פקין/בייג'ינג

January 22nd to January 31st, 2018.

Beijing, the capital of China. After three weeks of preparation in other cities and slowly adapting to the temperature, I am finally in the heart of China. It is immediately noticeable at the airport. It is more like Berlin. Not as new and modern as Shanghai, but old and practical. Best example: Just before the metro leaves, an iron bell with a shrill sound ensures that everyone gets on the train on time.

My hotel was near the Forbidden City. It was perhaps the best I had. I finally had a bed for my size and not a double bed. There was a bar and local rice beer. This also led to a small hangover on the first evening. Two Russians, one Brazilian and two Germans. Na zdrowie! Funny, one Russian didn't drink alcohol, but showed us his great photos with machine guns in a classic way. Do the Russians think Putin is great? Not really. They call him Putler. At least in the east near Vladivostok. A mix of Hitler and Putin. It was a very funny evening.

The stories of a Russian woman in my room were also amazing. Like every foreigner in China, she was an English teacher and thus a "White Monkey". She earns about 2,200 euros for teaching English to three-year-olds. Since she doesn't speak Chinese, a Chinese woman translates her English into Chinese and does the actual job. She also told the funniest story about China and the best example of how far the country is. If you get sick, you go to the doctor. He first prescribes you many Chinese health products. Since these naturally do not work, despite their mass production, he seriously prescribes: Hot Water. Drink more hot water and you will get better. Is your arm broken? More hot water! Oh, I can see your bones, drink more hot water 🤦🏻‍♂️😂. And it's true. Every doctor works like this here. Even the free cold water at the airport is warm. The warm water is hot. Let's see what my general practitioner says about that. 😉

Beijing was cold. Pig cold. Minus eight during the day and minus fifteen in the evening when the sun was gone. So everything had to start early in the morning and end at 5 p.m. Then it got too cold.

With Daniel, a person from Stuttgart, I went to the Forbidden City. It was boring, but impressive. On the second day, we went to the National Museum. Huge, but boring. Only the geography of China was interesting. Only the east is habitable and suitable for agriculture. The rest is covered in mountains. So 1.3 billion people live in a very small area. Every small city is automatically bigger than Berlin. Afterwards, I visited the Olympic Park for too much money.

The third day started with a visit to a corpse. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a selfie of myself and Mao. There were just too many military personnel around me. 😉 Then we went to the Parliament. The huge hall is impressive and can accommodate 5,000 members of parliament. In the evening, there was Chinese rice beer again and a lot of it. There were a total of 14 people. Two Danes, one Chinese, one Italian and more nationalities. Including the USA, Israel, and Germany. It was quite funny and lasted until 4 a.m. The next day, visiting the Wall was not possible anymore. But I learned a lot about the views of other nationalities. For example, that the Chinese despise black people. For them, Westerners come first, then the Chinese, and below them are the black people.

The next day started with a slight headache, delicious baos (steamed buns with meat filling), and a walk through the artist district in an old factory complex. Then back to bed and prepare for the climb on the Wall.

The Great Wall was definitely one of the highlights of my tour. We started at eight o'clock and took the bus and taxi to Mutianyu. This is a tourist section of the Wall. Daniel and I walked up the stairs and quickly realized how exhausting it would be. Daniel, who was fighting a cold, went back to the Wall after about 20 minutes. It was too hard. I saw the summit and felt like doing sports. So I wanted to go up there!

The first section is completely restored and developed for tourism. The watchtowers have been expanded and the Wall is accessible to everyone. There are even two cable cars and a toboggan for the descent. Of course, you have to pay an entrance fee. A film was also shot here and every important visitor, for example, Obama, comes to this section.

The weather was wonderful, the sun was shining, and there was no wind. The first view of the Wall was breathtaking. It is built completely into the mountains and stretches to both sides. I walked the first towers and sections in 30 minutes. Then a very steep ascent began. Once at the top, there was, of course, a souvenir shop and a locked door. This prevents tourists from walking further along the Wall and encountering the old unrestored section. According to TripAdvisor, I should continue walking anyway. I did it and it was amazing! I walked on old walls and through destroyed towers. It was more like climbing with hiking than just walking. But I was excited. The next and last ascent was tough. It was incredibly steep and dangerous. The stones were smooth and extremely slippery due to the sand. It took me about 30 minutes for 100 meters of altitude. But once I reached the top, I was elated. At exactly 1,000 meters above sea level and in glorious sunshine, I had an incredible view. (see photo) I ate my Oreo cookies and was just happy.

The descent was even more dangerous and I'd rather not tell you what happened, as I know my mom is reading this 😉. Once I reached the bottom, I had Burger King for the last time in my life and cursed myself. It was stupid to stuff myself with such crap after such a great descent. 🤦🏻‍♂️. I felt sick. Back at the hotel, I had a beer with Jorge from Mexico and we talked about the Wall. This time, it was about Trump's Wall.

Friday was relaxing and I flew to Xi'an. There, I wanted to visit the Terracotta Army.

Back in Beijing on Monday, I took a stroll in the Summer Palace and then boarded the A330 and flew to Moscow. The chapter on China was thus concluded. It was a very good chapter.