My First Trip to Beijing

My first impressions of Beijing were good once I got over the idea that I didn't have any plans to visit BJ at anytime. The roads and buildings looked clean the traffic was orderly and the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds hanging around. My second impression however was not so good after exiting the train gates I realized no matter what city China is China and the people don't change. They are rude unhelpful and selfish no matter where they are. Combine this with the complete lack of directions of how to go anywhere logically and you have a recipe for me to get annoyed at anything I see. Once I finally figured out how to find the metro station for line 1 from the Beijing West Station, things started to improve I felt a warm but cool breeze on the air that had that crisp unmistakable autumn smell to it. Even when it was masked with heavy doses of cigarette smoke. Boarding the 21 Rd bus was not exactly fun but it was efficient, a man stands in the door taking money and making sure people board with some level of civility and order. Once on board I was able to get a seat but gave it to a woman with a baby which was rewarded with being crushed bashed and smashed by people's luggage as they fought each other to get in the bus. The ride was smooth and comfortable so I have nothing but good words for this bus. The metro on the other Hand sucks terribly, you need to pass through a security scan before entering the metro platforms, before that you need to buy a ticket if you don't have a BJ bus card. Now you would think this is easy as 1 line up 2 buy card if you have no bus card 3 pass security enter the train platforms. Well no that's not how it is, there is an unknown factor that plagues the people's minds here that says if there is a gate a door or a check point that you must pass through make sure you are absolutely the first to get thru it without concern for others or their property. The second downfall of the metro experience might be entirely my fault but I ended up going two stations in the wrong direction because the map was not clear and the trains don't have clear Going up line or down line indicators on them. Or at least the military museum station didn't. (Its all of the lines, only when you get in a train do you know which direction it is going) After completing half of what I set out to do on this trip to Beijing, and spending a long time riding the metro train which is crazy cheap with the except of line one I have only spent 2 RMB for any duration of ride that I took. I ate a decent meal although it was too quickly so it made my stomach upset, and got to walk around in what seems to be a really interesting place. A far cry from what I had envisioned Beijing to be like. I pictured police presence at an unconsciously oppressive level and red banner flags everywhere but surprisingly I have not seen so many police and few flags especially for being right after the National Day festivities. The greatest level of police presence is felt in security check point in the metro. My final thoughts of Beijing are pretty good. Thus far the city seems really well planned compared to a lot of other cities, the easy of getting around using either the Subway or buses (if you know where your going) is great. If I was into living in a bigger city Beijing might be the place that I would want to live. However I like the more relaxed less government concerned cities of China. This was Chububobcat and this was my first trip to Beijing. I hope you enjoyed reading my review of my trip. See you next time.