Easter holiday and I got five days off. I took that opportunity to visit my good old mate Chris from university who is doing an internship in Beijing right now. One remark before I start me recount: When I told my colleagues at work that I was going to Beijing for Easter holiday I got reactions from shaking of the head to "what the hell are you going to Beijing for? There's nothing to see, it's just a waste of time and money and it's full of mainlanders, I can't stand them". Apparently, Hong Kong Chinese tend to dislike the mainlanders, as they call them. It goes so far as statements like: "They are a disgrace to my race". Sociologically interesting and kinda sad at the same time.
Anyhow, I haven't seen my friend Chris for ages and it was great to catch up and reminisce. He made to the effort of planning my stay to the very detail. Cheers on you, mate! I didn't have to care about anything. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to stick to his schedule coz I spend to much time on shopping. Everything was soooo cheap there that I spent more than I had ever before. Among others (lots), I got myself two taylor-made suits and a cashmere coat, really stylish! But of course I did do some sightseeing. I saw the Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square, the Temple of Heaven, but the best of all was the Great Wall. We hired a bus for a whole day to drive to Simatai, which is about a 2.5 hours' drive outside of Beijing City. It was really worth it because there were hardly any other tourists on the wall. Funny enough, I met Marco and Matell, two interns from Hong Kong.
Some notes on Beijing: There is much more space than in Hong Kong, so I really appreciated not being pushed around all the time. What's more, the flats are way, way bigger than those in Hong Kong. I was really jealous of Chris' apartment. His room is like 5 times as big as mine, no kidding. However, pollution was worse and the air was really dry as opposed to the humidity in Hong Kong. So instead of dehumidifiers they would have humidifiers in their flats.
I was already surprised by the fact that many people in HK don't speak a word of English, but in Beijing English is as useless as any other language. I could make myself understood with my lousy Mandarin, hooray, good on me. But the thing is, I wouldn't understand their responses :). But people really appreciated my poor attempts. Anyone going to the Olympic games next year? You'd better start studying Mandarin now!
Anyhow, I haven't seen my friend Chris for ages and it was great to catch up and reminisce. He made to the effort of planning my stay to the very detail. Cheers on you, mate! I didn't have to care about anything. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to stick to his schedule coz I spend to much time on shopping. Everything was soooo cheap there that I spent more than I had ever before. Among others (lots), I got myself two taylor-made suits and a cashmere coat, really stylish! But of course I did do some sightseeing. I saw the Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square, the Temple of Heaven, but the best of all was the Great Wall. We hired a bus for a whole day to drive to Simatai, which is about a 2.5 hours' drive outside of Beijing City. It was really worth it because there were hardly any other tourists on the wall. Funny enough, I met Marco and Matell, two interns from Hong Kong.
Some notes on Beijing: There is much more space than in Hong Kong, so I really appreciated not being pushed around all the time. What's more, the flats are way, way bigger than those in Hong Kong. I was really jealous of Chris' apartment. His room is like 5 times as big as mine, no kidding. However, pollution was worse and the air was really dry as opposed to the humidity in Hong Kong. So instead of dehumidifiers they would have humidifiers in their flats.
I was already surprised by the fact that many people in HK don't speak a word of English, but in Beijing English is as useless as any other language. I could make myself understood with my lousy Mandarin, hooray, good on me. But the thing is, I wouldn't understand their responses :). But people really appreciated my poor attempts. Anyone going to the Olympic games next year? You'd better start studying Mandarin now!
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