The Great Wall of Smog

After 24 hours in transit, i finally arrived at my hostel in Beijing at 9am on Wednesday morning (local time). Since i had missed all the Great wall tours for the day, my only option was to take public transport. This involved a 2.5 hour mission each way, along with a 2 hour run on the great wall in between. As you can imagine, i was quite tired from the outset.

After returning from my day out, i was invited out for dinner and drinks by some Irish dudes. We went to this Lake that is surrounded by bars, restaurants, and night clubs. It looks amazing, with crazy lighting, and people cruising around inlittle boats. I returned to the hostel after they decided to hit the nightclubs. That just wasn't going to happen.

Went to Forbidden city the following day, that was ok i suppose.

Here is what i think of Beijing:

- Cant see crap because of smog (streets disappear into it) This means you can look directly at the sun, not that you would necessarily want to.

- There are people everywhere. Its a madhouse. Its like a party on every corner, except with no party.

- Not many people speak english, not many westerners here really.

- Public transport is pretty sweet, because you see heaps of wierd stuff. Although it is complicated, and requires you to spend a lot of time communicating with locals using hand gestures.

- Its cheap as chips.

- People don't seem to give a crp about you, but then become very helpful when asked. People will go out of their way to show you the way somewhere.

- Everyone talks to each other on the bus, I don't know why, or what about. I may never know.

- There are more building being built, than there are buildings that are occupied.

Interesting place, but i'm happy to be heading West to the twilight zone. On to Urumqi then.