Beijing Part II

Starting to see Beijing in a different light now – literally! The dull concrete jungle that was Tiananmen square 3 weeks ago is now a sunny concrete jungle! They’ve even removed all the ugly scaffolding that obscured all the buildings last time – its as if the Chinese Government had actually read my blog and decided to let the light in and make the place look a bit nicer. It’s still all a bit clinical looking, too clean and new, doesn’t have that lived in city and old architecture feel to it! We wander off instead to find some old Beijing, wander through the Hutongs a bit more and just soak up the sights and smells before heading back to the big new shiny shopping streets and malls that never seem to be too far away. Late one evening we made our way over to the Western Train station – it’s huge, a massive place that feels like pulling up outside Heathrow! 1000’s of people scurry around outside waiting to enter the terminal and go through baggage checks and check-in counters etc – it’s estimated that around 10 million, yes million, people are on a train at any one time in China!! Tonight it’s going to be 10 million and 2 as we are leaving for a town called Pingyao – problem was we were actually at the wrong train station… damn that Lonely Planet! We needed to be across town at the central station and had about 30 mins to get there so we hailed a cab and jumped in. Made it just in time, well with enough time to buy a drink and some noodles for the journey!