A slow start to the day
Since our train to Beijing left at 15:24, we had plenty of time on our hands. Which also meant we had plenty of time to have a late lie in. Thus, we don’t have to hear Mat’s dreaded alarm tone. We didn’t do a whole lot during the morning/afternoon. The time we had left was mostly spent packing and grabbing some breakfast/lunch. Checking into the train station went smoothly, as per usual now. The trip to Beijing itself was relatively short, but it was dark outside when we got there.
As expected of the capital city, there was no lack of public transport away from the train station. Mat opened maps to make sure we got the right bus. Every couple of minutes a new bus comes and we got on easily enough. There are plenty of marshals around to help out (in Mandarin) if you’re stuck. When we got off the bus, we walked the rest of the way. But what we saw in front of us stopped us in our tracks.
Streets of Beijing
In front of us were large, golden arches. The same golden arches which give hope to so many who are in need of easy nourishment. It came to our saviour before, and it has come to our saviour again. After having stuffed ourselves with a delicious and authentic Chinese meal, we started off again. There were plenty of lit up buildings on the way to the hostel, very pretty. Our hostel was quite easy to find, it’s on a main pedestrian side street. The street is full of shops, mostly selling foods but also gifts as well as odds and ends.
The hostel we’re staying at is called Leo Hostel, seems to be in the centre of a lot of shops and transport, as well as not too far from attractions. To check it out click here. It’s a pretty chill hostel with loads of rooms and a pretty cool ‘vibe’. Anyway, we checked in, dropped our stuff off, and chilled out for a time. Despite getting quite late, we decided to go for a stroll in Beijing at night.
A late night stroll
Even when it’s late, the streets right outside our hostel are the typical lit up market streets you imagine. On every street for as far as I could see, was the image I conjured in my head as to what China would look like. It was great to be walking these streets in the chaos and business of people going about their lives. I felt quite honoured to be able to experience this atmosphere. A moment I won’t forget.
On our way back around the block, we stumbled upon a bakery. There were all sorts of glorious looking pastries to be had, with an assortment of sizes and colours. We decided to try some profiteroles (small, round pastries filled with cream, these didn’t have chocolate on the top). I’ve honestly never tasted a nicer profiterole than this. It truly mesmerised the pair of us, we couldn’t believe how divine they tasted. An instant favourite, something we’ll have to look out for everywhere.
A strange noise in the dorm
Mat and I were sharing a dorm room with 2 other Europeans (one from France, the other from elsewhere). We did speak to them briefly about plans past and future, as you do. They seemed like a decent pair of lads. Anyway, once we were all sorted and lights were out, a rather strange occurrence happened. One of the foreign dudes started making rather bizarre and suspicious noises, or should I say groans.
This happened several times in quick succession. Both Mat and I assumed he was doing an R-rated activity and the pair of us erupted into a silent laughing fit. Trying not to make a noise when laughing, makes it 10x funnier. We were both trying our best to keep it contained and holding our noses. This went on for over half an hour. When we settled down, as soon as we hear a peep from the other person, we just explode into another silent laughing fit. The next day Mat even had black eyes due to the amount of pressure he was trying to hold in!
