"Hello China!" China by Mique

16-11-2005
OK, i'm in Beijing now. Hopefully i'll have a little time to update you on my travel adventures soon. Gave myself time off the last 2 days because i must say that constant travel can be quite exhausting. And we arrived in Beijing with the sleeper bus at 2.30 in the morning. After some confusion by the taxi drivers (there were 5 of us) about a hostel (there are 2 hostels with almost the same name and the one that they took us to was closed, luckily the big hotel that it was part of wasn't and the reception there was really helpfull) we could go back to sleep in the hostel at 5 am. Of course you don't feel too rested in the morning. I went to the ambassy (dutch) yesterday to get myself a new passport. If all goes well it could arrive next thursday. And then i need another 5 workdays to get a new visa for China. But it is a better option then trying to arrange a new passport in Nepal over the christmas holiday period. And with only one blank page left (emergency passports have only 8 pages in total) i could never make it to Idia. The guy at the ambassy was cute too so that and the possibility of having my passport next thursday made my day. And i bought ' Amelie', ' Le grand bleu' and ' Leon' for 10 yuan each (less then a euro each). So yesterday evening we watched ' Amelie'. Very nice when you are tired. Today we (a german girl that came with us from UB and me) walked through the Hutong that surrounds our hostel. It was nice to just get lost around here. We ended up at Tiananmen square and got invited to an art exhibition all the time by young people. But we know (since someone had that experience yesterday) that the end goal is to sell you something and that it is really hard not to buy anything. So we didn't get in. We walked back into the Hutong area. Looking for a hairdresser. Eli wanted a haircut. We walked into a hairdresser where there were no clients. Good, we thought so that she could have that haircut immediately. You know how it gets when you want a haircut. You want it now, not next week or so. They giggled when we walked in but we thought it was because we were foreigners (having had that experience already several times in shops and on the streets). We asked for a haircut. They didn't seem to understand. So Eli took a string of hair and did the scissor-thing with her fingers. They laughed and shook 'no', not possible. For a moment we were puzzled. But when we got out we realised that they were probably prostitutes. Someone had mentioned something like that a few days ago. And it would explain the giggles when two girls walked in. We went back to the hostel at around 5 and watched ' BIg Fish' out of sheer lazyness. Very nice movie. After had a copious dinner where we could just pick out little sticks with veggies (so nice after Russia and especially Mongolia), tofu and meat and put them into a little basket to have it prepared. Absolutely very delicious. And now i'm trying to tell my stomach that it isn't overfull at all. That that is just an illusion. But i think my stomach is right though, i ate way too much!
Tomorrow the Forbidden city and hopefully i'll be able to meet up with Sonia (Yum-Yum) again. She's in Beijing too!

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Stinker & Nina in front of on of the palaces Forbi

17-11-2005
Back in the hostel. Sore feet from the whole day walking around in the Forbidden City. Just said goodbye to Matt with whom i travelled the last 3 weeks or so. Actually there were 4 of us since we started on the trip to the Gio desert but Nicola and Steve have been spoiled since they arrived in Beijing. Nicola's parents are here too and so they are treated to a stay at one of the luxurious hotels in the city. Not bad after 10 days Gobi desert and a night bus through China. Am quite tired. Not only from wandering around all day but also because of 4 hours of sleep. I do have something to boast about though. We started to watch ' Le Grand Bleu' yesterday at around 23-something and some of the guys around didn't mind watching a film while waiting for football to begin at 1.15 in the morning. They knew i had seen the movie already and i assumed that they would immediately tell me when it was time to switch to football. At the end of the movie i realised that it had to be much later then 1.15 (i know it is a long movie). It was 2 am and none of the guys had said a single thing! They all considered it a very good movie and preferred to watch the end instead of football. Though they weren't too dissapointed when at another channel there was just the start of a match... But all in all i didn't find my bed until 3 am. And at 7 (and a little bit) i had to get up. I had promised to Eli to come along and visit the FC. Which by the way is fantastic. We did hire an audio guide but that was a bad investment. Almost all the time that thing started to talk about something while we weren't there yet. And you can't regulate it yourself. Some sensor thing i guess. But it is very irritating when someone tells you to look left at something and your still trying to find your way there. The best example of this was when i stepped into a small courtyard. My audio guide came on instantly and started to say that it was a very small courtyard but that it was a very important one. Next to the bamboo i was supposed to see a well of sorts. Now i know nothing about anything green and living (or dead for that matter. Talk flora and i disconnect) but i knew i wasn't looking at anything remotely bamboo-like (and there was no sighn from a well thingy either). So i checked the next courtyard. Small too and all that but still no bamboo or anything resembling a well. And my guide just kept talking. 2 small courtyards later i found the bamboo and well. But my guide had switched off. Luckily they have big signs with text as well. Worked much better.

Will go and see if i can contact Yum-Yum. Didn't meet up with her today

Jerry, me, Jayne, Martin and Miri in the hostel's

25-11-2005
As you might have guessed, i sort of had a mayor diconnect thing going on lately. Not computer-wise but brain-wise. I haven't done much since i came here. The forbidden city and some shopping but even the shopping has been half-heartedly. Apart from buying books. Apparently my brain did need some serious fiction-fix. So i've read a book or 5 since my last entry here. And i met up with Sonja (yum-yum) again. She even switched to the hostel i'm staying in because it was more fun (and no japanese girl sleeping in a bunk above here and keeping her awake all night). She left wednesday early to go to Moscow by train.
Last night was the first night i actually slept a complete night without being awakened once. And hopefully that would be the same tonight. Everybody's left my dorm and i wouldn't be too sad if there would be just me tonight. Some good qquality time sleeping is something we all can use every once in a while. Besides, i called my ambassy today and my passport has arrived. Unfortunately it was locked away in the safe and the guy who had the code, had left for the day. So i can only pick it up on monday. Then straight to the police for my visa and i've told myself that as soon as my passport was in visa-processing mode i would do all the tourist things. Which leaves me 2 more days to go souvenir, camera and mp3 hunting....... So you'll know what i'll be doing the next days.

28-11-2005
Am ashamed to say (well almost :-) ) that i still haven't bought myself a camera. I do have my passport though and i brought it to the PSB so monday next week it has a new visa in its interior as well. So i have a whole week to do the necessary sightseeing. Wich is good since i haven't done much yet. Though i have seen the latest (illegal copy of) Harry Potter. Must say i wasn't impressed. And i read a fair few books. Sometimes a girl needs that, reading loads of books... All in all, i've given myself one more day to actually get myself a camera (my current one starts to get some minor problems, probably due to use and a bit of desert sand..)
Besides,we (that is Jayne and me) tried to drink our way through the coctail list at the hostel's bar yesterday. We didn't quite make it but that had more to do with the fact that most coctails didn't measure up to our expectations and after a while there was nothing left on the list anymore that really did tempt us (and that is saying something). We did have fun though. Especially since we got good company after a while.

3-12-2005
Just seen someone off to the station (we hang around Beijing together for the last 3 weeks). She's going to Russia (Moscow) and i'm even slightly jealous. Not because of Moscow, i don't like Moscow, but i love Russia. Then again, i really like Beijing as well. I have a few more days here. I bought my camera, did some souvenir shopping (and today got invited twice for dinner and once, by the same guy, for going out dancing. He also introduced me and a friend to the tea ceremony. We drank so much tea.... but it was a good time) and bought an iPod which it took me about to days to fill up with music. Partially since i needed to listen to every single song on quite a few of my cd's since someone had burned them as MP3 but they were already copies so i had a fair few songs with a very annoying tick in it. And of course i spend some time fondeling my new camera. Tomorrow i go hiking i think. It is starting to get quite cold so i might change my mind but i need some exercise to burn off all that excellent chinese food. Monday i pick up my passport/visa, then i go to the dentist and visit the lama temple afterwards which is easy since the dentist is in the lama temple anyway :-) But please keep your fingers crossed for the dentist. 11 am on monday, beijing time!

Before China i was in Mongolia and Russia . Well, i was in a few other countries as well but i didn't keep a diary there yet.