A defence of Beijing: Why Beijing isn't boring!

Recently I've been thinking a lot about Beijing, and I'll be honest, how boring it is. I wrote a serious travel article about it a few days ago. However, one of my students, wasn't impressed! Silvia, a native Beijing-er became quite hostile to my critique of her home town so I told her to write a defence.

So here it is, A defence of Beijing, By Silvia Jackson: 

"My Good Friend Sam told me Beijing is the most boring city in China. As a Beijing person I feel I have to clear my hometown's name. BEIJJING IS NOT BORING!! Maybe some places are but all you need is a good guide and the resolve to NEVER follow any travel agencies!

So, how can you make sure this trip does not become a useless, boring and ridiculous drama show?

OK, the first thing you should know is it's definitely not a good idea to go to Beijing in the peak travel seasons (holidays/spring festival) because the city will be jam packed with tourists! But any other season will be wonderful. Remember this! 

Beijing during the tourist season

The first place you SHOUDN'T go to is the Palace Museum（故宫. It's the most boring thing I've ever seen!! There are just some traditional Chinese Palaces, most of which are not as old as they say. The government always overhauls them, making those poor palaces lose all of their original charm and character .I mean if you ask some people who live near there, they will say,

“Oh, That chair is new, they just put it here yesterday! Oh, this table is pretty old it was here last year”. 

The Palace Museum in Beijing, China. A place to avoid!

But anyway, the palaces are beautiful, and they are a good place for the people who come to China for the first time. But once you've been there once, don't go again next time, it definitely wont be worth it.

Never Go To China Millennium Monument（中华世纪坛）It is not that famous, so you can just ignore it. Just in case, if someone asks you to go there, no matter what, DON'T GO !!

The China Millennium Monument, You do wonder sometimes don't you!

BeiHai Park or the Summer Palace, don't go to both, just choose one. They are almost the same. But they are both wonderful places to spend your time, If its not tourist season.

The Summer Palace in Beijing!

The Geological Museum of China. Every year for the last 8 years, upon my return to my hometown of Beijing, I go there, without fail! I don't know why but it is Fantastic!!!! Especially For Children!!!!!

The Geological Museum of China

Let's talk about shopping. WangFuJing is the best place to go. It has one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia, The biggest book store in China, the best roast duck in the whole world and a bunch of the best traditional food in China! After 6:00pm you can find traditional street snacks. With every single delicious snack from around China here. More than that, there are a loooooooooooooooot of brilliant restaurants, there are too many to mention so the easiest way to find them is follow the crowd. The restaurant with the most people is probably going to be the best. It's the truth!

Wang Fu Jing in Beijing. The best place to go shopping in China's Capital!

Just remember, stay away during the tourist season and stay away from the travel agencies. Then wherever you go to, everything will be fine. Beijing has much more fun than meets the eye, you just need some time to discover it all.

Walk around ,Slow down. Sit down and chat with some old people, drink a cup of tea, you will find out how brilliant it is.

Whether a city is boring or not cannot be judged by a few boring places, but by her History. You can feel the history through these places, but you can only know the history through peoples eyes.

So its not about where you should go, its about where you are standing." 

By Silvia Jackson of Beijing, China.

If you want to follow Silvia on Twitter, Click Here!

Serious Travel Article 14: 12 Hours of Beijing Part 1

It's been six months since I wrote a Serious Travel Article. I think it's time....

I awoke on the slow train from Zhengzhou in the centre of China to Beijing. The brand new bullet train could do this Journey in less than four hours but I liked the hard sleeper class on the slow trains. Twelve hours of looking out the window, snoozing and reading without a care in the world.

It was 6am and the train was just entering the outer suburbs of Beijing. There is nothing suburban about a suburb in China, nothing a westerner would equate to suburbia, pleasant tree line avenues, expansive houses side by side each with its own garden. This type of existence is difficult to find in China, only the most exclusive gated communities would offer such luxury. A Chinese suburb was comprised of factories, wholesale and second hand markets, industrial estates, crumbling communistic 7 story housing cuboids and brand new towering apartment blocks. Chinese suburbs are invariably grey and ugly.

The Beautiful Suburbs of Beijing

As the train attendants woke the passengers up there was time for one more feast of peanuts, watermelon seeds and instant noodles before we arrived at the West Beijing Terminus.

I had come to Beijing to visit the British Embassy (Paperwork stuff). I had twelve hours in China's capital before my train would whisk me away back to Zhengzhou. I regretted not having longer but I had work commitments in "The Big ZZ" as Zhengzhou is often called. I took the public bus (Beijing West still hadn’t been connected to the Metro, figures) to the embassy and was done by 9'o Clock.

Beijing's West Railway Station. It's 6am and it's cold.

The sky was bright blue and the air was fresh, somewhat of a rarity in Beijing so I'd heard, I felt lucky to be able to see so far into the distance and admire the fantastic modern architecture which was all around me. After about an hour wandering aimlessly, poking my nose in where it wasn't wanted, I did what all good travellers in Beijing did, and got the Metro to Tienanmen Square.

As I queued with the hordes of commuters I could see that everybody had to go through some sort of airport style security to get into the Metro station. I also noticed that the crowd was so large, half of the passengers were simple going around the security to get to their train quicker, the guards did nothing to stop them. I followed the crowed and dodged security, and even as a suspicious foreigner, nobody stopped me.

Some of the Brilliant Architecture you can see in Beijing, note the unusual colour of the sky.

As came up the stairs from Tienanmen East station, I immediately saw the Iconic picture of my old buddy Chairman Mao hanging in its frame on its wall outside the old government offices. More interesting than this was the 4 lane duel carriageway which separated Tienanmen Square from the famous compound which hosts the forbidden city, which I don't know the name of. China must be one of the few nations in the world which ploughs a highway through one of its most treasured and celebrated national monuments. To cross this highway you had to go through an underpass. Walking down the stairs you had two options, to the left was the forbidden city, to the right, Tienanmen Square proper with all the self important, aggrandized government buildings.

The four lane highway which cuts right through the middle of Tienanmen Square

I decided to head into the forbidden city. As I drew closer to the entrance, I began noticing the multitude of foreign faces. I'd never seen so many foreigners in one place in China before. Usually, seeing a foreigner in China is an occasion. It happens perhaps once every two or three months and when it happens you make the most of it. You go through the usual bollocks, where are you from, what brings you to China blah blah blah. I mock the idea of speaking to foreigners just because they are foreigners but every now and then, its nice to converse with a compatriot (and by that, I do mean someone who isn't Chinese).


I shuffled under the portrait of Chairman Mao with all the other gawking tourists when I saw a commotion. Three police officers were chasing a young Chinese man. The young man was quick on his feet but a plucky 4th policeman was hidden behind a tree, clotheslining the young man. The man fell to the ground and the four policemen began pounding the man. As they dragged him away I could see the man's unconscious face covered in blood while dozens of tourists shrieked in horror.

At the scene of the incident, just outside the forbidden city, Beijing

End of Part 1.......

I've been Nominated for the Leibster Blog Award

As I woke up this morning, being the geek I am, I slopped open (yes I'll use the verb slopped to describe opening my computer if I want to!) my laptop, activated my VPN (being in China) and lo and behold, I've got an award nomination! I would like to thank Kae Lani Kennedy AKA A Travel Broad  for my nomination. You should check her website out, it's a lot better than mine!

After doing a little research into what exactly the Liebster blog award is, I've discovered it comes from a blogger in Germany, the idea being to promote bloggers who you think deserve recognition while it also gives you an opportunity to ask 11 questions to your 11 favourite bloggers.

So, as an avid fan of German law and order, I'll now abide by zie rulez unt regulationz ov zie Liebster Avarwd!

Here goes, 11 random facts about me:

1. My favourite food is cheesy pesto mash wrapped in a corn tortilla. This is one of the reasons I'm fat. 
2. I came to China over a year ago, and I still haven’t figured out why.
3. I like cats.
4. Bouncy dogs are my lifelong enemies.
5. I'm never happier than when I'm looking at a map, they have a hypnotic quality which can captivate me for many hours. 
6. My favourite writer is Paul Theroux.
7. I take my philosophical advice from Bubbles, a character from a Canadian TV show named Trailer Park Boys. "Plato was the smartest cocksucker who ever lived".
8. I hate Aeroplanes, I'd much rather take a sleeper train and look out the window scribbling notes and reading when I get bored. 
9. I pretend to be very arrogant when writing, but I just do it for entertainment. 
10. I hate being photographed.
11. Karl Pilkington is my favourite "Travel Journalist".

Mike Smith as Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys

 Now to answer Kae Lani Kennedy's 11 questions for me.

1.) What inspired you to start traveling?

The fear of having regrets when I die, of not living a life of note or interest.

2.) What is your favourite destination so far and why?

If I have to choose one it would be Moreton Island in Queensland Australia. Its a great big sand island just off the coast from Brisbane, its not the biggest of the great Australian sand islands but that's not the point. It's close to civilisation, it lacks the sand mining operation of North Stradbroke Island and the Dingoes of Fraser Island. It's deviod of mosquitoes which is a huge plus! Besides, it's an island made of sand in a clean tropical paradise, what more do you want in life?

3.) Where you’ve had your favorite meal?

My favourite meal is a breakfast of Eggs Florentine from a little restaurant named Greedies in Isleworth, London. The Hollandaise Sauce is to die for. I'd recommend you have it with a side of wedges because they're great too!
 
4.) What’s your favourite travel memory.

I'm not sure if I have a favourite, perhaps sleeping under the stars on Lady Musgrave Island. It sounds idyllic but there was a gale blowing which froze me half to death, after 3 or 4 hours I retreated to my tent. I wish I could romanticize travel the way many writers do, but my best memories are always tangled up with memories of struggle,annoyances and inconveniences. Even Tangalooma on Moreton Island was little more than a pimped up Butlins. 

5.) Share with us your favorite photo and a little bit of detail about the photo.

This is my Favourite travel photo

This is me on lady Musgrave Island, I don't know why its my favourite, it just is.


6.) What are some words you live by (quotes, your motto, a mantra)?


"If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean", Pat Nolan.

"What am I doing here?" - Arthur Rimbaud, Bruce Chatwin among others.

"If you ask for nothing, you will receive it in abundance", Julee Barnett. 

7.) Why did you start a travel blog?

I used to co edit the Travel Section of newspaper called The Waterfront with a fantastic travel writer named Andy Belcher (Far more talented than I). For the April fools day edition I wrote an "interview" with Osama Bin Laden (Killed 3 weeks after I wrote the article). You can read it here. Anyhow, the Paper Editor said it was too controversial, and publishing it could ruin his career but I was so proud of it I decided to get a blog, build a following and get people to look at my amazing article! I also liked the idea of being an uncensored travel writer, able to say whatever the hell I want, without an editor saying (blah blah blah blah copyright blah blah islamists blah blah).

8.) Do you have a favorite place in the airport to hang out before a flight?

The computer shop. Why? To promote my blog of course!

9.) When you fly, what do you like to do to keep you occupied?

I look out the window (much to the annoyance of the Cabin Crew who keep on telling me to shut my window blind) and read books.

10.) What’s the strangest thing a local has every told you about their city?

"Stay away from ze Uyghurs! Zey'll kill you if you look at zem" - Some Han Chinese Idiot, Wuhan. 

11.) When it comes to travel blogging, what do you find is your biggest obstacle?

Travelling. And the great firewall of China. 

So, here's 11 bloggers I think are good enough for a Leibster Blog Award:

1: George of George on the Go
2: Kate of Compendium of Crazy
3:Anthony of You Bloody Tourist
4:Chocolate of Impossible Saints
5:Many Anne of A totally impractical guide to living in Shanghai
6:Matthew of Tw1tter Tunez
7:Monica of The Travel Hack
8:Ted of Travelling Ted
9:Debbie of Debbie Travels
10:Rachelle of Flatbacker
11: The Denning Family of Discover, Share, Inspire

And here's 11 questions for you:

1: What's one country you would never go to?
2: What's you're favourite flavour of Angel Delight?
3: What was the last country you visited/if your're abroad, where are you now?
4: What would you have done if you were born there?
5: Marco Polo described the Turkomen people as "dull of intellect", do you agree?
6: What would you have done if you had lived in Nazi Occupied France?
7: Do you feel confident enough to visit North Korea?
8: If you were having dinner with Elizabeth II along with a gaggle of foreign dignitaries, and farted. A silent but deadly type. Would you admit to it?
9: Have you ever heard of a city named Zhengzhou?
10:What's your greatest fear?
11:Would you kill somebody if you had to?

These are the rules for the nominated bloggers:

• Link back to the blogger that nominated you
• Write 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer 11 questions from the blogger that nominated you
• Nominate 11 other bloggers
• Ask them 11 new questions

I feel I should write something

I feel I should write something. Yesterday I spent 4 hours writing a blog post named China, the Graveyard of Broken Dreams. A true story about those who voyage to China as a solution to the mid life crisis they may be having at home.

I can't publish it, two of the people I wrote about sometimes read this blog. If they knew I was scribbling notes and writing articles about their most intimate secrets, they would quite rightly want to hit me. They certainly wouldn't want to talk to me again. Perhaps I'll publish it next year when I've gone, when they've gone or when time has eroded our friendship. 

This is a photo of me in Beijing, a most boring city.

I received quite a lot of flack from people for my blog post Why Travel Writers Shouldn’t Travel. I was reading the Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux. In his book, Theroux is travelling through Israel to Nazareth to meet a Christian Arab Israeli writer who I forget the name of. The Arab writer explains to Theroux that constant travel has left him unable to write, that he need to stay put for a while to collect his thoughts and put pen to paper. Theroux agrees, adding that "Monotony is the friend of the writer". My petty ego now feels vindicated. I'm in good company.

That is all.

Well, not quite. If you read this, may I ask you why? I feel flattered you got this far!

Are Chinese People Completely Mad?

After the coldest winter in China for 30 years coupled with a smogapocalypse the likes of which the world has never before seen, the people of Zhengzhou have been blessed with a freak early March heatwave. It was snowing only two weeks ago but as soon as the mercury hit 20c I ditched the thermals, coat, jacket, jumper, gloves, hat and mask with a sigh of relief. I could once again start wearing my trademark black t-shirt (being a fatty) and jeans.The rising temperatures showed no signs of abating soaring to the dizzying heights of 30c yesterday.

A bus crash on a hot day in Zhengzhou. Notice the coats and jackets!

But if I took a photograph of the people in the street  you'd think it was a bright, sunny, mid-winters day. Despite the mid boggling March temperatures,the masses insist on wrapping up. Cycling around the city in my t-shirt and boardies (It was bloody hot yesterday) I saw people wearing woolie hats, gloves, thick fur coats and even one or two in balaclavas.

February in Zhengzhou. Snow covers the old campus of the Henan Agricultural University. Where I live. 

I asked a young boy with a jumper and coat on whether he was hot.
"No"
I could see the sweat on his forehead.
"Really", I said looking at him dubiously,
"Ja de" (Not really)
"Wo ri si le" (I'm so hot I could die!!!)

(I switched to English as my Chinese plainly sucks, as my student Silvia who is overseeing this blogpost has kindly pointed out)

"Why don't you take your coat off"? It seemed like a legitimate question.
"No", he said unceremoniously, before walking off.

Asking someone who spoke better English, Why she was wearing a leather jacket, jumper and gloves in 30 degree heat, she said "Because it's March, it's too early to wear a summer dress, although I want to, everyone will think I'm mad, I best follow suit".

Did your school teacher ever ask you whether you would "jump off a cliff if....blah blah blah"? I bet they did. I reckon they might just say yes in the middle kingdom! 

Here's a picture just for fun. Jacket Potatoes with baked beans and cheese cooked by me in China. A very difficult task. But not as difficult as eating them with chopsticks!