I remember that evening flight from Manila, and that confusing chaos upon arriving at Beijing Airport in the wee hours. And that our first taste of China was that of a funky-smelling fried chicken sandwich from KFC.
Outside, I remember how frigidly cold it was that we had to put on more layers of clothing. And how, as we figured out how to get to our AirBnB, a strange man approached us, and yelled "Taxi!" He grabbed hold of one of our friend's luggage, and dragged it along so we would follow him across the street, into a building elevator, and out to a creepy parking lot, all the way to his car where he coerced us to get in. One of those tourist traps.
I remember our confused faces at that time, and feeling uneasy, we declined. He was furious when we firmly said, "No." We were pretty sure he was cursing even as we walked away back to the airport where we waited at the legit taxi stand manned by an airport official. We arrived in our accommodation at around 3am, still alive.
Welcome to China, I thought to myself. This will be one heck of an adventure.
I woke up the following morning and as I stepped outside, it was frigid, about 10°C. I would not survive in this climate, I thought. We had to buy foot warmers at the nearby convenient store before we headed to the station.
Navigating the Beijing subway system, was to say the least, confusing apart from us not knowing how to speak nor read Chinese. Commuting via trains was something that felt strange yet familiar at the same time. I have a terrible sense of direction and I'm lucky to have friends who know their way amidst knotted rails and streets.
On our first official day, we visited the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, which are a couple of minutes away by train from the main city center. For history geeks like me, these two places represent incredible seats of power in ancient China, when it was still ruled over by emperors from various dynasties. Boom. Big Brain.
The Forbidden City was the imperial palace and the political heart of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the past, commoners were prohibited from entering the Forbidden City without permission and only imperial families and invited high officials are allowed into the city, hence its name. Thank you, Google.
The Summer Palace was a Qing dynasty imperial garden. It is pretty much like Beijing's version of New York Central Park with temples, palaces, lakes, ponds, and bridges in between. When the imperial family got bored and hot at the Forbidden City in the summer, they went over to their palatial vacation home. Wow. Sana all.
We visited Beijing during autumn when leaves have fallen and the pond has frozen over at the Summer Palace. At the palace, we slowly found our ways through the labyrinth of bridges and streets. We also found a shack with ropes to tie around the trees to prepare them for the harsh winter cold. Seasons are confusing, I know.
By the time the day was done, we were spent. Our legs were tired from all the walking around, our toes freezing that if it were not for the footwarmers we would have had frost bite. OK exaggerating a bit, but it really hurts.
What I meant to say was whattaday! Navigating through the busy city streets and subway systems yet somehow finding ourselves in ancient China with preserved architecture and imperical gardens was magical. We were only a few minutes away from city center of Beijing and yet it felt like we were in an entirely different world.
We were done for the day but our adventure continues. And so our next adventure had led us taking the bullet train to Xi'an which was 11 hours away from Beijing. But in the sleek bullet train, our travel was cut to 5 hours.
Exactly what did we travel 1216km from Beijing to Xi'an for? It was to visit these guys! The Terracotta Army, which was one of our rather embarrassing travel stories. But more on that bit later. Let's revisit history first.
The "Army" was a collection of terracotta sculpture depicting the warriors of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210-209 BC with the purpose of protecting him in the afterlife. They were unearthed in 1974 by a group of farmers. Just one of your typical burial traditions.
Now for the fun bit. After we've visited the expansive Emperor's Mausoleum, we were well on our way to the station where the bullet train dropped us off, because we got round-trip train tickets. We were running late but we made it back to the station in time, or so we supposed. Surprise! The bullet train was at a different station.
What. The. Heck. So we hurried to get to the right one, but by the time we got there, it was too late. We missed our train back to Beijing and we've no accommodations in Xi'an. We could not spend the night there so we booked another ticket back, but not on the bullet train because it's no longer available. We took this older, slower, sleeping train which travelled 11 effin hours and costed us 500 yuan. Just imagine our frustration.
Our little detour turned out to be well though, even better than we thought. In the sleeping train, our coach had 4 bunk beds, pillows, and linen. There was a small table near the window where we placed the foods we bought for the trip. It was an 11-hour journey, so don't judge. We spent the midnight chatting in the sleeping train; I woke up to daylight coming in from our window, and looked out to see expansive golden fields of the country.
And just like that, we were back in the city! Where everything felt familiar and strange at the same time! We were just so happy to be back to Beijing and of course do the rest of our tourist stuff and make the most out of the city's night market. It was still so cold and we got into a legit tea shop and there I had the best-hot-jasmine-tea-I'd-ever-had-in-my-life I swear. I bought a bag to take home. Oh, we had candied fruits and scorpions too.
You can't do Beijing properly without The Great Wall, stretching as far as the eyes can see, like a sleeping dragon laying on the contours of the mountains, it was built to keep the Mongols out from invading China.
Standing here, panting for breath because of the rigorous hike and the thin air due to high elevation, I still could not believe that I was in the midst of this marvel in human history. But then it slowly started to sink in, like a dragon awakening, there I was, with my friends, and I started to believe that in life, anything's possible.
Catching this golden light on our flight back from Beijing dawn over Manila as the city was just about to wake up from its sleep, I'm still gathering my thoughts from our recent trip to China. It's been one heck of a journey. But I'm home now, and I'm grateful and glad to have shared this with my friends, Janna, Ayi, and Keesha.
Until our next adventure,
Rach ✨
