Prague (again)
We’re now back in Prague - six weeks after leaving…
We caught the train from Ulaanbaatar to the Chinese Border last Thursday. We then caught a bus to Beijing, arriving very early Saturday. We spent a few days exploring Beijing, and I have to say I loved it. The city is large and bustling but contains many tiny backstreets (hutongs) where you can lose yourself and discover many cheap places to eat, drink and shop. We visited the sights in the centre of the city, including the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. We did a trip to the Great Wall and also saw the tombs of the Ming Dynasty.
We also drank loads of tea of many different varieties. It seems the Chinese take their tea as seriously as the French take wine - sampling many different flavours and blends prepared in different ways in order to allegedly cure every ailment you can imagine. Visiting a teahouse involved a complicated ritual in which we were given as many different types as we could manage - but it was an excellent experience and the Chinese pride in their tea is certainly justified.
Of course another famous export of China is good food. We were able to eat well extremely cheaply and tried the famous crispy duck. I can even use chopsticks now without too much ending up on the floor…
We flew with Aeroflot to Prague yesterday. I’m going to miss Asia.
Dave.
