Behai Park and back to Qianmen

My last day in Beijing before flying to Shanghai...

It was a late start as I was trying to get my journal up to date. Headed over with grandad to KFC for lunch then back to Amy's. We took a cab over to Behai Park which is the home of the White Pagoda which is visible more parts of BJ owing to its height.

Entry is 10rmb and the park is a very pleasant spot with a large stretch of water that you can take boats out on, and generally walk around and admire the view. The primary object of most people is to climb to the top and see the pagoda.

It was so windy today and I guess I have now experienced everything but for a sandstorm and extreme heat. It was so windy I was being pushed from behind.

To get to the top, you proceed through two buddhist altars, and lots of stairs. You clamber up some stairs to get to the next altar, and then you are presented with some extremely steep steps that stretch up up and up. How long are those stairs? I don't know.

I didn't want to look down so I hurried up them and leapt onto the terrace at the top. You can't actually get to the pagoda but you can pay another 10rmb to go up to the buddha thing which is a turret of sorts with something like 445 buddha tiles all about it.

Luckily there was an easier way back down to the park which was much more enjoyable.

There was a quiet little area outside the park where there were some local shops. I had in mind to get Chinese cigarettes for some friends. I was surprised to find you can pay as little as 5rmb a pack, which is not even a dollar. And in there also I came across a corn ice cream which really was shaped like corn, but the outside is just cone material, and inside is really corn flavoured ice cream. It was pleasant and a pretty good snack for 2rmb.

We then got harassed by a guy who wanted us to pay for a hutong rickshaw ride which we couldn't get rid of until amy clapped her hands over her ears and shouted LA LA LA LA.

Took a cab to Qianmen where I went back to a certain shop to get some figurines. Hooray!

There's still so much more to experience here. If I come back again I want to go back to the Forbidden City and take a different path.