I had an interview for a campus honorary this morning, so I was up around 6:00 prepping for the 7:15. It was nice to be up early and catch people in the US evening, so I actually got quite a bit of work done. Ben slept in, and Chad was up working on email. When we decided to head out it was around 9:30 or 10:00 and we headed back toward the Silk Market. To our dismay, it was still closed! (Ben and I had hoped to commission a tailor to make us suits.) We grabbed lunch at a nearby Chinese fast-food-type restaurant. I had a bowl of noodles with beef, some peach pudding, and flavored tea…it was a great meal, and cost around $3.50. We headed back to Starbucks since it was near the stop, and so that we could warm up and plan our next move.
We headed out for the Great Wall at Badaling, which is about 45 miles outside the city center. Google Maps had instructed us to go to the furthest subway stop, then catch a bus. This was to be a long journey, but the subway system is absolutely impressive here. Every single stop is pristinely maintained, including top-knotch escalators, clean tile flooring, RFID-equipped readers and gates (all electronic ticketing, which costs 2 yuan, or around 30 cents to go anywhere in the system), electronic displays for the next two train arrivals, and safety gates to keep people from falling (or being pushed when it’s crowded) into the line. Inside each of the cars, there’s an automated attendant in Mandarin and English announcing upcoming stops and connections, and the heads-up map shows which stop you’re leaving and arriving in real time. Needless to say, the technical splendor and outstanding condition of the subway places it among the best I’ve seen anywhere in the world. Yesterday it was eerily deserted for the holiday, but today it started looking more like China and was actually crowded. I’m interested to know how many people are moved around this system daily…it’s a big number, I’m sure. When we talk about infrastructural investments in major cities, they need to look at this system as a model.
Finally, we reached the end of the line and ended up catching a cab because it was rather cheap. After about 45 minutes of driving through a moutainous region, we reached the Badaling section of the Great Wall. The Badaling section is pretty commericalized and restored, but still requires some hiking. There were excellent views, though it was probably about -5 degrees! On the way back to the city, we decided to catch the bus, which ended up being extremely economical and fast (only cost about $2.50 for an hour or so ride back to the subway).
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- Day 3 Lunch of noodles and beef
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- A view from inside a Beijing Subway station on Monday (when it was not crowded as it usually is)
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- A view from the Badaling section of the Great Wall
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- On the Great Wall – primarily with other Chinese tourists
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- The whole feast!
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- Cooked snake meat from dinner…tasted a bit fishy!
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- Pork Dish from dinner
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- Sichaun Tofu – a bit spicy, but one of my favorite dishes!
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- Beef dish from dinner
The walk from the subway to our hotel left us a bit hungry, so we ducked into a local restaurant, which seemed to serve authentic food, and started flipping through their photo-tabbed menu to order. We ended up ordering pork, beef, Sichuan tofu, and snake! It was way too much food for three, but it was delicious. Surprisingly, the snake tasted a lot like seafood, but the texture was about like pork. It wasn’t my favorite exotic food, but it certainly isn’t something I’ll shy away from. The tofu was spicy, but probably my favorite of the dishes. When we were done, we wanted to see about their tipping customs here (some places in China will accept tips if they are more westernized, others don’t. As I exited the front door, one of the waiters ran after we with the 10 yuan that we’d left as a tip…I guess it’s not customary there!