Aelfgifu Travels

Hi Aelf Crew,

As my fans may have already read, I went to China to visit my friend who was studying over there. Here is a tale of my woes along with what I saw and any tips that I recommend learning from my mistakes.

We will start at the very beginning.

I was in Beijing during a national bank holiday week in China – of course, unbeknown to me initially! This was Labour Day which is 1st to the 5th May every year.

Having looked through my Beijing guide on what to see, I told my friend whilst waiting at Ulaanbaatar Airport that I would be going to see the Forbidden City, Lama Temple and Tiananmen Square.

Much to my surprise, he then asked me if I had booked to see these places. Having never come across this, I of course hadn’t, as booking ahead had never occurred to me. In addition, I struggled to work out how to book tickets, which was a process through the AliPay app.

I requested my friend to book for me, who then advised the majority of what I wanted to see had already been booked up! Possibly due to the bank holiday, but I learnt the hard way that you need to book to see these sites well in advance, and not just a few days before. Tip to learn from Aelfgifu: Remember cities like Beijing and Shanghai, in the east of China are some of the highest populated cities in China, so bank holiday or not, bear this in mind and be organised.

My friend did manage to get me a ticket for Tiananmen Square. Having looked up my journey on my map, it was only 30 minutes away from my hostel so I walked along to the metro station.

Upon entering, my bag was x-rayed and I had to show my passport (as I had no Chinese citizenship card to scan and this was my equivalent). After passing these security checks, I was allowed to purchase a ticket. I struggled with the ticket machines a lot, so had to get a ticket officer to help me, and had to present my passport to do this.

I was then off!

I took the 7 stops to Tian’an Men East subway station which was quick and breezy. I then got off the train, to see a large queue amassing at the exit. After slowly moving towards the front, it became clear it was a random security check. Just as I neared the front of the queue they stopped – I assume the security must’ve been told to do it for only a set amount of time.

Then off I went up the stairs!

When I say it was busy, it was really busy. It appeared to me to be busier than Twickenham Stadium at full capacity, which holds 82,000 people. The crowd now amassed swept me into a queue to the left. Looking to my right, I could see the formidable portrait of Chairman Mao overlooking the crowds from across the road. However in my confusion, I was already moving with the tide of the crowd. 

After getting to the front of the queue, I showed my ticket and a bit of a language barrier resulted in a point at across the road, as I had initially thought.

I then had to go back on the queue, wandered about a bit trying to work out how to cross the road (which the officials didn’t like and so eventually helped me into the correct queue). I then went through another round of security: my bag was x-rayed again and thoroughly searched (they took great interest in my itinerary written out in English, with the front page having the Chinese word for ‘toilets’ in big letters) – 

– I had to also drink my water to prove it was real and show my passport yet again. The issue with this passport-showing is very few people speak English, and as my passport is in English, they have to pass it about multiple times to each other until someone manages to interpret it. I did point them to the Chinese VISA page which was in Chinese, so eventually they let me go.

I was then ready to cross the road to my destination.

All in all, this initial 30 minute journey from door-to-door actually took me 2.5 hours.

We weren’t allowed to linger outside the square for too long without officials getting angry and ushering us along so in I went. There was one singular shop for food and water, and one gift shop. 

As I wandered around, it quickly became clear that I was something of a curiosity or even a local celebrity. People of all ages approached me for photos, having never seen someone who looked like me before. I was advised they called me ‘the girl with the golden hair’, thought whether this was an affectionate nickname or not, I wasn’t quite sure.

While the ever-present state surveillance was to be expected, it was the attention from the people themselves that truly made me feel watched. Everywhere I went, phones were subtly (and not-so-subtly) recording my every step.

Afterwards, I left the square and went for lunch. There were many restaurants to choose from and I went in the one with ducks hanging up in the window. I pointed at the Peking Duck everyone else was having. Despite the language barrier, the young waitress I had was very keen to show me how to eat it properly. She put the plastic gloves on my hands for the grease, made a pancake with my duck and ate one for herself and shoved one in my mouth.

I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t think I required help eating!

Tips to Learn from Aelfgifu:

1. Wherever you may go in the world, be aware of bank holidays and national holidays when travelling – this is easily researchable online or in a guidebook and could be a game-changer.
2. Be organised – if travelling to a hugely populated country, you may need to think outside the box to what you are used to at home. For example, I would never think to book to stand outside Buckingham Palace in London – but I wasn’t in London. So be organised and do your research.

Let me know below if you have had this experience or any other thoughts!

With reflection,

Aelfgifu