Shanghai Dancing

Chinese new year in Beijing

5 februari 2017, 06:45

I took the change to explore some more of china this week. I could not plan or book anything earlier because during this week I might had work on sport camp. But they were cancelled because all children went away on vacations and celebrating Chinese new year with their families. I thought I must take the opportunity to travel a bit when I finally have some time off in china!

Me and my roommate Sam took a bullet train from Shanghai-Beijing Sunday morning (after a big night out) and it took only a little more than 4h. I slept most of the time because of Harrys birthday celebration the night before… Chinese super train are very affordable and convenient and good comfort since it is almost “flying” through the landscape.

We stayed 5 days at Sheraton grand Doncheng Beijing, which is a 5 star luxury hotel and good a great deal because of my father’s platinum membership and Chinese holiday promotion. We paid around 440 kr per night (each) to stay in an executive suite, included big breakfast buffet and evening buffet and free drinks!

It would be easy to just stay in all day and drink cappuccinos in the club lounge, go to the spa with saunas, whirlpool, swimming pool and so on, or use the well-equipped fitness center, watch movies on the flat screen TV’s or work the high speed internet. But we had time to do all of this and discover the capital of China. I usually went up before Sam, hit the gym, and then wake him up for breakfast- best meal of the day, and then we were out sightseeing the whole day until evening with happy hour, and spent later evenings at the spa.

Our mobike app worked also in this chinese city- Yeyy!

First day after arrival we went to the summer palace. We did not expect it to be so enormous and there was a lot of people as well. You get a taste of the overpopulation issue with so many Chinese tourist at one spot. Some of them snuck up to take selfies with us because being white-western seems to be funny and exciting… It was very cold but fresh air since factories were down so I enjoyed spending many hours outside at this historic palace and temples next to the Kunming lake.

Day 2 Yuanmingyuan park (old summer palace) was our main attraction. This (again) enormous place was beautiful with all its lakes and ruins. According to TripAdvisor there would be a fair celebrating the new year but all I could see was decorations but unfortunately no performance or the famous dragon dance… I might have spotted some entertainers in costumes but I as to slow to get my camera out. We also visited a bronze museum with the zodiac’s of chines calendar. I am a horse for being born in 1990, Sam a rabbit at 1987, and this upcoming year is the year of the rooster.

The third day we had bought a day tour from 7 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon packed with different activities. We travelled in in a minivan together with 2 American sisters, and 2 Canadian friend3 whom we got along with very well. It was a great trip because the tour guide could speak English and was able to give us a lot of interesting facts everywhere.

We started up at Tiananmen square which is the world’s largest square and were the parliament, Mao’s mausoleum and other Russian inspired buildings stand. Here was also the gates to the forbidden city which we also entered. It was majestic to see how the emperors lived, together with all 100 concubines and children and again I was amazed of how big everything was. Even though I had 3 layers and a lot of wool on I was freezing into the bones, since Beijing is below 0 degrees and a lot more north than Shanghai.

Continuing 1,5h outside of Beijing to the great wall we also stopped at a Jade factory, but even though it was nice to see their valued stones I did not buy anything. Just by the foot of the Mutianyu Great wall we had a typical Chinese buffet before we started climbing the mountain. The hike was much more demanding than I expected but as me, Sam and one of the Americans (the others went by cable car) reached the top, the sweat was all worth it. What an amazing feeling standing on one of the wonders of the world and a place on earth I have wanted to visit all my life!! I was so happy and enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountains surrounding us.
After 2 h of climbing stairs and hiking on the Great wall my leg were shaking and as a dancer I felt the need to stretch before getting in the car again. The team and others at parking lot thought it was a bit weird but funny but you got to do what you got to do. Only problem was that I forgot to stretch out the calves so from the day after I sadly had pain in my shins… So workouts these latest days has not included running or cross training but more focused on strengthening and stretching.

On the way back we stopped at a teahouse and enjoyed a tea ceremony. It was delicious different kinds of teas and interesting to learn about how different the taste can be according to time and place of harvest and how long it has been a big tradition in china. I will buy more different kinds of teas from now on with whole dried flowers, buckwheat and broaden my selection.

The last day we visited the Olympic green park were the Olympic games were held in 2008. The birds nest and water cube were the coolest buildings in this venue park.

That evening after enjoying our last supper we took a night train back to shanghai (12h). The standard was better than expected but it is interesting how much longer it takes for a regular train in comparison to a bullet speed train to cross the country…

We still have this weekend to prepare for the season 2 starting on Monday. Yesterday I meet some friends at Yiashan Market and I have some skype dates planned to catch up with friends and family at home, which is very important to me living so far away and missing them. But since my mom is turning 50 this year I am invited to join a family vacation in the beginning of April. So I will meet my darlings very soon actually and I am really looking forward to my next trip in Asia!