Beijing: Where Ancient Walls Meet My Exhaustion
so here i am in beijing, surrounded by 22 million people and my own jet lag. the city sits at 39°54′n 116°24′e, which means nothing to me except that my phone keeps pointing north toward mountains. i just checked and it's... -5°C right now, hope you like that kind of thing. feels like -7°C in this coat that looked cute but basically fails at insulation. someone told me that the old city planners designed these concentric ring roads to follow ancient walls, which explains why i've been driving in circles for 30 minutes trying to find parking near the forbidden city.
yesterday i climbed jingshan park, which is basically a hill at 88 meters that's the highest point in old beijing. from up there, you can see the forbidden city sprawled out like a beige lego set someone abandoned. the park had this one old guy practicing tai chi who looked like he could fight off the whole ming dynasty if needed. someone told me that the great wall section here has the best-preserved parts, but after walking 10 steps in this cold i'm questioning if i'll survive the subway steps, let alone mountains.
the food's been... okay? i had peking duck last night. it's crispy and all, but the skin cost me 40 yuan and i still haven't figured out how to wrap those little pancakes without making a mess. the menu had this one dish called 'milk tiger vegetables' which sounded like a bad zoo exhibit but turned out to be bok choy. if you get bored, hebei province and tianjin are just a short drive away. not that i'll be driving. the traffic here moves like cold honey in winter.
today i tried the summer palace. it has this hill at 109m that's basically a giant man-made molehill with a temple on top. the view of kunming lake would've been nice if it wasn't freezing fog. someone told me that emperors used to escape the summer heat here, which makes sense because at -5°C i'd escape to anywhere with heating. the palace grounds had more tour groups than actual history, but those marble boats were... boats made of marble? who knew.
living here is... an experience? the subway's efficient if you don't mind being packed like sardines in a can that smells like garlic and regret. language barrier's real when you're trying to explain that you don't want century egg porridge at 7am. someone told me that air quality's improved, but my throat's still doing that wheezing thing after walking near a construction site. the mountains to the north look cool though - jundu and yan mountains forming this protective bay, which basically means cold air gets trapped here like a giant freezer. i think i'll stick to dumplings for the rest of my stay.
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