Our Trip...

Today is my last day of sleeping in as our tour starts tomorrow, feeling slightly better with the jetlag although I still didn't manage getting up for breakfast - have to stop being so lazy!

We have switched hotels today, half the price of our first place, so it definately helps to shop around. One aspect that makes it so cheap is the rooms lack of windows - which isn't actually as bad as it sounds - especially as it is so cold, all the heat stays in the room.

Went to Tiatan Park to visit the Temple of Heaven today. It is a wonderful, traditional place filled with colourful decorative temples, and people playing card games, Hackey sack, singing, dancing - it is a real social meeting point and most definately worth a visit for the atmosphere alone. Between the temples there were wonderful parkways/walkways which you could spend days walking around and still not walk them all. The views over Beijing were phenonomenal from the temples, it is difficult to grasp actually how big this city is.

Afterwards, we headed to a hutong area (old markets) in Daizhanlu - It is the largest hutong area left in Beijing. It was hustle and bustle with neon lights, traditional style buildings, people buying, selling, screaming, shouting, and haggling. It is one of the most genuine areas in Beijing. Unfortunately, it is surrounded by boards with pictures of malls implying they are going to be built in this area - but there are too many malls in Beijing as it is. This is something that is happening all over the city, and I feel that there is not enough apparent heritage or traditional culture left unless you pay to see it.

A quick update on the chopstick situation - I managed to get through most of tonights dinner using them, Dom has decided the aim is more important than the means meaning eating dinner successfully is more important than how he does it; he uses a spoon.

Our tour is starting tommorrow, hopefully should be fun, no activities planned for then but we are going to the Great Wall the day after - can't wait!

Team Domro

Having an awful time getting over the jetlag, was awake until 7am this morning, I don't know how Dom is finding it so easy! In saying that though he did sleep on the plane. I read somwhere that it takes one day for every hour time difference to get over the jetlag - at that rate we'll almost be in Hong Kong! Because of this, we ended up booking the same hotel for tonight even though we know its overpriced - we have to start being careful and hunting around for accommodation to make sure we are getting the best price, a new challenge for tommorrow.

Dom had his first authentic Chinese breakfast today, the fact he hadn't a clue what anything was didn't stop him. Unfortunately though, turned out that everything was quite bland - we will find a good breakfast yet though. (Unsurprisingly I slept in).

We ventured eastwards this morning - with the aim of finding an Internet cafe - dont be fooled by the thought that china is so technologically focused that it is drowning in Internet cafes - I think there is a wonderful niche in that market - they are very few and far between (yet another lie from our book). So off on our ventures we went, through Ritan Park (which is a lovely park full of temples and people practising martial arts) towards the World Trade Centre. The WTC turned out to be the poshest shopping centre I have ever been in, Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci etc. Ironically, even though were in the middle of Beijing, there was not one shop which had a Chinese name. The restaurants in this area were the same, all western names, and western prices. To be honest we did go into O'Briens for a sandwich, I ordered a tropical salad which involved salad stuff with apples, oranges and other fruit pieces, well, it arrived to me under a shrowd of parmesan cheese. Apparently you can't teach taste.

As one can tell, this side of town is very glizty with high rises, big cars and people in suits, even at this though, with the designer suits and labels on, it doesn't stop them spitting and what can only be described as blowing your nose into the air (i.e. no tissue) in public. Seriously, there was a guy doing a two-sider blow which he dribbled on his suit and thought nothing of it. This has been a real culture shock to us, the public spitting and air nose blowing. Apparently they are trying to crack down on it for the Olympics next year, but they definately have a long way to go!

After giving up trying to find an Internet cafe we headed on our next adventure - the zoo. However, we had to face the metro before that. I had originally thought the metro was going to be confusing, crowded and dangerous (thats paranoia from Barcelona). However, the signs and announcements were in English, and the fact that there is only two lines means that it is very difficult to find it confusing. So we found the zoo no problem!

I haven't actually been to a zoo in years, but sure, why not go now. The main highlight was obviously the pandas, and even though it was an experience seeing themm they look exactly the same on TV as they do through a glass pane. It also comes across as if the pandas are treated like royalty as the conditions that the other animals were kept in were very questionable. Sadly, it was very difficult to look past the boredom in the animals eyes. In saying that, the animals were not scrawny and they all had water next to them - its very hard to know how to feel about that zoo.

Moving onto dinner, food is becoming a major feature, its amazing when you have to eat out for all your meals - im going to forget how to cook at this rate! After our cop out yesterday with the roast duck and springrolls, we wanted to ease ourselves more into Chinese food - without jumping in at the deep end. Well, Dom got beef with chillis which was lovely. I ordered stewed chicken with mushrooms thinking that this was a pretty safe bet...I was wrong. I think the chef must of attacked a whole chicken with an axe, dumped it into a wok, then added a variety of mushrooms. The chicken was just literally bone and skin - stewed - it reminds me of the stock my dad makes after every christmas dinner with the remaining turkey carcass, it ain't a pretty site, and this was not tasty either (the turkey stock is always lovely though daddy!).

So another great day but im still not blown away by anything the city has offered yet, and continuously getting more and more annoyed by people constantly trying to sell me something.

From a freezing Beijing...brrr...

Team Domro

Well, we landed at 7am this morning after a very long but empty flight, so even though we could lay out on the seats it must be something about planes that makes it so hard to sleep.

Our first aim of the day was to get to the city centre and find the hotel, after initial confusement about the bus (mainly because our book told us there was two buses Route A & B - they lied - there is about 6 airport shuttle buses - but there routes are written in English so it was so bad) we made it to the city centre (Beijing Railway station). This bit of information is for those planning to go to Beijing soon but our book (Rough guide) also said that the city centre is far too large to walk around and advised to take a taxi, however we have walked everywhere including to the hotel on the first day, just buy a street map in the airport (12 yuan or Euro 1.20) and you can find your way around no problem. Obviously, if you hate walking then there are taxis available on every street corner.

One thing I was not prepared for by any means was the weather. It hasnt rained or snowed (although there is some leftover snow on the sides of the road in areas), it is just freezing! To open the map when we first reached the city centre we had to go into KFC for the warmth and consideration for our fingers. Dom ended up feeling guilty standing in KFC without buying anything and bought what ended up as a vegetarian burger meal at 9:00am in a packed KFC!

Found the hotel no problem and committed a jet lag sin by going for a nap instead of trying stay awake the whole day. The hotel we stayed in is pretty typical, bed, TV, Western style toilet (thats rated at a 2* - so quite good I think) but at the same time is definately proof that hotel prices on the internet are inflated as the rooms are actually cheaper if we were to book it here directly.

Afterwards, we headed on an initial exploration (Forbidden City, Tian-anmen Square and around). They were very 'grand' in themselves to see, but at first glance, they lack the presence of detail that gives you the 'wow factor', as much as I dont like to say, I was not overwhelmed by the architecture. In saying this, we did not go inside as we do this when we join up with the tour in a couple of days so maybe its all about the interior. The outside was unqiue in the fact that it covered such a large area, comparable to...I can't actually think of another square that is as big...so that must say something about it!

This brings me onto Beijing itself, very expansive, the roads are wide and the buildings fairly spread out. However, due to the abundance of space everywhere it actually feels like the city is missing something. Also the buildings (that we have seen) are square, with pretty typical square windows (I know that sounds like a silly comment), basically trying to get across that nothing interesting about the architecture has struck me (yet!). Im sure there are areas where it is the hustling, bustling, loud, bike filled market city I was expecting.

Also, as yet, im getting quite annoyed by some people. Most people, just like home, if they are walking down the street ignore you, and unfortunately its the ones that are trying to be so nice to you that we have come to learn are just trying to sell something. Fair enough, we scream 'tourist' white skin blond(ish) hair, wrapped up to the nines - but does that mean we have money? It costs an arm and a leg to get to China, so do all these people that approach us "hello sir/lady can we improve our English" really think that we have extra money to blow on scams? I actually read about that in our book - luckily we copped on straight away, and its actually quite amazing that if you ignore those approaching you and who start talking to you, they do actually leave you alone. Be aware though not to become arrogant, as we found ourselves being rude to someone who turned out actually wanted to help us (we were lost on the Metro).

Anyway, a more positive note...food...we walked up Wangfujing to find somewhere to eat, when we turned the corner on to this street at night it turned into what I wazs expecting of Beijing (minus the bikes) bright lights, lots of people, restaurants, shops. The Hutongs (market stall areas) were amazing off to the side of this street, it is amazing what people will try and sell you though..."Look sir its a match - no gas!". Went to the reccommended Wangfujing Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant. We got half roast duck with the trimmings and a portion of spring rolls - this sounds like an escape of having to try real Chinese food, but really the motive was neither of these choices involved the use of chopsticks. One observation we made was that none of the duck goes to waste, on the menu was duck tongue, liver, intestines and skull (which appeared on our table!)

It has been an enjoyable and wonderful first day, hopefully a sign of the next nine weeks to come!

As always,

Team Domro

xx

P.S. Special note goes out to Tim - Happy Birthday from the both of us!!

Just a quick entry, and my first piece of advice, pay someone else to get your visas for you!! It may cost double or even triple the money, but wow, it certainly is worth its weight in gold. After having many bad experiences with visas (the closest call being getting my passport back 3 hours before my flight), the peace of mind having someone else do all the administration work for you is worth it!!

At this point you can probably guess our visas have come through for both China and India. Therefore, its another item off our checklist. Apart from the big bill that came through for the flights, between this and the jabs, the whole trip is starting to feel so much more real.

Talking of vaccinations, we had almost finished all of them (one more set to go) only to find out yesterday that there has been an outbreak of japanese encephalitis in Northern India. Whilst in Northern India we are only really going to Delhi and nearby regions, knowing our luck, it is just not worth taking the risk so I better free up another space in the arm!!

Until the next time...

Roisin & Dom

Team Domro!!

Hi,

Welcome to our blog, we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we are going to hopefully enjoy our travels!

Firstly for those who don't know, (and for those that should know and can't figure it out)Team Domro is our wonderful cheesy term for myself (Roisin) and my boyfriend (Dom). We have decided that it is definately time to take a break from the hectic lifestyle and rat race that is Dublin to explore places slightly further afield than Cork - (Don't worry, we still love you Cork - Go Cork Republica!).

The Trip...
The countdown is now less than two months although too much to count in days. Firstly, we fly out to Beijing on the 9th January 2007, from there a couple of days later, we are joining up with an organised tour group for a 10 day trip all the way to Hong Kong. We then have another few days to relax after what im sure is going to be an exhausting (yet fantastic) journey. From Hong Kong we fly down to Bangkok where we have just over three weeks to overland from Thailand through Malaysia to Singapore. Continuing from Singapore we fly to Delhi where we will spend about a week exploring before flying to Mumbai. The last leg of our trip will be overland from Mumbai around southern India where we finally fly out of Bangalore.

While most things are organised (I say organised, however there is no such thing as a booklet called 'how to organise your travelling') the finer details are still left untouched...oh and the accommodation - like I said, minor stuff!! Nevermind, 56 and a half days left to go...maybe its not too far away to start a countdown.

We will try to record and share as many memorable experiences as we can and hopefully provide useful information to others looking to travel or just to keep you entertained during your lunchbreak.

Here is to a wonderful trip..

Roisin & Dom

Team Domro!!