This trip would have to be the
quickest I’ve ever planned and to be honest, I’m actually surprised it came
off! My maternity leave cover contract had come to an end at Hyundai and I had
just been offered a new permanent role at Aussie – though I was asked to start
in a month’s time. Dilemma. What to do? Leave the country of course!
I had a quick think about where I
could go for a short break at a moment’s notice. I investigated going to Cuba but
it was a tad expensive and all too hard. Then I thought about North Korea. It’s
fairly close, you only need to go there for a week or so, it was definitely an
‘interesting’ time to go (I’d been reading tourism has been booming!), and it’s
probably the least popular country at the moment (those of you who know me well
know I find that very appealing).
I had thought the visa could be a
little tricky but I managed to get accepted on a tour at the last minute. Just
when I thought it was all too easy, the tour was cancelled due to a supposed
outbreak of H1N1 in Shanghai where most of the other tourists were coming from.
I asked a few companies if I could arrange a private tour instead and Uri Tours
agreed but said we’d need to “hustle”! This was 11 days prior to setting foot
in North Korea.
Then ensued a bit of chaos as I
had to fill out visa application forms for both North Korea and China (managed
to get a Chinese visa in 3 days!), get travel insurance and thanks to
Lastminute.com booked a flight and set off for Beijing. I had also planned a
week with Keith in Bali (Australians’ no.1 tourist destination, making
Indonesia our most popular country – a bit of a contrast!) – and would be leaving
the day after I got back so everything was a tad rushed to say the least! Once
I’d finished my booking frenzy I realised it would have been easier to fly from
Beijing to Bali rather than Beijing to Sydney and then back to Bali… oh well.
So I had 4 days in Beijing and
only found out 2 days before my flight to North Korea that I had been granted a
visa. Evidently I had back up plans ready to go if needed (a side trip to Xian)
but luckily I didn’t need them.
I flew Air China which was actually
pretty good. I’d forgotten to order a vego meal in all the rush but the air
hostesses managed to find me smoked trout with mango salad from Business Class
that left everyone around me jealous.
What to see in Beijing in 4 days…
>Panjiayuan market with all manner of stalls, my
favourite being one with old army paraphernalia including gas masks, rocket launchers,
grenade shells, etc.
where many people asked if they could get a photo with me. I happily obliged
but asked one of the girls to reciprocate as she was wearing this!
Why only pink? Who knows. Another girl later on had a t-shirt saying
‘Pervert’ in huge letters. They mustn’t know. Can they?! I later found out many
people visiting Beijing come from smaller towns where they don’t get tourists,
hence their fascination with us. Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum, in the square, was worth the long shoe shuffle waiting to get in under the hot
sun. Patience paid off with a glimpse of Mao’s embalmed body lying in a
see-through casket.
>Nanluogu Xiang, a shopping
street with a great vibe where I bought my Dad a Chairman Meow (Mao) wallet and
slurped down a silky but watery custard with the locals at Wen Yu’s custard
shop.
Walking through the surrounding
Hutong, I made my way to the Lama temple
and then did some shopping in
Wanfujiang.
>Forbidden City, which took 14 years to build and sits on 79 hectares.
You can peer through
some of the windows to see the Emperor and Empress’ beds. Tour guides were
yelling at their groups on megaphones and all seemed to have some kind of
identification technique from branding all of their group with matching caps to
holding up a stick with a flag or kite style fish on the end.
>Temple of Heaven, built in 1421 and used by 24 Emperors over the years.
Lovely and cool compared
with the heat of the city which is why many locals come here and engage in all
manner of activities including Chinese Chess, cards, Tai Chi, badminton,
Tibetan dancing and some game where you kick around a shuttlecock.
Here we saw
an 80 year old with his leg perfectly straight behind his ear.
>Olympic Centre where we got a
free foot massage and palm health reading by a doctor with the intent of
selling medicine. Finding no health issues with me, the doctor decided foot
soaking crystals were an absolute necessity and I should use them every night.
>Summer Palace where you can take a dragon boat to the palace
and walk up to the top via steep
stairways to admire some stunning views.
>Ming Tombs which are
underground and still sealed to protect them. You go through a gate that
represents Heaven inside and as you leave, you have to say ‘I’m back’ (as in ‘back
to the real world’) otherwise legend has it you could get very sick.
>Great Wall – no trip would be
complete without it. I picked Mutianyu for the toboggan ride down alone.
Partnering up with some crazy Slovakian guys (Frantisek
and Michal),
I had the most fun you could probably have on the wall – laughing
non-stop and jumping off parts to get fun photos. I found the jumping a tad
hard though as I had a broken toe (self-inflicted by carelessly and stupidly
kicking my bedroom door a week or so before I left).
I also managed to pick up a few more than 10 pieces of litter on the wall and made a new friend!
All of the above activity meant
that at the end of each day my poor toe would balloon up to 3 times its normal
size! No point letting that stop me though! Though I did start relying more heavily on rickshaws towards the end!
