Now I've got the hang of it in Adventures in paradise

Yesterday I was braver and figured out how to cross the streets more confidently. I was hopeless on my first attempt the day prior. You know what gave me confidence? A dog.
Yup. A freaking DOG crossed a major intersection and it didn’t even seem to be with anyone. It just looked all happy and tail wagging and when the light went green to cross, off it went. As though it does it all the time. I thought, “Geez, Matt, if a damn dog can manage to cross the road without any issues, then you can too!”

Anyway, it was a big day for me. I walked the streets of Beijing all day, leaving straight from breakfast and going to Tiananmen Square. Being a Saturday morning, the lines were massive, but it was a lovely day out and I just joined the queues, which moved rather quickly through security. I didn’t even get a pat-down, just a look at my passport and visa and I was through into the gigantic square. They were mainly checking vags. And when I say gigantic, like, holy shit gigantic. I was a bit worried in the line cos everyone else was tapping a card against a reader and just walking straight through, and I didn’t have one of those, but then I saw a lady’s and it had her photo on it so thankfully it just seemed to be an ID. I was afraid I may have missed buying a pass or something, because the people with the megaphones to the side of the queues were only speaking in Mandarin. There was security everywhere, very serious looking guards, can’t crack a smile, but it’s all part of how things are.
Anyway, took lots of piccies, thought about the history of this amazing space, and took a few horrible wind-swept selfies and was on my way.

I then went to the Temple Of Heaven. I paid money to get into the park part of it but then got confused as to where I was supposed to go next, as the place was so massive. I’ve since learned from Ryan that I didn’t even see the main attraction there LOL. So I have to go back to get a photo of some main building. See, if I could actually understand the signs around the place, this would be a lot easier, doh. I’d never even heard of Temple of Heaven, but apparently it’s a must-see. Okie doke. Entry fee was cheap so it’s not a big deal (like $4ish). I had enough trouble just trying to figure out the park part entrance fee, let alone the other parts. Where did I go? This is what happens when my friend decides to work all the time rather than play tour guide lol. Oh well, at least I got Tiananmen Square right. I’m “pfefz” on Instagram if anyone wants to see piccies before I get home to Australia.

I didn’t get time for Forbidden City. The day just went too fast, considering I walked 1.5 hours each way. The sheer size of this city is overwhelming. I think I mentioned that the population of Beijing is the population of Australia lol. Yikes.

And then my phone battery ran out on the way back lol. Yup, my compass lifesaver was gone, even with its great battery life haha. So THAT was the scariest part of yesterday, being actually lost in Beijing. But I’ve been in this situation before I remembered, when I was lost in Zurich.
The only way I made it back to the hotel was because I recognised one of the really tall buildings that had flashing lights, so I kept walking towards it. I knew the hotel was near it. I had zero sense of direction otherwise. It was very scary. And I couldn’t find a taxi rank (I’ve since learned they don’t really exist and I have to flag one down) so if worse came to worse, I would’ve had to do that.
But I was very thankful when I saw more landmarks that I recognised and finally made it back to the hotel. I was very sore after that! It was a very long day. I went straight to the jacuzzi, and even went again after dinner in the Manor club. I hadn’t eaten anything all day since breakfast either, other than a bottle of water I bought at the Temple Of Heaven, or wherever the hell it was I was meant to be. Ryan says he will come with me next time, but we’ll see if that happens.

Today is probably going to be lazy, being Sunday here, but it is another nice day outside.