Mopping Up

So we had done Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall Of China. What else was there to do? We should just pack our bags and get on the next train to Xi’An. But no, that just wouldn’t do. We still had the opportunity to see the Mao Mausoleum for starters, and then pack the rest of the day with other little bits around Beijing.

We weren’t allowed cameras in, or so we assumed, and we left our bags at home so we wouldn’t have to go through the drama of putting them in the correct-sized lockers and paying the relevant fee. We queued up with the masses of people also wanting to get a look at Chairman Mao and we noted that it seemed remarkably busy, much more so than on the day before when we had tried to get in. Then we realised that it was Saturday. Dagnabbit! There would be every man and his dog trying to get in and see the man. But it didn’t take very long to get through the queue and security (obviously) and then line up ready to pass through the mausoleum.

It didn’t take long to go from start to finish. Most of the other people around us bought flowers and laid them at a statue of Chairman Mao and then we moved through to where he was, lying in a glass enclosed coffin with a single light shining on his face. Very spooky, but we weren’t in there for long as the line was constantly moving, but it’s another thing to say that I have done whilst on my travels.

We had heard that the Silk Market/Silk Street was a good place to visit when in Beijing so we climbed aboard our favourite metro train, changed twice and emerged in a new part of town. We were also running low on funds, but James had identified a China Construction Bank that we would be able to get some more from (least charges to withdraw from). It wasn’t far, but it was closed. It was Saturday. It looked like we were going to have to take a hit on withdrawing from another bank until I spotted people entering the building to the left. We entered and manage to do enough gesturing to the chap on reception that we just wanted to use the ATM and bingo, we were in!

The balls and the banks

With fresh Yuan in our wallets we found the Silk Market and headed inside. It reminded us of the infamous Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong with its small aisles and sellers shouting at you as you walk past. There was nothing there for us really, nothing that we hadn’t seen before, and we were saving our next shopping spree for Xi’An where it is much cheaper, according to Haven.

No silk, t-shirts, suits, hats, scarves, or any tat thank you very much!

Our next item on the agenda was the Temple of Heaven. Another couple of stops down the metro and we were there. We didn’t know much about it but as we hadn’t gained much from the Silk Market we wanted to salvage the afternoon with a visit there. It was quite similar to the Forbidden City with various buildings dotted around the site, with information boards along the way to tell you what you were looking at.

The Temple Of Heaven, in the background

We only had an hour to look around as the place would be shutting at 5:00pm sharp, so we bombed through the place to see as much as we could before getting kicked out. We never got to see it all, but had a good stab at it and it meant that we would definitely sleep well in the night!

Another smoggy sunset in Beijing

The metro ride back to our district was horrendously crowded and I kept a close eye/hand on all my possessions in the cramped carriages. We were pretty tired from the last couple of days so we made it a hat-trick in the restaurant downstairs for dinner and even got both cats sitting with us again. This time it was my kung pao chicken that the cheekier of the two felines went for, but it was way too spicy for him! I had laced it with two lashings of tabasco sauce to rid myself of another cold, probably brought on by close proximity to sneezing Chinese people on cramped trains…and the cold.