Next day (5th? Losing track)
And today I walked. I walked to the point of exhaustion. But I had a great day.
Started in frustration, up early but couldn't for the life of me persuade a taxi driver to stop. When one eventually did, after nearly an hour, he took me unsuspectingly to the Temple of the Earth, where I had been aiming for Heaven. In actual fact, I never found the actual Temple of the Earth but immersed myself in the park around it, which was full of people just doing things. Mostly in groups, but occasionally on their own, stretching or doing tai chi, or singing, or conducting a distant imaginary band. My first pick was the best. A scruffy and quite clearly impromptu Chinese brass band had set up in one of the pavilions, had brought song books and had attracted a large crowd of singers. The music was sometimes tricky and Chinese, but often predictable, and it was easy and fun to join in loudly. I loved it.
Another OAP outdoor gym, with rowing machines and all sorts, everything in use. Flutes playing randomly, men playing concentratedly at mahjong, Chinese chess and dominoes, ladies in large groups dancing, knitting and chatting. Totally sociable.
We have a lot to learn from the Chinese.
Bury Knowle Park could see some changes.
And then there was the park food.
Tasty skewers of chicken and squid, freshly fried light-as-a-feather doughnuts, a sort of semolina with nuts and seeds and a cup of tea, all for the princely sum of 17Y, approx £2. No other Westerners in the park, so these were Chinese prices.
Tried again for Temple of Heaven, and got there. Breezed through as had been there before, and then struggled (only a bit) to get a taxi to take me to Liulichang, the land of curiosities, calligraphy and art supplies, as well as the showplace of some of the best 'painting inside' artists in Beijing. If you don't know what this is, look up Xu Bu on the Internet. He's awesomely talented at, yes you've guessed it, painting inside.
Then a brisk long and diverse walk through the area between Liulichang and Tiananmen Square, passing through, and stopping for a while in the oldest retail street in Beijing. A couple of beautiful silk shops, an extraordinary shoe shop, and the best dumplings outside of Xian! Well, I was hungry.
Refreshed, walked onward and down and upward via a series of subways to Tiananmen Square. All bags checked as at airports, and this afternoon quite full of people, including a few Chinese people who wanted to practise their English and take me out for coffee.
And then I walked again. I looked for a taxi, I tried again and again, and I walked. And I tried again, and I walked. All the way past the Forbidden City (to be visited on another day), and on and on and on. It started to rain and still I walked.
I found a couple of Germans, equally frustrated - how do you persuade a taxi to stop?
Eventually I must have looked so exhausted that two girls already in a taxi took pity and asked their driver to stop.
Unfortunately he didn't know much about Beijing, and it took over an hour to drive as far as I could have walked in the time, but I didn't care. I was sitting down. And for all that time in the taxi it only cost 27Y (£2.70).
The acrobat show that the hotel had actually failed to book was well under way, and I was relieved I didn't have to go out again. I opted for dinner in the hotel, a scrummy spicy aubergine dish, hot toffee apples (remember Venice, Zan?), and an early bath.
I live to fight another day, just.
But Beijing is an incredible city.
Did I mention that the Bamboo Garden Hotel is an old courtyard place, former residence of someone important (a Qing eunuch)? The courtyard has bamboo, for sure, and the persimmon tree I mentioned earlier, as well as a whole variety of mature trees including a 200year old clove tree. It's extraordinarily peaceful in the garden, and amazing that such a place exists still right in the centre of the city. Quite extraordinarily beautiful.
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