Sunday the 12th

Sunday at Tiananmen was a great day out after spending time in the Square we then went into the Forbidden City and spent a couple of hours walking around finding out about the history from the many signs, at some points it felt like we were the main attractions with various tourists coming up and asking for photos, we had been told about this before leaving but it’s always a bit strange to be taking pictures of a historical site only to then pose with some rural Chinese because they find you more interesting. After the time in Tiananmen I showed our group to the Hutong market I had visited the day before with Maggie and after some souvenir shopping we went to the Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant, one of the most famous in Beijing, though the meal was very pricey by Chinese standards the food was excellent, the hoisin sauce along with spring onions and crispy duck wrapped in a thin pancake is incomparable in Chinese cuisine and a must try when in Beijing. We spent that night exploring the Wudaokou nightclub area where we discovered the Study China favourite Wu nightclub.

After the night out in Wu Club my Monday morning began the way my Sundays usually do, with a strong hangover. Some berocca and too much water later I decided to join my room-mate on the way to the summer palace, a beautiful area of Beijing which many had planned a day out to, 3 of us went and without realising went to the old summer palace which was a great park on its own but not the right one so after a few conversations with taxis drivers and messing around with a translation app we made it to the more recent Summer Palace which was just as beautiful and expansive as we’d been told, it was another clear which allowed for some amazing panoramic shots of the skyline and the surrounding area, there is a small canal area at the end of the summer palace where we walked around and relaxed for the end of the day, really an amazing spot.

Much of Tuesday evening was spent preparing for the social development presentation on migrant workers the next day, our group decided to focus on the migrant children as we thought as a group they were most disadvantaged by the government’s policies and attitudes towards migrant workers. We gave the presentation on Wednesday and sat through 9 other presentations which surprised me at just how diverse and well researched their topics were considering we had all been given the same information. After the classes we attended the acrobatics show which was impressive from start to finish, with the tightrope walker and acrobatic being a stand out for me, I was surprised how well put together and high budget the show was especially in regards to the music and special effects. Wednesday night was spent continuing the group’s love affair with the Wu night club, free drinks are hard to resist.

On the Thursday and Friday of this week we spent more time seeing some sights with Thursday night given over to the night market of Beijing full of cheap and terrible souvenirs and strange things to eat including but not limited to a range of scorpions, various spiders and some parts of a pig I’d rather not talk about. The night market was a lot of fun, again bargaining for gifts was a highlight and the busy, crowded atmosphere gave a sense of what you would expect in a city of over 20million. Friday was spent in the back lake region of Houhai which is home to many bars, higher quality and varied souvenir shops and to my great enjoyment a lot of live music. I get the feeling that if I lived in Beijing I would spend a lot of time going bar to bar finding out which had the best acts and it’s definitely one of my favourite places in the city.

Yesterday was Great wall day, something nearly everyone was looking forward to, the sight of it doesn't disappoint it’s almost unbelievable when you get to a high point and just see it winding away into the distance knowing it’s only a fraction of the length. The walk up was tiring to say the least and the steepness took everyone by surprise, it wasn't a walk as much as it was a punishing climb but again definitely worth the view even if was quite smoggy.
After the great wall we celebrated a friend Dalias birthday at a nearby restaurant and then got ready for another night out this time to propaganda, it was one of the best nights out to date with the majority of the program meeting up at the same place and pretty much taking over the club. A small group at the end of the night decided it would be a great idea to go to the Tiananmen flag raising after leaving the club at half 5, on a freezing morning whilst still intoxicated so of course I had to go along and being both an idiot and a great friend decided to lend my coat to a friend Eamon before getting in the taxi. Unsure of what I expected to see at a flag raising I was completely underwhelmed by the raising of the flag whilst some nationalistic music played in the background, thankfully I found the person who had my coat and had it returned quite reluctantly before managing to get into a taxi with no problem (a first from my experience in Beijing).

Now having written yesterday’s portion of this after a mere 4 hours sleep the only thing to do is to visit the Zoo, last update next week then back home.