9 to 13 February 2019 - Beijing (China)

The stay in Beijing was at the Huguosi Hotel having been there before and finding it suitable for me and convenient to the Metro. The staff sorted out the WiFi for my laptop as I did have a lot of problems logging onto the internet. There was hardly anyone in the hotel as most mornings I was the only one at breakfast. I just rested most of the time, did some blog and put things ready to travel to North Korea.
The Huguosi Hotel had an artistic type of paper map of the local area in the room, one I had seen on previous visits as well, but had not taken much notice of. This time I did have a good look at it. The hotel is in Huguosi Street and which is a 600 metres long ancient commercial street with a history of over 800 years. It is known by the Chinese as a street of traditional snacks and is one of the most famous snacks streets in Beijing. There were a number of Chinese tour groups in rickshaws and walking touring the area which had a number of old palaces, a university and private merchant houses, all closed during the time I was there, more is the pity. Perhaps on my next visit!

Post Office

Old University

 

A shop selling only ocarinas 

Most days it snowed a little and one time, when it was more than normal, I went to the Forbidden Palace (now called the Palace Museum) to take photos with the Palace in the snow not having seen it covered in snow before. Being Chinese New Year time there were huge crowds around but I was not concerned as being old I normally did not have to pay to enter the Palace, normal for many sites in China. It did not work this time as I found that there were no spare tickets for anyone as tickets could only be booked on the internet, which was in Chinese at that time, and this I did not know before going there. A Chinese couple offered to sell me a ticket at an exorbitant price. which I declined, and I noticed two tourists giving their phone to Chinese students for them to try and obtain tickets. They failed as well. I did walk round the outside of the walls and was able to take some photos. It was snowy and wet with temperatures about –3C making it feel much colder than the –13C I had in Russia. When I returned to the hotel I checked the Palace website to find many complaints about the online booking system, which I added mine to, some mentioning that people thought that it was the only museum in the world where all tickets could  only be booked on-line.

Entrance to the Forbidden Palace

Snow covered roof

Snow covered roof

Frozen river outside the walls

One time in the hotel lift a Chinese man asked me how old I was, not a normal thing at all as the Chinese do not normally start a conversation. He was happy to tell me he was 84, older than me.

 On one side of the street was the frozen Houhai Lake and beyond that a street of craft shops leading to the Bell and Drum Towers.

Frozen lake with the towers in the back round

Houhai Lake at night

The Towers were built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan and in 1800 large-scale renovations were carried out. The Bell and Drum Towers are visibly prominent constructions and represent the symbol of this old city. Hanging on an eight-square wooden frame of the second floor, the bell in it is the largest and heaviest in China. It is 23 feet (7.02 meters) high with a weight of 63 tons. It was made of copper, and you can hear its round and clear sound from far away. The two 2-yard-long (2 meters) wooden logs hanging side-ward are used to ring it. I was told that the bell could be heard 10 kilometers away.

Drum Tower

Stairs up to the drums

Some of the drums

View of the lake from the Drum Tower

The Bell Tower

Bell

Just before leaving Beijing I went to the offices of Koryo Travel to finish paying for the trip to North Korea and to listen to a talk of what not to do whilst there such as not to be disrespectful of the three Kim’s (son, father and grandfather) photos or statues, do what we were told and generally behave. One striking comment was not to fold a newspaper such that any photos of Kim Jong-Un was part of the fold as this was considered to be seriously disrespectful. Mobile phones, cameras, laptops and iPads could be taken with us but there would be no internet access while there. This was not quite so as internet access was available in one of the hotels at a nominal cost but I was unable to get on-line when I tried. One of the other visitors did manage to use the internet but he said that it was very slow.

On 14 February I left Beijing for Pyongyang, North Korea.