The Lone Wolf Travels Part 3 - From the Ancient to the Modern Capital

Hostel Bar

 Look, everyone who cares knows about Beijing, and if not, look it up. So I'm just gonna do a sort of picture post here. There'll be some comment along the way. Enjoy.                                  

Hostel Room

lol

 When she eventually left her room, Edi visited the Great Wall of China.

I feel I should explain, Edi's really afraid of heights. So when they were like 'get into this open-air  death trap that is secured only by your body weight holding down the bar', let's just say that it took buckets of courage to take this photo.

View of the  Wall from the Cable Car

Look how wonky these stairs are...

You get to toboggan down! It was epic.

Me on the wall  

Then Edi visited The Forbidden City, the seat of the Imperial family from the Ming to the last [Qing] Dynasty.

The moat around the Forbidden City

Entrance to the Forbidden City

It's Mao!

Yes, I do know what it says. No, look it up yourself.

And finally, the last place in Beijing anyone really cares about, Tiananmen Square.

Mao's Mausoleum - I came too late to go in :(

Qianmen - lit. front gate - originally the front gate to the city

Memorial to the Heroes

Garden in the Forbidden City

I hate the way blogger arranges pictures, but sorting it out's such a pain that, as you can see, I ended up just giving up. Hope something there was of interest, other than my evident waning effort. Good day all, hope these pictures inspire you to leave your homes in mid-winter to go and visit these sites. I hear it's the land of sweat in the summer.

Xx

The Lone Wolf Travels Part 2 - Muslims, Mosques and Mutton

If you didn't know, it would probably be nice to discover that Xi'an was the eastern terminal of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that brought not only spices but also Islam to the Far East. As a consequence, Xi'an has a substantial Muslim population, at least for China [I think there are something like 1 million in total]. One of the main features of Xi'an, that will be recommended to you by any avid China-traveller, is the Muslim quarter. Essentially a really, really big market in the centre of the city, it's the best place to buy souvenirs as well as get some amazing food. 

A place near the Muslim Quarter

I didn't get any street food, but I saw loads of people eating this dish where you crumble some unleavened bread [that's bible vocab right there], into a soup with either mutton or beef. It looked and smelled great, so I decided to try it. It. Was. Amazing. Honestly, I was so upset that I couldn't finish it [I know right? That's how you know there was a lot], because it was so tasty and cheap grrrrrrrrrrrllllllllllllalaaalalallalala. It was good. You guys should try it, I have no idea what it's called, because when I walked into one of the hundreds of restaurants, I was swiftly asked 'BEEF OR MUTTON' and then sat down, whereupon my soup arrived pre-crumbled. I think there's also noodles in there somewhere- Xi'an has a big noodle culture.

'People's' Theatre

Oh yeah, I also did some sightseeing, such as the the famous Bell and Drum towers - the symbols of the city. The bell of the Bell tower used to be stricken at dawn, the drum at dusk. I also saw the [outside] of the Great Mosque which, being built in 742, is one of the oldest Mosques in China.

Bell Tower

Drum Tower 

 Xi'an is also one of the few cities in China to retain its original city limits wall. Obviously it's been refurbished, but the original structure and much of the brickwork still remain.

 And that's it for Xi'an. One 13 hour train journey later, I arrived in Beijing...

Xx