Day 23 - Shenyang, Shanhaiguan, Beijing

14.08.09

Travels to an ancient walled city are on the cards today where I can visit the start of the Great Wall and see the only stretch where it was built over water. The town of Shanhaiguan is an old walled settlement between Shenyang and Beijing, may D class (which I think stands for 'Damn!' as it's so fast and plush) train arrives there in two air conditioned hours.

Today has to be the hottest day so far and I take a walk through the town walls and up it's main street in search for my hotel. I am immediately pestered by a guy who is trying to get me to stay in his hotel, at this point in time I wish I knew some more aggressive Chinese.

I finally arrive at the point where this guest house should be only to find out it has been bought out by a tour company and is now their headquarters. One guy essentially tells me to leave, but a young man called Li Xiao Yong comes and talks to me. He knows enough English to communicate and walks around town looking for a cheap hotel, but unfortunately all the rooms are booked out. We then drive around the town to the hotels that the tour company has links with, the aim is use their weight to get me a cheap room in what seems like all 4 star hotels, but every one turns out negative.

I mention that if I can't find anything I will just go to Beijing that night and forget about Shanhaiguan, it turns out Xiao and his friend Yu Jie are going to Beijing that night as well and the deal is sealed.

They introduce me to other people who work for the company and feed me and give me water, their hospitality is phenomenal. On the train there are only standing tickets left, so we buy dinner and sit in the restaurant car for the six hour journey.

When we arrive in Beijing Yu goes to his grandmas and me and Xiao head up to the University where his girlfriend has managed to find me a cheap room in University accommodation. It's about £11 a night, right next to a Subway station and I get my own double bed, so not too bad.

I go to bed feeling inspired by their kindness and how they can be so hospitable to an absolute stranger.

Day 22 - Shenyang

13.08.09

The Ming Tombs, the north park and another half marathon of walking await me on this fine Thursday. I catch the bus up to the tombs and it's my first local public transport excursion in China and being able to match the Chinese characters in the guide book with ones at the bus station and then jump on the correct bus fills me an overwhelming sense of joy.

It's amazing how the simple tasks become challenge mountains when you have no means of communication and can't even read the language.

The tombs turn out to be well worth the journey and the

park around them is beautiful, it's full of lakes, rivers, wooded ar

eas, quaint bridges, and pavilions. Old men swim in the lakes and in the roasting heat it looks so inviting, although I know if I so much as touched the green water I would instantly fall ill to some terrible disease.

People are practising Kung Fu and Tai Chi in clearings in the trees while more old men sit around and play cards or mahjong using stone plinths as table tops.

Come night time I take a bus to the South Train Station and tour it's shopping area, which is even more built up and glitzy than Harbin, it's actually quite ridiculous. I also buy some much needed fruit as my diet as consisted solely of fried street food so far, although it's tasty and the ingredients them selves are probably ok, the abundance of oil in the cooking methods can't be doing me any good.

Gorged out on fresh pineapple slices I walk back home and decide that from now on I need to curb the walking as my feet are absolutely aching.

Day 21 - Harbin, Shenyang

12.08.09

Today is my second inter city journey in China and I am off to a place called Shenyang. Again I leave plenty of time to get to the bus station and leave feeling fresh and ready for the journey. I walked from the station on the first day and walked back there to get my tickets, so I figure I can do the same again an

d decide to walk to the station.

Taking the same route as I did before I of course get lost, walk around in circles and end up further away from the station then when I started. I end up taking a taxi, arrive at the bus station as my bus is getting ready to leave and throw all my bags in the hold, which leaves me with a six hour journey with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and watch the latest Rambo film dubbe

d over in Chinese on the buses TV screens.

Shenyang turns out to be another massive city with some ingenious architecture around the bus station. I walk for about an hour to get to my hostel and check into a single room for £10 a night, my first choice cheap dorm room was unavailable. I decide to nail a few sights in the afternoo

n and hit the Imperial Palace, which is a small scale Forbidden City and is the second best example of it's type in the country.

I also take a walk to the train station to get my onward train tickets to Shanhaiguan.

I manage to pick them up pretty effortlessly and the queues are a lot less than they were in Harbin.