Beijing by Bike

Our final full day in Beijing dawned bright and sunny - no smog or haze to protect Kate's delicate skin - but after dragging our weary bodies out of bed and applying several layers of sunscreen it was time to explore the city.

Our overly energetic guide David had a full day planned for us but apparently couldn't deal with late nights and early mornings so after we gave him a quick wake-up call 15minutes after we were due to have started we were off to face China's capital city like a local. This started with a costly ride of 1yuan on the bus (with not an english letter in sight so highly difficult for most travellers to work out) followed by bike rides down narrow alleys around the Hutong District where 30 to 40 Chinese families can live together in a community traditionally built around a courtyard sharing only one toliet.

After noticing our lack of enthusiaism about his history lesson on Chinese doorways, our guide decided to change tack - and take us to an exercise park. Monkey bars alongside balance beams and cross trainers, as well as table tennis and Tai Chi - not to mention people playing hackysack with featherered weights. We were entranced and could have spent hours 'exercising'. However, before long we were back on our bikes and negotiating Beijing traffic on 8-lane roads, sharing the bike lanes with rikshaws, buses and the odd parked car or two.

We managed not to lose anyone and made it to the local pet market. David explained its very normal for Beijing locals to frequent the pet market for anything they needed from cats and dogs to turtles, squirrels, woodpeckers, piglets, scorpions, crickets and a strange breed of evil squirrel cross monkey complete with claws, fangs and the menacing glare of a rat. Feeling a mix of fear of this alien creature and sadness for the small cages and intense heat the animals lived in we decided to cool down in the shade with ice cream to energise the next ride in the bright sunlight.

We continued on to the food market where Megan spent her spare yuan and boosted the local economy by buying red-bean paste rolls and basically anything that was strange enough to pass the "oh my god we're in Beijing" test. Next we took in a birdseye view of Beijing from the top of the Bell Tower and learnt its history from a tour girl eager to practise her English. After a lot of nodding and smiling we rode on to our final stop on the bike tour: lunch. There is no way to describe how endless the turns of left and right in no apparent direction felt to blind followers, but somehow we were delievered to the home of a local family who had spent the morning at the same market we had visited buying fresh food for us and the rest of the day preparing a meal that resembled an everyday normal lunch for Chinese families. The plates just kept on coming, everything fresh, healthy and irresitible no matter how full we were feeling.

From there we left the bikes behind and waddled up the street to the bus stop. 1yuan later we were standing at the back entrance to the Forbidden City. We spent David on his way and decided to visit the gardens to the South of the famous walled city. We walked to the top of the hill and were amazed at the size of the red roofed Imperial Palace, while Kate experienced her first (and hopefully last) green bean icecream which had the added bonus of a foot-like texture.

Once on the inside of the Palace walls, we wandered around the maze of courtyards and gardens, fighting the massive crowds and dodging parasols and umbrellas. We gave up on the audio-guides being content to simply admire the 14th century buildings and architechture in the scorching summer evening's heat. The buildings got bigger and more ornate the closer we got to the South entrance/exit point, until, after pushing our way out through the massive crowds we were faced with the stark wide-open space of Tianemin square. We soaked up the atmosphere and availed ourseves of the excellently priced 1 yuan iceblocks as we took in Mao's mauseleum and the rest of the square.

Our sightseeing complete for the day, we decided to walk back to the hostel (on the condition that we could do it slowly). We had a sense of the general direction (as well as a map the size of a business card) and money for a taxi in case things went pear-shaped. The lure of a McDonald's billboard and the prospect of an interesting street proved to hard to resist and without hesitation we headed off our predetermined route towards the unknown. The rewards for our bravery made Beijing positively the best city ever!

Ok so first it was the pedestrian shopping street that made us happy to have found the central hub of the people of Beijing. Just as we began to say how different China town is to actual China (this street apart from the Chinese signs could have been located in any city of the world) we spotted large archways and stone dragons. Again turning away from the direction we were meant to be headed we ventured into the thick crowd and found what we believe to be the night markets. Street venders were selling skewers of all types of meat, toffee-coated fruits and fried insects. Round balls of dough covered in sugar could be bought by the bowl and milk to wash it down came in tapped coconuts. Around the corner souvenirs enough to satisfy the thousands of tourists that pass through everyday. Never did we belive that in only 2 and a half days we would see so many angles of the expansive city of Beijing.

We rushed back to the hostel on a high (not just from sugar but pure adrenalin) and prepared ourselves for our last dinner with the tucan troupe. We bundled ourselves into 4 cabs armed only with a piece of paper with the name of the street and restaurant. We headed across town and somehow found ourselves in another place entirely,with toast still on the floor from the morning's breakfast and a hotplate in front of us on which we were expected to cook ourselves dinner. Some of the choices were 'interesting', to say the least - however for novelty value it was fantastic. The novelty value of the toilets however was another matter entirely....

We ended the night in a rooftop bar soaking up the atmosphere of a balmy Beijing night, having come a long long way from the beginning of the tour in St Petersburg and reminisicing on our travels. At the hostel we still couldn't be separated and so it was a long night before finally giving up our time together purely because of early trips to the airport.