Forbidden City
Waking up at Alex place, my lovely host from the previous time in Beijing. I had a clear plan for today: finally to visit Forbidden city. Since it was national holidays’ time when I had just arrived in Beijing it wasn’t a good idea to do it that time. But now on my last full day in China I wanted to see the famous spot which is included in UNESCO World heritage. The visit was really impressive and I liked the feeling of really being in a small city with its walls, museums, arts and culture and even restaurants and shops. A city inside a city with its special cultural feeling and borders and tiny corners where to get lost.
Sudden meeting
After a few hours spent there it was time to leave not only because of my arranged meeting with my Chinese Couchsurfing friend, but also because it started raining. So, I was walking quite fast to Tiananmen metro station to meet her when suddenly a random Chinese girl joined me and asked how I had enjoyed my visit. My first impression was quite scary thinking “she probably wants something from me, to offer some services or booklets”. Otherwise, why do people start suddenly talking to you on a street and even joining my fast way of walking? And then I realized I am wrong. She was really interested in me. She started talking because she just wanted to get to know me. And that was something I had forgotten and hadn’t experienced in Europe. Moreover, I had avoided such situations in Egypt as it usually came from guys. But now this girl who was also tourist in Beijing came to me and started a conversation. After the first confusion moment I became open and it was interesting to find out that also for her who lives far away from Beijing it’s a great experience to come to her capital and visit the famous spots. I would have loved to go for a coffee with her as she proposed, but I had a meeting and I had to say goodbye to her…however, it was a nice sudden meeting and a moment to think.
The next meeting was with my Couchsurfing friend. We were exploring the local bookstore and then had an ice cream in McDonalds. After that it started to rain heavily, and the day turned so wet and grey that I decided to go home while Sophie had to go for another meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment