After desert living the thought of a city with many food options, toilets and hot showers was enticing to all. We had planned to stay at a hostel near the Firbidden City and Tianamen Square tomreduce costs in transport. We took the subway across Beijing from the airport as it was cheap and efficient. Then it hit us – the massive crowds, the pushing and shoving, the heat and humidity, and the lack of language skills. Kaia is good at Mandarin but it was not enough. We found some nice folks along our way, trekking thru a very busy area of Beijing trying to find our hostel, the Three Legged Frog. We found it in an old hutong area and it was spartan but had our reservtion for a 5 bed family room, and it had a sit down toilet and a hot shower.
i was last in Beijing in 2003,with my friend Grasshoppah. Some things had really changed….first off, we actually saw blue sky regularly. There was also a massive armed security presence and bag scanners at every subway station – not fun when carrying big backpacks. Also I noticed a huge increase in obese children, particularly the boys – the little princes. And of course everyone was walking, biking, motorcycling and driving while on their phones – like this guy:
Oh yeah, did I mention that bikes and scooters also drive on the sidewalks in both directions with pedestrians? While on their phones? Brilliant. Some things had not changed – everyone still smokes and traffic lights are suggestions and often disregarded. This is awesome with three you g girls who mostly grew up in Discovery Bay where traffic is minimal.
On the plus side, the old hutong neighbourhood and the hutong style hostel was great. As we are out all day, a hostel with a good bed, toilet etc is perfect for us and our budget. They also set up tours, did our laundry and gave advice and help when needed. Also, the subway was a great way to get around and was very clean, cheap and efficient. You just get stared at a lot, especially when toting our packs.
For our first Beijing adventure we went to the massive Silk Market – not sure how it got its name as it is just a multifloored place to barter for nearly anything – I never really saw any silk. We had to get a few essentials and I love to barter. The kids were not used to my hard barter style. MC was buying a NorthFace rain jacket and it was listed at 1700 yuan. They got mad at me for being slightly rude despite this sales lady being super aggressive…. we got it for 150 yuan….