Boading to Beijing
As we set off from Boading the
sign posts read that it is only 123 klm to Beijing and we have decided to do
over two short days. The weather is hot and there is a strong wind blowing
which has cleared the air and blown away the awful pollution we have been
riding through in recent times, the sky is blue with white clouds. We stopped
for breakfast at a roadside stall but it was greasy, a disappointment as most
of the food we get off the stalls is usually pretty good. Scenery was similar
to yesterday, small towns and wheat fields.
We stopped at a garage to use the toilets and we were beseiged by three
women who insisted on giving us lunch and cold drinks while Mike drew pictures
for their children, we had trouble getting away but we needed to push on, the
wind meant our progress was slow. We
often come across police checks and the police have always just waved us
through but this time they stopped us and took our passports and we waited
while they rang someone, then they let us through.
The road was very busy and dusty
until we turned off on to a newly made road with hardly any traffic on it, we
could not understand why this lovely road was empty. Perhaps because it was a
bypass and therefore longer. We were in
the outskirts of Beijing and we were refused accommodation at two hotels
because we were foreigners, with the help of a very nice man who spoke English
we were directed to a hotel which was “registered”, it was some distance away
and we had to ask directions a few times, luckily the name of the hotel had
been written in Chinese for us, we eventually found it and the people were very
welcoming, asking questions about our trip and the manager came down and wanted
to be photographed with us. We were in
the suburbs of Beijing, there were lots of people and lots of restaurants. We
sat at a table out on the footpath and enjoyed a great meal of spicy noodles.
We were excited as we rode out
the next day, after almost 10,000 klms we were amost to Beijing. Mike
successfully navitaged us to the city. As we rode along wide clean streets we
were surprised how orderly
The traffic was, cars and bikes
stopped at red lights, the motor bikes rode in the rights lanes and there was
very little smog. There were a lot of police and army everywhere as we
approached Tiananmen Square, later we realized it was the anniversary of the
uprising here and the government were probably being careful to ensure there
were no protests, though the local people here are unaware of what happened all
those years ago. Tiananmen Square is the
entrance to the Forbidden City and there were a lot of people, including some
westerners, were heading to this icon of Chinese history. It was strange for us to just melt into the
crowd, no one was crowding around us or wanting to take our photo, we were
invisible here and that was a welcome relief.
Security was tight, everyone had to present their bags to police to
inspect as they entered, we were waved through for which we were grateful, we
thought we may have to open all our panniers for them to be searched. A kind man took our photo in front of the
large Mao portrait hanging in the square then we headed for the hostel we had
booked.
The hostel is in the old quarter
of Beijing in a hatong (alley) within walking distance to shops and
restaurants, we walked from Tiananmen Square and a couple of times Americans
working here helped us find our way. The
hostel had a room where we could leave the bikes and the staff here, like the
hostel in Guilin, were very helpful, they spoke English and were able to tell
us where things were and how to get there.
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