On Saturday, after out Great Great Wall adventure, we took a day off. From what? Well..travel can be exhausting. After a sleep in (easy in a basement room) we headed upstairs to check the weather - a massive dust storm had rolled in from the Gobi, which made breathing difficult, let alone walking and breathing! Armed with books, diary, cards and postcards, we headed to Sakura cafe, in another hostel up the road. A much cooler place than our hostel - rustic furnishings, writings and paintings on the walls. We settled in for the next seven hours and rode out the dust storm. A good place for people watching. A bit of a write-off day again, but that's a luxury that comes with staying in a place for two weeks.
On Sunday we walked around Behai Park, a very popular Sunday activity apparently. The man-made lake dates back about 1000 years, and has a massive island in the middle. There's temples and dagobas, and heaps of history. We walked around the whole lake, about two kms, stopping for a bit of a read under a tree. Grass and trees are still dead, but it would be lovely in spring. The wonderfully colourful buildings made up for it though. The sweet corn - a big let down. We walked back on the outside of the Forbidden City and into the most eager people ever to want photos with us. Some would ask, others would strategically pose someone just in front of us. This must be what it's like to be famous. Phill even denied one young man dressed as a Commy soldier. Heartless. "I was having a bad day and I'd been asked like four other times...and i was just annoyed at, like, Chinese society...don't put 'like' in there! Stop writing what I'm saying. I'm a cold-hearted bitch with stunningly good hips..."
We went back to our Newmans restaurant for disappointing corn soup for afternoon tea. Had an awesome exhausting-day-spent-in the cold- nap before going to Sakura for dinner and free beer (we did deserve it).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment