On our last day in Beijing we go shopping in NanLuoguXiang, the hip street just outside our hostel. We are tempted to buy into the bunny ear craze. If only I had straight black hair.
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| Beijing speciality: candied crab apples |
Against the odds we have found a great looking (but really well hidden) hutong restaurant called 'Dali'. With heavy hearts we decide to leave it for our next Beijing visit so that we can round up some more foody friends. We don't have the stomach to try 24 Chinese dishes just between the two of us.
We also head out to the Pearl Market which is a bizarre five-storey indoors bazaar where they sell – everything? Well at least clothes, bags, shoes, suitcases, cosmetics and ... pearls.
All shopped out we end up on the roof terrace of the backpacker to drink green tea and watch the sun set.
We take our last Beijing subway trip to head to the South Station. When we get to the platform, our overnight train to Shanghai is already there looking all shiny. We settle in for a comfortable 9 hours in a four-bed soft sleeper (TV with each bunk!). And have a really passable microwave meal in the dining car. Because we share a meal we get told that we only qualify for one pair of chopsticks. Veteran train travellers that we are Jeannine simply uses our Trans-Sib cutlery. A local passenger is very excited that I actually manage to use the chopsticks! We just smile and sip from our can of TsingTao. Beer of a Peking duck's back. We cat-wash at the basins located between carriages and tuck in under the supplied duvets. My last thought before I fall asleep is 'why can't airplane travel be like Chinese high-speed trains'...
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