With training camp completed, we were given a few days in
Beijing to do some sightseeing before departing to our respective cities as
fully fledged English teachers. We were all packed up, ready to leave the
mountains by 9am and arrived at the hotel complex of Beijing’s Capital Normal
University later that morning. We didn’t want to waste any time in Beijing so a
group of us decided to take a trip to Beijing Zoo.
We braved navigating the Beijing subway – not unlike the
London Tube network - and found the Zoo with little difficulty. It was a pretty
warm day, but fun to see all the animals. Of course, we bee lined for the
Pandas (when in China and all that) and became well acquainted with the
monkeys, bears and elephants. I’d decided to truly embrace the zoo experience and
be incredibly Asian by buying some giraffe ears. This has since earnt me the
nickname ‘Super Asian’. For anyone who knows me well, this nickname is for all
intents and purposes highly ironic.
(Photo credit to Daisy and Charlotte)
We’d purchased combo tickets which gave us entry to the
panda enclosure and a boat ride up a river. There was also a speedboat ride you
could go on for about 25RMB (£2.50), which I decided to skip because we were
already due a boat ride. But this was the wrong decision to make. It was –the
worst- boat ride I’d ever been on. Packed onto a little boat like sardines, the
heat was intense. There was nothing to see along the route, no soothing sea
breeze to cool us down from the hot weather. Things got sweaty. Throughout the
whole journey, I couldn’t think of anything but how much I wanted to get off.
For some in the group, it was technically the first boat ride they’d ever been
on and I couldn’t help but feel terribly sorry for them having to endure what
we did as a first time experience. Onwards though! I guess it was a good job I
had my giraffe ears to lighten my mood.
That night, we also decided to skip the buffet dinner food
provided by our accommodation. By this point, we had buffet style food coming
out of our ears so decided to venture to a local food street for a more authentic
feeling Chinese dinner. Unlike western eating traditions, Chinese people order
or make several dishes which everyone around the table share amongst themselves.
So if you’re a ‘JOEY DOESN’T SHARE FOOD’ type of person, China may not be for
you.
The pictures on the menu helped, but with my limited
Chinese, I was able to decipher what type of meat each dish contained and order
everyone a bowl of rice (Dad, I know you must be proud). We’d actually ended up
with a pretty decent range of food and fell in love with a spicy stir fried
asparagus dish. Full stomachs all round, we were pretty pleased with ourselves
for being able to successfully order our first Chinese meal!
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