Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
00.09 We remain in our private compartment on the train between Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator), Mongolia and Beijing, China. Everything seems clear to leave the building where wheels have been switched and adapted to the Chinese rail network. We are starting to make us ready to curl up in our beds. Now nothing more remains than the train journey through the Chinese night.
08.04 I began this Chinese train morning with a shower or in all cases an attempt at a shower. There was not a lot of speed on the water in our small bathroom. I have never taken a shower on board a train in the past. We have now been on the train more than a day since we left Ulaanbaatar and we have also come to the 43rd train country on our travels. 08.59 Our compartment breakfast is completed. A few hours of traveling remain. Will we handle life outside the compartment and train? We are starting to see this as a home now. 09.44 A lake system has just passed outside our window. The landscape is mountainous, beautiful and green. Now it would be nice to get off, maybe go swimming but in any case not to go with more trains. During the night we have travelled through the province of Inner Mongolia (Nei Menggu), but will now temporarily pass through Shanxi and finally in the mountainous Hebei. 09.58 We go in and out of different tunnels. We are going through an even more mountainous landscape. This is in the same region as the Great Wall of China is. Tablecloth and bed linen has been removed from our compartment and borne out in the hallway. This might a sign that this long journey's end is approaching.
Christer is awake and is watching the Chinese scenery.
Green fields in Hebei province.
It is getting more and more green and beautiful.
We are going through beautiful mountains. The Great Wall is not far away.
A beautiful reflection.
10.47 The views during this trip through northern China have been far more varied than they were on the journey through Russia. The Russian landscape is flat, monotonous and covered with the same kind of trees at home. Here in China we have seen beautiful mountains and a different kind of forest and nature.
11.39 We are arriving at the railway station in Beijing (Beijing). It is finally time to get off. We have been on the road about 28 hours aboard this train. This is the all-time record in the travel time for us. During that time we have travelled 1336 kilometres. This is also the end of the long journey where we in over a month's time travelled from the Baltics all the way here to the capital of China. 12.21 It is warm in Beijing, hot. It feels like we stepped into an oven. The fact is that it is body temperature, +37°C in the shade. The first we visited was an ATM. Without any problems, Christer got his money. For me it was tougher. Then we went to the nearby Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel (http://www.hojobeijing.com). It was no problem to check in. At check-in they asked if one person would check in. No two we responded. OK, in one room? Yes, please! Now, we are in room 720. 12.38 Christer's joy that Facebook after all works here in China quickly came to an end. He had time to check in and tell that we had arrived here but then it stopped working. Now we will be without Facebook, Google and some other internet features until the return trip. There are ways to get around this censorship, but we don't have the motivation to find out about it. 13.19 After a bath in our small tub, my third bathtub on this trip, I am now wearing a bathrobe and feel quite well. Regarding sport, we can say that the European Championship final in football for ladies will be between Denmark and the Netherlands. ÖFK, the football team from Östersund has qualified for the next round in the Europa League. Fola Esch from Luxembourg has been defeated. 15.30 The journey has drained the juice out of us. We don't have much stamina to talk about. What is needed to restore us? We have just crossed the Eurasian continent. 15.56 Now, we will leave the room. We want to learn more about the hotel itself and also on the surrounding area.
We have reached the suburbs of Beijing.
Peter is standing in the dark corner of our room.
A view from our room.
Peter is visiting a chinese Starbucks.
A tall yellow man outside Starbucks. Who? Why?
16.15 I cannot say that we stay in some fascinating and cosy part of Beijing, but it is in any case something to look at. It is always exciting to take the first steps in a new country. We chose this hotel because it is easy to get here from the railway station and good enough standard to be able to arrange an excursion to the Great Wall for us. We have learned that there is a smaller shopping mall in the vicinity of where we stay. It may be examined later.
16.39 It remains to be hot. Even when it's windy we feel the heat. We have made a stop on our walk in the nearby area. The stop has been done in yet another Starbucks Coffee. It is the third Starbucks country this summer and the 30th in all on the trips. There will be no major celebration because of this anniversary. 17.26 It was nice to stroll around and stretch our legs. But it also feels good to come home to the cool room again. 20.05 It has again become time to leave our rooms. We need to eat. 20.24 This evening there will be dinner in the Chinese restaurant, Rainbow Garden in the hotel, a waitress with the sign "Trainee" took our orders. When Christer asked about beer the answer was that she did not speak English. It was said, however, in the English language. A lady that we expect is the head waitress stepped in and took our beer orders. 20.27 The beer we ordered has run out. Instead, we have ordered another brand.
The railway station in central Beijing.
People are moving from the metro to the railway and from the railway to the metro.
Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel. This will be our Beijing home.
Beijing Station Street has a more difficult name in Chinese.
Dinner at Rainbow Garden.
21.30 The dinner was a story in itself. Christer ordered meatballs "Beijing style" and asked for some rice together with the dry meatballs. The Trainee girl went and came back with a phone in which she said something. On the display, we read "Would you like a fork?" The question was answered with a "yes" from Christer who saw an opportunity to avoid having to eat meatballs with chopsticks. Pretty soon Christer got his fork. Once more he asked about the rice. Trainee went and came back with another fork. All was rescued by a waiter who intervened. We didn't think it would be a problem to get hold of rice in China. The food was good but unfortunately there was no coffee. I hope it gets better tomorrow.
23.18 The second Chinese night will soon be here. This will be spent in a hotel bed. We have ordered the Chinese breakfast at 08.45 in the morning. The order hangs on the outer door handle and the food will be carried into the room. It is a cheaper option than the expensive breakfast buffet. Cars honk out on the Beijing streets.
08.20 It has become weekend again. The phone in our room just rang. Someone wondered if the ordered breakfast was for one or two people. I confirmed that it was for two. We have slept in heavenly comfortable beds this night. The beds are also extra comfortable after a night on the train.
09.10 At the struck of 08.45 the doorbell rang. I opened and a bowing and smiling man brought in a tray with congee, a kind of soup, including rice. In addition, we got some dumplings, juice, tea and three different chopped accessories. All was tasty and it was a great start of the day. 10.12 The sky is grey of haze, clouds and smog from all the traffic in the Chinese capital. A drizzling rain falls, which isn't what the forecast predicted. 10.33 The blue sky begins to appear and on the horizon a hint of sunshine is visible. It is time to go out and see more of the tour's seventh capital, Beijing. 11.03 We have walked out in the crowds of the city. The sun dominates more and more in the sky. We are on the way to new sights. Right now I sit down and write this in the vicinity of the underground station Chongwenmen. 11.23 It is time for the first Chinese bench break. There is a need of a little rest and to estimate the distance and direction. On the map, everything is close, in reality it is far, very far. We walk and walk, passing intersection after intersection, but is still almost in the same place on the map of the city. We took left by the Tiananmen Square and leave it for tomorrow. 11.43 How nice it is to finally get indoors. The heat is tough, even today. We are at Pacific Coffee (http://www.pacificcoffee.com), yet another coffee chain. I know nothing about its origin and locations. We are in the district of Qianmen (the Southern gate of the city) and walked a while on a famous shopping street here, the Qianmen Street. In the neighbourhood there are lots of typical Chinese buildings with restaurants of all kinds. Everything is in Chinese and it is a little hard to know what is being offered.
The breakfast has been carried in.
A new day in Beijing has started.
Peter is writing down the latest happenings.
Heading towards Xianyukou Street.
A very chinese street, Xianyukou Street.
Christer is having a coffee break at Pacific Coffee.
12.22 We got to rest, cool down, calm and enjoyed the sound of silence, as well as coffee and fresh juice. It was an absolutely perfect combination for the energy boost. A slogan on a wall it says, "A coffee a day keeps the burden at bay". We are soon ready to continue out in the big city heat.
12.36 We have looked into a small souvenir shop here on Qianmen Street. Christer has bought some gifts for his nephew Fabian, who soon is yet another year older. Fabian's mother, Christer's sister Carina, turns 40 years old tomorrow. 13.07 It hardly gets cooler. Today it's +33°C, cooler than yesterday but still a hassle. Something positive is the fact that today's excursion area comes closer. This is at least what we hope for. 13.40 Locations on the city map that looks near is in reality damn far away. How big is the city anyway? Now we finally arrived at the park with the Temple of Heaven. We have paid the admission fee and sit on a bench and hear the birds and something we think is crickets. The temple area we shall see is by the way on UNESCO's world heritage list. 14.29 We began the park walk here at the Temple of Heaven (http://en.tiantanpark.com) visiting the "Hall of prayer for good harvest". Then I bought a souvenir. Now we're going to buy, treat us lunch. It will be of the simpler kind. 14.58 Even if the appetite is low during the hot days so we must eat. Eating with sticks is always a challenge. We got a lot of good Chinese food that was served just one minute after placing the order. When we began to drink sweat poured from the foreheads. Wonder if any fluid was left in the body? Now, we are thinking about the next move for this warm day. This is one of the many fantastic views we visited in the sweltering heat. It is difficult to find the right focus, interest and engagement when the body only long for liquids to cool down. 15.23 Before we begin the walk back to the hotel, we bought an ice cream each. The ice cream is good but different. We are sitting on a bench next to a Chinese man who has fallen asleep. They are watering the lawn behind us. We yearn to get some of that cold water on us.
A tram was passing by.
Qianmen Street, Beijing.
We are crossing Zhushikou Street.
Christer is navigating to the right street.
Peter is reading about Temple of Heaven.
We are walking through the large park.
16.10 The trek home has begun and still continues. Beijing is alive, walks, honks and a lot of other things around us. Now a man sneezed. I would like going for a swim in a pool.
16.22 You can sometimes see different things. The following took place when we waited to pass a pedestrian crossing. A gentleman put up a small fence 4-5 meters long in front of us, all to stop the people to cross the street. Another person talked to a police officer. The officer wrote a note which the man signed. It was a fine? The winner was the elderly gentleman in an electric wheelchair. Quickly and smoothly he went past the fence, turned right and was out in traffic at full speed. 16.44 After an eternity of walking in the heat, we are finally back at the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel. It's nice having a cool room. It feels really good to be home. Today we learned that we can't cover very much on foot in this city. The sidewalks are good and the crossings work, but the distances are huge. 18.05 I don't think I want to know how far we have walked today. It feels in the legs. 19.50 Now we are going to leave the room for a while to see what happens at today's dinner. 20.15 It is fun to order the food at the Sunshine Atrium Cafe. After every order we were asked by the waiter if we wanted to order for one person. Now I have ordered one burger and one beer. Christer will not surprisingly have one portion of spaghetti and one beer. 21.26 The dinner was tasty. I wrote our room number on a paper and signed. We went down to the front desk to get new breakfast order slips. The young woman there, promised to call for new slips. They would be brought to the room. It was not possible to order a tour as we had expected. They had probably gone for the day or the concierge was busy with other things? Here inside the room or on the outer handle, there is still no mreakfast slip.
Christer in Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven Park).
The imperial vault.
Peter is eating lunch with chopsticks.
All that remains are our shadows.
We can finally see our hotel again.
Peter is having dinner in Sunshine Atrium Café.
21.46 There was a knock on the room and we got not just one, but two breakfast slips. Good! Now we are figuring out about how we spend the next few days here.
22.30 We have filled in the information on the form that not one, but two persons wish to have breakfast in this room tomorrow morning. Hope it works. 23.01 Things are getting in order on what's to come. Three days of discovery remains. Tomorrow Sunday we plan to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Then we'll fill the two days with a tour to the Great Wall of China and then have a day as the "spare day" for what we did not have time for. Then the trip home will be on Wednesday, a long Wednesday. 23.48 It is now time for a relaxing night's sleep in a cool room. It is very much appreciated after all the heat today.
07.11 The alarm clock in the room just rang. Why did it do that? We will not get up now, just to go back to sleep!
07.46 The wake-up signal on my mobile just sounded. That is as it should be, the way it was planned. 08.05 Now they have again called us and again asked about how many will have breakfast. Isn't it enough that we wrote it on our slip? The thing with one keeps coming back, at check-in, at breakfasts and at dinner yesterday. Are Chinese people unfamiliar with reservations and orders more than one? This sounds odd in a country of 1,3 billion people. 09.10 "American breakfast" means a lot of breakfast. We got cereal, yogurt, coffee, sausage, juice, lettuce, eggs, cucumber, bread and jams. In the World Championship for Athletics and the men's 100 metres Usain Bolt got the bronze medal. The winner was Justin Gatlin, USA ahead of Christian Coleman, Jamaica. Sweden's Daniel Ståhl won the silver behind Lithuania's Andrius Gudzius in the discus. 10.15 What has happened since last time is the fact that we, according to the instructions placed the two breakfast trays outside the room door. A little later the doorbell rang. Christer opened and a man looked inside. He stepped into the room and looked confused around in the room. Christer pointed out that the trays were outside the room. This information satisfied the man. Now we have mostly thought about and planned the activities we will do today but also a little bit about the upcoming days. 10.39 The door bell rang again. Now they asked for laundry. We left the laundry, room and all. Now we are down in the lobby. Once again, we will try to contact the concierge regarding the tour to the Great Wall.
A pedestrian bridge is perfect when steets like this one needs to be crossed.
The entrance to the shopping mall Oriental Plaza and the hotel Grand Hyatt Beijing.
Water fountains are welcome on days like these.
Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
Peter on Tiananmen Square.
10.53 It went pretty smooth to book a tour for Tuesday. We had intended to go tomorrow Monday but thought again about it. It feels like an appropriate "last day activity" to see the Great Wall. For 500 yuan each we will be picked up here at the hotel on Tuesday morning. We will, in addition to this be driven around to different places. It went less good, in short, not at all, to exchange money in the lobby (we still have some of the euros which we withdrew in Finland). The money issue and exchange may be solved outside the hotel and in an emergency, we´ll go to an ATM instead.
11.00 Now we are going to, first and foremost, visit a square. This time, not just any square. 11.20 We didn't want to walk the exact same way as yesterday. Instead we walk along the Changan Avenue on the spacious sidewalks. 11.33 As we approached Tiananmen Square, we went through a security inspection with metal detectors. Then we stopped to take photos. In addition to people and cars we can see the building with the portrait on China's old communist leader, Mao Zedong. Tiananmen Square has an area of 40 000 square meters and somewhere in there lies the mummified body of Mao. 11.51 The masses of people, including us two went into the portal below the portrait of Mao Zedong. Now, we are in the crowd on the way to The Forbidden City. 12.16 Without success, we have been looking for a place, a kiosk, an office that sells the entrance tickets to The Forbidden City. Nothing seems to be open despite the fact that we have information that it so shall be. We have found arrows and references to the ticket booths, but they are not open. 12.22 Now we have received information from a police officer. The Forbidden City or in all cases, the ticket office is closed today. We will not be able to enter but are welcome back tomorrow morning. It is only the visitors with "online tickets" that will be allowed to enter. Most likely, there are a maximum number of visitors admitted each day. It feels hard but many of the buildings we have already seen are attractions in themselves. The Forbidden City was the imperial palace used during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The palace is located just north of Tiananmen Square. 24 emperors have ruled China from the Forbidden City since its inauguration in the year 1421, until the Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1911. The Forbidden City is currently the world's largest palace (Source: Wikipedia). 12.35 We shall, in the absence of the Forbidden, do something else. It will probably be mostly a city walk. Wonder what this can give? We are now sitting at a part of the moat around the Forbidden City. In the moat are small river boats floating around. 13.04 We have walked further along the moat and seen the Forbidden City from the outside. Otherwise there is not much more new to report on. We may in any case see the forbidden from outside. It seems to be a fine house in the midst of it, and the views along the canal are magnificent.
Mao Zedong is looking at us.
We had to give up and understand that there were no tickets to be found today.
Boats in the moat surrounding the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City, the world´s largest palace area.
Peter is making a stop in the heat.
14.02 We continued to follow the moat before we headed out in the ordinary, allowed city. After a long walk in the 36 degrees heat, we are at the Maan Coffee for lunch. At the time of ordering, we received a teddy bear each. Christer's teddy bear is red and mine is orange, my favorite colour. In addition, we have a coffee and a glass of juice each. The restaurant is located in a mall called In. Here I have once again seen the two people, each with a Kånken backpack. It is produced by the company Fjällräven from my home area. (https://www.fjallraven.com).
14.20 The teddies were replaced with our ordered waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. We certainly miss our colourful friends, but waffles are good. We are now in the district of Wangfujing and here it is shopping and shopping. It is mall after mall and it feels like all the big chains in the world are represented here. 14.40 I have visited the mall's thinking room, toilet. Here the slogan is "Men to the left because women are always right", nice pun, thank you. 14.48 We walked out from In and continued to walk around in the city. Christer has stopped by a man who draws a rickshaw. Christer will, however, not to go with it, because it is a statue. 15.07 We are now in another shopping mall, The Malls at Oriental Plaza. This is huge and spans multiple floors. Here are a lot of different stores and soon a store for Fjällräven's goods. More Kånken to the people! 15.30 The room, the cool temperatures and the rest of the hotel is getting closer and closer. It is really a big distance to walk in the Chinese capital. 16.02 It is pleasant in the room, so lovely to be indoors where it is cool and nice. We have bought beverages from the shop in the lobby. One of the beverages there was a one-litre tetra with text in Swedish.
St. Joseph's Wangfujing Church
We are at Maan Coffee. We got these bears as company while waiting for our orders.
A curious teddybear is looking at Christer´s waffle.
Interesting toilet sign.
Christer and a Wangfujing Street statue.
18.10 Warm days drain our energy. Imagine that we wanted sun and heat in the beginning of the stay in Russia. It will be great with a more peaceful day tomorrow so that we are fit and rested for the tour the day on Tuesday.
20.45 To take it easy is nice but we cannot remain in the room. We must arrange with dinner and checked the time for our planned buffet breakfast tomorrow, as we intend to treat ourselves to a little luxury. We are starting to get tired of to eat breakfast inside the room. 21.23 We are back at yesterday's restaurant on the 5th floor, the Sunshine Atrium Cafe. Now we are waiting for our orders, there's no fuss about the number of diners this time. It is a bit boring to eat the dinners at the hotel, but we can simply not find any interesting restaurants in walking distance from where we live. 22.17 Coffee after the food is good. Now we have to think about what we are doing tomorrow. We shall, in all cases, see new parts of the city, the question is what?
You can see 44 photos from August 4 in this photoalbum.
You can see 72 photos from August 5 in this photoalbum.
You can see 75 photos from August 6 in this photoalbum.