Shanghai to Beijing

Time to farewell Shanghai and make our way to Beijing. A 20 minute Metro ride and we've arrived at the railway station. Like the one we took the other day, it feels closer to an airport. We've given ourselves enough time for breakfast and we've boarded the bullet train minimal fuss. Did we mention how easy it is to get around Shanghai?

We settle in and it's a smooth 4.5 hour, 350kmph ride into Beijing. We blog, we read, we nap, they try to sell Courts some whitening cream to which she retorts she couldn't get any whiter.

We arrive at the station and it's noticeably busier than Shanghai and not as pristine. Maybe we'll get to see some of the realer side of China here! A quick update on the Alipay app to change from Shanghai Metro to Beijing's subway and we're on our way. We have to change trains but it's fairly similar to the Shanghai Metro and easy to navigate. We exit the station and cross the main road. There is a pedestrian crossing but with no lights and the cars and scooters don't necessarily stop so we're having to pull out our Hanoi Jedi mind tricks and try not to die.

We make it across and our hotel is somewhere up this street. This street is a major attraction shopping strip type deal. A pedestrian strip but of course plenty of scooters and bikes weaving in and out. It's early arvo so the strip is heaving. We're starving and settle on a Peking duck pancake wrap (which we've affectionately coined the Beijing burrito). It's delicious and ducky and we're now able to make it to the hotel, which is about 3/4 down the strip so we're able to get a good idea of what's on offer here (pastries, tripe, trinkets, professional ear picking).

We check in and drop our bags at the room (the hotel staff are very impressed we're only carrying one bag each) and we hit the pavement again. Drum Tower is about 15 minutes away and we wander over. First impressions are it feels like there is way more people around, despite Beijing being similar size to Shanghai and all mostly single story buildings. Shanghai are winning in the infrastructure stakes so far.

We buy tickets to drum tower and head in. There's some sort of solo musical performance happening on the steps. Everyone's getting into it and singing along. The drum tower was built in the 1200s(!) and together with the nearby bell tower was used to announce the time to the city. We head to the tower entrance and are greeted by what might be the world's steepest stair case. It's a real neck breaker. We lock in and head up. We make it to the top with some breath to spare so we're doing better than most. We see the drums (the desire to bang them is strong), a few other ancient time keeping relics and check out the views. A very pretty looking city with trees and lakes and mountains and city scape as the back drop. And the air is surprisingly clear. We head back down the neck breakers (it's a two hands on rail, side step deal) and don't break our necks.

We head on back to the hotel to admire the view from our rooftop (aka avail of our complementary local Beijing beer). Re-energized and ready to explore we're headed to the lake. It's a popular attraction, especially around sundown. We make our way there via the hutongs, which are effectively side streets where people live, interspersed with convenience stores, little restaurants and even some breweries. But not in a touristy way, this is where and how the people of Beijing live. It's very cool and a nice reprieve from the tourist shopping strip we're staying off.

We get to the lake on sunset and it's stunning as promised. Stunning because of the view of sun setting behind one of the old bridges and because of its likeness to the royal Adelaide show. Its heaving with people and there's lots of shitty little stalls selling little shitty bits of crap. Which is sad because it really is a beautiful spot. We grumble our way through the crowds and photo shoots (so many photo shoots) and make it to the other, much quieter side of the lake. A couple of beers and a dish of mini dumplings and we've changed our attitude. This would be a nice spot to come early morning before the vendors and influencers arrive.

We make our way back through the hutongs. We've got our eye on a no frills local restaurant that sells the famous Beijing dish zhajiangmian (wheat noodles with fermented bean paste and crunchy veg) and only that dish. There's a queue (good sign) but it moves quick. We settle in and our food is delivered in minutes. The taste of the paste is salty, sweet, umami and earthy. Jeff's not convinced, Courts doesn't mind it but agree we probably won't be in a rush to order it again.

We meander back to the hotel via an ice-cream and churro stop and arrive at the hotel suitably exhausted. Another huge day, considering half of it was spent on a train.