’m dreaming awake. Suddenly something is going wrong. The steward pours boiling tea on Milan’s leg. The effect is relatively alarming. I am anxious and wonder was it wise to go to that unknown land if by chance we need help. Fortunately in Moscow, during a new team took the command, a doctor attended Milan and the incident was quickly forgotten.
I feel not tired flying above Peking, after a ten hours fly overlooking Siberia, Baikal Lake, Mongolian desert and The Great Wall. The pilot announces it’s 4 PM (7 hours later than in Belgrade) – temperature 22 degrees.
Feet on the ground I can’t yet realize where I am but the sounds of an Eastern music confirm my dream is coming true!
We get our luggage without problems. Outside we follow the numerous travelers we suppose are going taking a bus. So we are soon in the town center were we continue by taxi to the Ciao-Yuan Hotel, which Lonely Planet recommends. It’s a backpackers one, full of youth looking, astonished, at that “respectable pair” (55 and 65). At the reception they speak English offering us the best free room, modest but clean for 12$.
The next morning we are looking for some breakfast. What to eat? Near the hotel many pitiable snacks offer their traditional dishes but we are not disposed to taste them at this moment however we decided to live the everyday life of the common Chinese.
On our way, traveling kitchens equipped with an improvised furnace with on it, a pot “God knows what”! Finally we stay in a rank where a head cook makes giant pancakes with fine chopped leek, eggs and hot seasoning. Very good!
Now we go by bus to the center of city. Impressive are the very large and very long streets looking like a sea of bicycles accompanied by the uninterrupted sound of hundreds of bells. To reach the other side of Don-Chang-Han (80m) slipping through the cyclists is literally an exploit. Entering the railway station it’s not easy to find the right wicket with their indecipherable inscriptions. LP (Lonely planet) reports there is a separate booking office for foreigners and soon we leave the station our tickets - sleeping car – for XIAN in the pockets. It’s time for dinner. Rice, chicken, sauce, two drinks = 12yuan (2$). All around us sympathetic Chinese gently smile seeing Jeanette and Milan not able to handle chopsticks. I smile too and everything is OK. We spend the afternoon wandering up and down because we’ll visit Peking during the last days of our stay in the country. Although we have to see Tian’anmen square (it means The Door of the Celestial Peace) – impressed is that immense space which extend in front of the “Prohibited Cite”. Just here I have to confront the public toilets which (according to the guide) are not only without cabins but are also exempt of partitions! A pleasant surprise seeing the wall decorations, a rock with a fountain where swim red fishes; in the Ladies, a sofa – flowers – impeccable lavabos and cabins. Though, I wonder how it will look like elsewhere. I feel so exciting and in the same time a little afraid walking in the large commercial Wangfujing street among a crowd of thousands typical Chinese faces, to me all the same.
Peking station
www.flickr.com/photos/jeanette
Finally in China! The train curries us away towards Xian, 1165km in the southwest of Peking but what happened until now?
Departure from Belgrade (17.9) by plane to Peking via Warsaw. The flight is calm; I’m dreaming awake. Suddenly something is going wrong. The steward pours boiling tea on Milan’s leg. The effect is relatively alarming. I am anxious and wonder was it wise to go to that unknown land if by chance we need help. Fortunately in Moscow, during a new team took the command, a doctor attended Milan and the incident was quickly forgotten.
I feel not tired flying above Peking, after a ten hours fly overlooking Siberia, Baikal Lake, Mongolian desert and The Great Wall. The pilot announces it’s 4 PM (7 hours later than in Belgrade) – temperature 22 degrees.
Feet on the ground I can’t yet realize where I am but the sounds of an Eastern music confirm my dream is coming true!
We get our luggage without problems. Outside we follow the numerous travelers we suppose are going taking a bus. So we are soon in the town center were we continue by taxi to the Ciao-Yuan Hotel, which Lonely Planet recommends. It’s a backpackers one, full of youth looking, astonished, at that “respectable pair” (55 and 65). At the reception they speak English offering us the best free room, modest but clean for 12$.
The next morning we are looking for some breakfast. What to eat? Near the hotel many pitiable snacks offer their traditional dishes but we are not disposed to taste them at this moment however we decided to live the everyday life of the common Chinese.
On our way, traveling kitchens equipped with an improvised furnace with on it, a pot “God knows what”! Finally we stay in a rank where a head cook makes giant pancakes with fine chopped leek, eggs and hot seasoning. Very good!
Now we go by bus to the center of city. Impressive are the very large and very long streets looking like a sea of bicycles accompanied by the uninterrupted sound of hundreds of bells. To reach the other side of Don-Chang-Han (80m) slipping through the cyclists is literally an exploit. Entering the railway station it’s not easy to find the right wicket with their indecipherable inscriptions. LP (Lonely planet) reports there is a separate booking office for foreigners and soon we leave the station our tickets - sleeping car – for XIAN in the pockets. It’s time for dinner. Rice, chicken, sauce, two drinks = 12yuan (2$). All around us sympathetic Chinese gently smile seeing Jeanette and Milan not able to handle chopsticks. I smile too and everything is OK. We spend the afternoon wandering up and down because we’ll visit Peking during the last days of our stay in the country. Although we have to see Tian’anmen square (it means The Door of the Celestial Peace) – impressed is that immense space which extend in front of the “Prohibited Cite”. Just here I have to confront the public toilets which (according to the guide) are not only without cabins but are also exempt of partitions! A pleasant surprise seeing the wall decorations, a rock with a fountain where swim red fishes; in the Ladies, a sofa – flowers – impeccable lavabos and cabins. Though, I wonder how it will look like elsewhere. I feel so exciting and in the same time a little afraid walking in the large commercial Wangfujing street among a crowd of thousands typical Chinese faces, to me all the same.
Peking station
Posted by: jeanette / 2:57 AM 
