Crazy short trip to Beijing

Inside the Temple of Heaven

Inside the Temple of Heaven

Country: China
From Kunming to Beijing and then to Mengla
Lesson learned: Book your train tickets in advance
Laughed about: The lady that slept in a sink
Most wonderful miracle: A four-day feast
Food we ate: Beijing Duck, Pancakes, Tacos and Pork with fish-flavor
Greatest challenge: A 37-hours train ride
Days on the bike: 1
Kilometers cycled: 20
Average Kilometers per day: 20
Total Kilometers cycled till Mengla: 8946.13
Total days travelled till Mengla: 516

Sometimes we make plans. We need to do so in order to cross large countries with short visa times. To be honest – I do not know why we still make any plans. Things never seem to work out as we want them to. So our idea was to spend two or three days in Kunming, take the train to Beijing, get Roberto’s new passport, get the train back to Kunming and then cycle towards Laos. It was nearly a month to the Chinese New Year’s and we expected to enter a quite empty train. Plan failed. All train tickets were sold out. The earliest sleeping tickets that we could get were a week later and would take 49 hours – two nights in the train. So there was no time left to cycle to Laos. We would have to take another bus to the border.

Ruslam, Karina, Roberto, Annika and Valeri in the "Free House" in Kunming

Ruslam, Karina, Roberto, Annika and Valeri in the “Free House” in Kunming

We stayed for a week with Karina, Peter and Ruslam from Russia. They were part of an organization called AVP founded by the hitchhiking legend Anton Krotov. Their aim is to promote “free travels” for little or no money. Anton had opened so-called “free houses” in several parts of the world and the one in Kunming was the newest. It was a three-room apartment with bathroom and kitchen but without any other furniture. Travelers bring their own sleeping mattress and sleeping bags anyway. In February the “free house” in Kunming closed again. Now Anton is currently opening a new “free house” in Mexico City and in 2014 Berlin will follow.

Cycling through Kunming

Cycling through Kunming

We spent the waiting time well. With our new friends Aude and Levi we visited the zoo and had a picknick in the park. We baked pancakes for Karina, Ruslam and Peter, repaired our bikes, bought a new rack for Roberto and visited the market. Roberto watched the Playoffs at 4am with his new friend Michael and I finally found liquorices – my favorite sweets!

It was really really time to get a new rack.

It was really really time to get a new rack.

The weather got better every day. During the day I did not even take my jacket anymore and at night I was fine without gloves. After a week we got into our train. It was a long but quite cozy ride and I used the time to repair our clothes, correct our business cards and finish gluing the last Christmas-cards.

Sarah knew what my German taste buds missed so much!

Sarah knew what my German taste buds missed so much!

In Beijing we moved in with Sarah and Flo from Germany. I have been in contact with Sarah for more than 2 months already and when we finally met it felt as if we had been friends for a long time already. We could only stay in Beijing for four short days. Our visa was about to expire and we had to hurry up.

Bounding moment

Bounding moment

With Roberto’s new passport in his bag we finally felt free to just enjoy ourselves. We were probably the only Beijing tourists that had not seen the Great Wall, the inside of the Forbidden City or the Summer Palace, but instead we had a great time with Sarah, Flo and our friend Chris, that I met several years ago in Bremen, Germany. Beijing was probably the culinary highlight of our travel through China.

Dr. Boeckle and his colleagues from the German Embassy in Beijing

Dr. Boeckle and his colleagues from the German Embassy in Beijing

Chris took us out to eat Beijing Duck (thin slices and crispy skin with brown sauce and vegetables wrapped in thin rice-tortillas), Sarah invited us for “pork with fish-flavor”, Dr. Boeckle the head of the culture department of the German Embassy invited us for a big bunch of the most mouth-watering Chinese dishes, Roberto bought 2 kilos of corn-tortillas from Pablo Pasaperas to prepare Enchiladas for Sarah, Flo and us, Sarah shared Christmas cookies and liquorices with us and Chris took us out to an original Mexican Taco bar. We even found some spring rolls and they were as delicious as can be. We must have gained all the kilos that we lost cycling the mountains of Yunnan within those four days in Beijing.

Chris (on the right) showed us a unique Taco Bar in the streets of beijing

Chris (on the right) showed us a unique Taco Bar in the streets of Beijing

The weather was horrible. It was grey, wet and cold every day and I was glad that we brought all our winter gear with us. It was also said to be the smoggiest time of the year, but honestly compared to Kashgar with its yellow air, we felt quite comfortable in Beijing.

When we did not have a food-date or any paper work to do for the Mexican Embassy (getting a new passport in a foreign country is not that easy) we went out to explore town. We saw the Olympic Stadium, the Temple Of Heaven, a Taoist temple, the Lama Temple, the Silk Street, the coal hill behind the Forbidden City and the Tianmen Square in front of it.

Behind the Forbidden City

Behind the Forbidden City

We also planned to enter the Forbidden City, but just two weeks ago they had decided to close it for Monday Afternoons. For us the Forbidden City is still forbidden.

On our last half day we visited Sarah’s Kindergarten and talked to the children. They all spoke German and it was not hard to explain them our pictures and our tour.

I could have stayed all day with these sweet and curious kids

I could have stayed all day with these sweet and curious kids

After that we rushed back to the train station. It was a disaster. All tickets had been sold out weeks before departure of the train. Normally tickets can be bought maximum 10 days ahead. But Spring Festival was getting closer and these rules did not apply anymore. The only things we could get were two standing tickets.

So there we were. The train was full indeed. Each person brought an average of 40 kilos of baggage. The aisle and seats were packed before we even stepped inside. We have learned two things in China:

1) Don’t hesitate, just try all the food no matter how weird it looks like

2) If you find yourself within many people use your elbows.

37 hours standing Ticket

37 hours standing Ticket

We brought our isolation mattresses because Peter had recommended us to lie down under the seats on top of them. Unfortunately every tiny bit of space was taken so we kept the mattresses rolled together and sat on them. With the time we made friends with some neighbors, a group of Chinese soldiers. One of them carried a little chair and Roberto sat down on it until another person left the train. Standing tickets cost as much as hard seat tickets and when a seat is not taken, standers are allowed to sit down on it. I did so immediately. That elbow thing was getting me. We both hardly slept in the first night. Constantly people were squeezing through to go to the toilet, for a cigarette, for a walk or – worst case – to enter or leave the train with all their baggage. But no passenger annoyed me as much as the poor lady who sold fruits and beverages. Her trailer was just as wide as the aisle and every time she got through, everybody had to get up, make space and stand with all their things in the hands until she left.

Crowded train

Crowded train

A man locked himself in the filthy washroom all night to sleep, another lady slept rolled like a cat inside the sink and a man laid his head under a chair, chest and belly in the aisle and legs under the chairs on the other side. Leslie, one of our soldier friends, told us by the next morning that he had gone to the toilet himself at night and he had spotted that between all the baggage under the rooftop a lady had even put her baby to sleep.

During the day we played thumb wrestling, read free magazines, ate paprika, boiled eggs and German bread (you can buy anything you want in Beijing) and chatted with our nice neighbors. At the evening more seats were empty and Roberto and I took the chance and sat down. Leslie was the only one who travelled all the way to the final station Kunming with us. It was 6am when we arrived and I had slept for one hour only.

Leslie took us out for a proper Chinese breakfast: Noodle Soup!

Leslie took us out for a proper Chinese breakfast: Noodle Soup!

Leslie took us out for breakfast, helped us to buy tickets for us and the bikes and gave us the contact of his friend’s sister who lived in Mengla, China. We got the bus back to Karina’s, Pater’s and Ruslam’s place, got a shower, repacked and got on the bikes that we had left there. It was 20 kilometers from ours to the bus station and we were very tired when we arrived. The 12 hour’s night ride was the most cozy bus ride I had ever had: I slept 11 ¾ hours.

When we arrived, Leslie had already told his friend Miss Tao about our arrival. She elected herself to be our guide for the time of our stay and guided us to a fancy hotel. Miss Tao and her friend Sabrina showed us the small town, took us out for breakfast and lunch and did not allow us to pay for anything, no matter how often we offered.

Breakfast with Miss Tao and her friend

Breakfast with Miss Tao and her friend

We spent only one night in the charming border town and by the following morning we got on the bikes and cycled the last 60 kilometers to the Chinese border.

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