My legs are GONE. I just wanted you to know that. After climbing up and down the entire Great Wall of China like a mountain goat, my calves are so sore from first thing in the morning that I just go “Ow ow ow” every time I have to walk down the stairs.
Because of the above, and the fact that today we had to pack up, check out of our hotel, and eventually take the train to Xian in the afternoon, I made a lightweight plan for this morning: checking out Sanlitun Taikoo Li, a commercial block with lots of modern international shops, cafes, and restaurants, and perhaps more importantly, just one metro stops from our hotel.
I like shopping, but when I travel I don’t really have any interest in checking out the same multinational corporations that we already have back home. I thought maybe I would be able to find Chinese stores, but there’s precious little of that at Sanlitun, entirely populated by luxury or high street brands, all with the same prices as in Europe.
The one reason to visit, then, is the architecture, because every building has its own contemporary design in a way that reminded me of Omotesando in Tokyo. That at least is fun! The other selling point is the wide range of great restaurants concentrated around the top floors of buildings, but it was mid morning so we only got to try %, a coffee chain that I’d seen recommended (I don’t drink coffee so I had a lemonade and a cookie, both good).
After a cursory walk up and down, we returned to the hotel, took a Didi to the station, and bid farewell to Beijing!
As I planned my activities before coming on this trip, I began to think that four nights was not enough time for Beijing, and that I should have booked one more. Now, looking back… I don’t know what to think! Thanks to the logistics of travel I ended up having three full days plus the afternoon of the arrival day and the morning of the departure day, so in all I managed to hit all the main items on my list, so I’m more than satisfied with my experience. At the same time, one extra day would have given me time to hit spots like the Confucios Temple or the White Cloud Temple, or perhaps I would have committed to visiting the National Museum of China. I love a good museum and I would have loved to visit this one, but it’s inside the Tiananmen security zone, which means having to suffer extra queues and security checks in addition to the already tiresome queues and security checks of the museum itself. A very attractive destination counterbalanced by a requirement to spend a good chunk of your day in it.
Anyway, getting dropped off at Beijingxi station (the “xi” means “West”, the same Xi as in Xian, “peace in the west”) was only the beginning of a new experience. Literally as soon as we set foot inside the station we had to pass security, dropping our bags through the X-ray machine and walking through metal detectors, then straight on to the first ticket check. Chinese people all rush through the automatic turnstiles that can scan their ID cars, whereas foreigners have to find a manned gate to show our passports to a clerk who types up the number on a computer, which takes a bit more time but is honestly not that big of a deal.
Once inside the station proper, there’s a huge space with multiple numbered waiting rooms. I was able to check which room was mine through my Trip.com app, but there are also big signboards with each train’s details.
There’s a ton of convenience stores, shops, and restaurants at the station, although to be honest my expectations were higher: they all look slightly rundown, and while it’s par for the course that they are all chains, they don’t seem to be particularly nice chains, if that makes sense? Anyway, first step was to get a snack for the road at a convenience store (pastries are notoriously hard to come by in Asian grocery stores, at least in our European concept of buying a pack of biscuits for a trip) then find someplace to eat (fast food, alas, but that’s all there is -I so dearly missed Japanese ekiben).
After lunch, we made it to our waiting room shortly before the second ticket check started -here, too, we had to find the person checking passports manually while everyone else went through the automatic turnstiles, and this time there was a line with all the foreigners waiting to board the train. Eventually we found our car and then our seats, and placed our bags overhead because the little cupboard at the entrance of the car for large bags was already fully occupied.
The train took some time to exit Beijing, but soon enough the speed counter hit 349 km/h (we are going to cover like 1100 km in 4 h 10 min) and the dense, urban landscape gave way to green fields and small family homes.
After a very smooth, pleasant ride in first class, the train arrived in Xianbei station exactly on time, already dead at night at 19:10. The arrival was quite crowded, busy, and noisy, but I wouldn’t call it chaotic because everything had its clear purpose: I followed the signs all the way from the concourse to the Didi pickup point, at which, well, point, I ordered a Didi to come at the specified area, which then took about thirty minutes to drive us across what looks like a very lively city to our hotel, the spectacular Gran Meliá Xian, which occupies an eye-catching building with a garden right next to the Tang Paradise theme park and its accompanying lake.
It was 20:30 by the time we had checked in, the downside of having taken the extra morning in Beijing, so we went straight to the restaurant, where I THOUGHT I ordered roujiamo, the typical Xian dish that is like a lamb burger, but what I ACTUALLY ordered was roupaomuo, which is the typical Xian dish that is made of broth, lamb, and chewy bits of bread all mixed together. It… wasn’t bad, just not what I expected! The flavors were great but the chewiness and the soupiness didn’t quite go together for me. I’m still glad I got to try one of the regional specialties already! Let’s see what’s in store for tomorrow!
This Is A Lake 