GUANGXI 14: FORBIDDEN CITY AND HOUHAI

I set my alarm for 9am the next morning and as the weather is so clear I've planned another visit to the Forbidden City, which I visited last year and indeed for the first time 20 years ago: but I've always come away with a feeling that there is more to see. It was once so shrouded in mystery and fear that today it is difficult to imagine its past life, or a sense of its former community. The last time I came my camera batteries kept failing in the cold so this time I take the Nikon. By the time I'm ready however, after a coffee and shower, it's past 11 am so I decide to have a light lunch first: I'm unsure where to go and consider going to Stuff'd, however I spot a tiny cafe which offers hot dogs and potato salad, Sadly though he doesn't have potato salad ready yet so I settle for a hot dog and honey tea. The owner speaks very good English and has been to university in Australia where he trained in “international business” as he calls it. I ask him why he chose to open a cafe and he tells me he has always wanted to do it. I imagine his family is wealthy and probably helped him out with it because it sounds as if they made him get some sort of job before he set up his business. This is an insight into Chinese middle-class culture. In any case this makes for a good light lunch so I set off on the subway.  

 At the subway station I'm approached by a Chinese lady who speaks English well. She says she is from Dalian, which is a city in the south-east of China near the sea, and asks me where I'm from. She seems to want to strike up some form of conversation and asks me if I want to go for coffee: I gently fob her off and say I have to meet a friend . There is something about this sort of experience that makes me feel a bit uneasy. I suppose it's from my childhood days when we were all told not to speak to strangers, after all I have no reason to believe this is anything more than a holidaymaker being friendly. However another one approaches me a few minutes later and I simply walk past into the exit. I suspect some kind of scam although I cannot imagine what form it takes.

Outside the Forbidden City there is a security check with the usual X-ray machines and guards. This is so busy that there is an enormous queue of about 200 or so people, but it does not take too long to get through. I have to say my heart sinks on sight of it. Again, I have to train myself to patience. There are 3 stages to entering the complex: the guard check, followed by crossing the moat over a bridge, then obtaining your ticket. It's about 1pm by the time I'm inside.

The Forbidden City is a must see and a wonder of the world for me. It is incredibly imposing, but it is hard to imagine life inside it as the complex is empty: after the Civil War in China most of its contents were removed by the Kuomintang and taken to Taiwan.

 Following my visit I walk to Houhai and drop into 4 Corners where I have a light snack of seared stuffed squid: this is very tasty and I can imagine having a go at it myself in my flat. I take the subway back to the hotel and shower. I'm terribly tired, I think owing to to so much walking and a late night yesterday.

So in the evening I go back to 4 Corners one more time and have a light bite for supper. I do like this bar and have not been for some time as I normally go to Great Leap but it doesn't sell food. I have some spring rolls which are home-made and very good. The food here tends to take its time arriving but is obviously meticulously prepared.

GUANGXI 13: BEIJING AND LANTERN FESTIVAL

The next day I transfer to my last hotel in Dongcheng North near the Lama Temple. This is a small courtyard hotel called 161 Lama Temple and I've stayed here before as it's very cosy. I've arranged to meet Phantom that evening so I have lunch at a small restaurant in the hutong called Stuff'd, which has bangers and mash on the menu! It's very good if a bit dear. The weather is bright and sunny but extremely cold unlike the springtime temperatures I experienced in the South, which were unseasonal even for that area apparently! The owner introduces himself to me and we talk for a while: he is a Swede and has been here for about 10 years. We talk about the bars in the area and there is a strong trend in Beijing at the moment for craft beer bars and brewhouses. We also chat about Houhai, the area I first visited when I came to Beijing last year. He agrees it has gone downhill in the last year and he tends to frequent different areas now. The area I'm in is currently much better for bars and is like Houhai was last year, only more quiet. He mentions he has a small tap room like a pub next to the restaurant which is open in the evening so I make a note of this. I drop into Great Leap for a quick beer before going back to the hotel.

Fish shop near the hotel.

 The showers here are very nice with a rustic design to them., although there isn't much power in the water. Still it's hot and I have a shower before going to meet Phantom later that evening.

 We visit our regular bars and I have a light supper. This is a lovely bar which is however occasionally frequented by Americans picking up Chinese girls. Afterwards she leaves at about 9 or 9.30 and I walk back towards my hotel and find this little bar which has medieval costumes and fixtures! Apparently they do jousting and duelling outside in summer. I have a cup of home-made mead which is very tasty!

 I get lost on my way back and have to take the subway! So I drop into the tap room at Stuff'd after I get to Lama Temple station, which is sadly very quiet. I finally walk back to the hotel and look around some of the local bars. A couple of Chinese guys invite me in and I sit talking and drinking with them, so I have an unintended late session! I have to watch myself however as Phantom and I are spending the day together tomorrow.  

 The next day Phantom and I have planned to go out for roast duck at lunchtime so we have arranged to meet at the subway station ant 11am: however when I go out of the hotel the entire Lama Temple area is choked with visitors and police cordons which is what happened last year during New Year. I hadn't expected it for the Lantern Festival and I have a hard time finding Phantom at the station, however we mange to meet up and set off on the subway for the restaurant, but at the other end she is unable to find it and suspects that the information given online was wrong. So she manages to find another one nearby, but here there is an inordinate wait for a table, so we finally abandon the idea and go to a Yunan restaurant not far away. This turns out very well: we have a very pleasant table by the window in the sunshine, the food is excellent and very new for me, a different style to my previous experience and we have a very good time together. I have tea with the meal as we are visiting some bars later.

So we walk around Houhai and it's actually quite warm this afternoon. We find a bar where I have some raspberry beer which is deliciously refreshing, and this is followed by a visit to one of Phantom's favourite “craft beer” bars: she seems to have taken to this kind of bar after I introduced her to Great Leap.

 We drop into 4 Corners, the expat bar I wanted to visit last time I was in Beijing, as it's more like a pub and I'm delighted it's open this time! We plan to take the subway to the Lama temple area but this proves impossible as due to the Lantern Festival it is crowded beyond its capacity. So we end up walking as fast as we can as she has to leave before 8pm, and we finish the evening in our favoured place near the Temple. I can also have a light snack.  

 After Phantom goes home I stop by a small bar near the hotel where I get talking to a very pleasant young Chinese guy. Outside, fireworks are going off everywhere and I remember the last Lantern festival, when I was also in Beijing. A huge firecracker just outside the bar nearly deafens me and I think someone walks by and kicks one of the firecrackers on the floor where they are set off. My Chinese companion goes outside and shouts “What the F**k are you doing?” It turns out that a foreign visitor who is drunk has kicked over one of the fireworks provoking considerable offence among the Chinese. Oddly, I don't feel drunk myself at all, this kind of beer seems to agree with me. So after a marvellous day I go online for a while at the hotel and fall into bed at about 2 am.

GUANGXI 12: THE VOYAGE HOME (XINGPING TO BEIJING)

 The morning is gloomy again and the town is quiet with only a few market traders on the streets selling fruit.

I have a coffee in a little cafe and feel sad at leaving this outpost. Gradually I will be going back to the North and city life. The coffee is Blue Mountain and it's served in a beautiful green china cup: I wish I'd brought my camera. I feel a sense of loss as I always do when contemplating a journey or leaving somewhere. I suppose this is my sometimes overactive imagination at work, or maybe it's my reaction to travel. I had arranged to see Greg and his wife at their restaurant one last time before leaving: sadly owing to some family emergency they have this does not transpire. So I sit and have a couple of beers then go and have lunch in a different shop. I like it in Greg's place but I came to see him and his wife. If I'm going to be by myself I would like a change.

 Following this I make my way to the bus station taking the shuttle to the railway station. I notice the landscape changing on the train, becoming less dramatic as I approach Guilin.  

At the station in Guilin I have to fend off aggressive taxi touts as firmly as I can until I find a cab at the taxi rank. The taxi ride from Guilin North station to my hotel seems to drag on interminably and I notice that he crosses the river 3 times: I begin to suspect that he is driving around in circles either because he is lost or because he is trying to maximise the fare. Either way I show him the address again and we arrive at the hotel at something like 4.30 pm: the train arrived at around 3.10 pm, so allowing for time to get out of the station, I must have been in the taxi for about an hour. It costs RMB 40 which is fairly expensive in China.

 The room borders on opulence; I've forgotten what kind of room I've booked but it's fantastic for the price: something like RMB 275 a night. You can't stay in a private room in a YHA in England for that.  

I'm tired from the trip and my nerves are in tatters. I have to say I sometimes hate transfers in China: I'm a nervous traveller and they can be very stress-inducing. So I have a hot shower and head out for dinner. In Guilin the weather is just as it was the last time I was here: the sky is a uniform gunmetal grey and the drizzle pours down relentlessly. I begin to wonder whether this is a city of eternal rains: it is certainly a drab town. Unfortunately my hotel though great value for money and extremely comfortable, is in an inconvenient location: it is something like 45 minutes away from Guilin North station and about 30 minutes walk from Guilin Central. (or 10 minutes in a cab so if you are taking a taxi I suppose this is fair: after all I took taxis last time.) So it takes about an hour for me to walk to the pedestrianised bar strip where I have some food in the bustling indoor food market and fetch up in the Irish pub for a beer. My friend Phantom contacts me from Beijing and we arrange to meet up on Friday night.

That night I don't sleep as well as I thought I would: the bed is rather hard as is common in China. Last year I took one of my inflatable mattresses with me. The following morning I rise at about 10 am and there is a hill walk just outside the hotel which leads up a slightly perilous path but yields some good views of Guilin

Today the rain has gone and the sun occasionally peers throught he clouds: however it is very windy and chilly today. Well, I suppose you cannot have everything, after all the wind has probably blown the rain away. It may even portend an early spring! The roads are choked with traffic as always seems the case in Guilin: I feel it is a kind of transport hub for Guangxi tourism.

I hole  up in the Irish pub for lunch. I sometimes wonder if it would attract more customers if it played Irish music or had a band? Probably only more foreigners. It does have draught Guinness but this is expensive at something like £6 a pint. Owing to my hotel location I take taxis around Guilin. This can be trying: the roads are constantly congested and it's slow going. Also Guilin cab drivers seem to take tortuous routes to go anywhere provoking suspicion. I need to buy some snack food so after dinner that evening pass a shop and get some instant noodles and buns. I also have some fruit: the last time I saw her Greg's Chinese wife gave me a sackful of oranges: more than I could possibly eat! I gave most of them away in the hostel but I also have plenty left for the train journey!(The hotel corridors remind me of the film “The Shining”) By now I have altered my travel plans back to Beijing and have booked the same hotel on arrival as I did when I left: the big hotel next to the railway station with the Japanese style room. I don't imagine I will be able to make the transfer to Dongcheng North after arriving so late!

The marathon 10.5 hour train journey back to Beijing is like flying long-haul. To ease the boredom I have a book with me and talk to a Chinese passenger who speaks English and is also going to Beijing. To my surprise and dismay there is no bar carriage, only a trolley service, which is annoying as the journey is so long and I'm stuck in a cramped compartment.  

The weather outside seems fine and sunny today although it's obviously cold as the onboard LED screens display it at 10C. At least it is clear today with none of the immense blanket of fog that covered the country when I came down to Guilin. I become aware that the train is actually two trains linked together which probably accounts for the lack of a bar carriage. (Also the reason why I could not get a first class ticket this time seems to be because there is not a first-class compartment.) I imagine there is some link between the size of the train and the number of expected passengers. On the way I'm constantly assailed by the sounds of announcements, telephone calls, games, chatter and an incessantly wailing child.

 I have an expensive meal on the train at lunch and instant soup noodles at about 5.30 pm ,(there is no dignified way to eat these,) and as the day wears on and I hurtle north at 200mph, the landscape flashes endlessly past.  

At one stage I can clearly see the moon in the blue sky over the fields in the distance which is rare as the sky is not often clear enough for this even in England. The sun sets and as night comes I begin to feel I'm on a ghost train hurtling endlessly into the night.

Finally at long last the train arrives in Beijing around 9.10 pm and I check into my hotel near the station. The journey has been long and tiring but not as bad as I expected it to be. All the same I am almost exhausted so after a quick supper at the Golden Arches and a hot shower I fall gratefully into my futon bed!