Fast forward 1 year and a half from our first date, we get married in this beautiful forest wedding. After spending a few days in the lake with out-of-town friends, we embark into a 25 hour journey to Beijing. My very good friend from my masters programme in Bath was kind enough to let us stay with her. So I was excited to see her and explore China with my new husband.
Prior to the trip, I was anxious about travelling to China without my parents. I can only speak broken Mandarin and the idea of peeing in squat toilets did not excite me. But here I was, newlywed and seeking adventure with my sculptor husband.
Once we arrived to Beijing, we grabbed a cab to go to Susan's place. I printed out the directions in Chinese since I can barely communicate in Mandarin (my family speaks Cantonese). We were without Internet, no google maps, no way to communicate with Susan. Nothing. We arrive at the compound (Yao Min lives in the same compound by the way), and we knock on the door but no one answers. We tried to call Susan and she explains to the taxi driver how to get to the right house. Anyways, long story short, we arrive and we go for Hot Pot during the evening.
Our days in Beijing were filled with excitment, fun and much frustration. We ventured into the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs the second day we got there. The Great Wall during Winter looked very pretty. The air was crisp, there were not many people and the winter scenery looked and sounded poetic. Michael and I climbed the stairs and got up to the third tower before we started our descent. Now, the descent was interesting. Instead of going down through the chairlifts we toboganned our way down. It was so much fun.
Other points of interests that we visited were the Forbidden City, the National Art Museum and the Art District. The thing about Beijing is that it takes HOURS to get from one place to another. A subway journey to Tiannamen from our place took literally 2 hours. The overall atmosphere was serious and rigid. People in the subway were quiet and serious. I was also not used to the idea of being under surveillance all the time. There were cameras in the streets, public transportations, museums...everywhere. It made me feel a bit paranoid since they have face detection technology.
After we had enough of Beijing, we decided that our next stop would be Xian. We've heard all kinds of fascinating things about the city. However, figuring how to get to Xian was a major point of frustration. We first booked a high speed train, but the reservations got cancelled last minute because they did not register our passport information (thanks to the Internet restriction!). We got to the train station and tried to buy the tickets, but since my Mandarin is almost non-existence, we ended up buying a 14-hour journey in 4th class. So we had no other option but to go back to Susan's place and book air tickets to Xian. Thankfully, everything worked out and we left during the evening.
To be honest, I experienced much frustration for not being able to speak Mandarin. Everyone assumed that I spoke the language since I look ethnically Chinese. I even tried to lie that I was Korean one time to avoid the trouble of explaining why I don't speak Chinese but they didn't believe me. Chinese people are really good at detecting what kind of Asian you are!
I will be posting Part 2 (Xian) soon.
Pictures for your enjoyment:
