Утро среди ночи или Здравствуй, товарищ Пекин! Morning in the middle of the night or Hello Comrade Beijing!

Start here:

1. Preface to the story of how I went to Vietnam

I can't sleep while sitting.

I can stand up, in the elevator, yes) But sitting down, I rarely fall asleep. And this "rarely" most often happens when the plane takes off.

I love planes and I'm terribly afraid. Do you know how a dependent woman is in love with a tyrant husband? ) She is terribly afraid of him, but loves him with the same strength)

Planes steal my will. I suffer terribly, I’m afraid to fly, I don’t get enough sleep, my legs swell... But what an incredible feeling I experience when I get on a plane! This is such a spiritual uplift that if you visit me in an office chair, for example, I would have already earned billions)

Sitting in the seat of the plane, I plunge into the feverish excitement of Adventure.

As soon as the plane changes altitude, (takeoff, landing, turbulence) my vestibular apparatus gives out a strange reaction - I fall asleep in mid-sentence)

-So what am I talking about? hrrr-fuyu-hrrr.....

December 4.2015. Beijing.

We landed at 7.20.

In a completely sleepy state (do not forget - in Moscow 2.20, in Kyiv 1.20, for me it’s generally evening) we go to passport control. We fill in a pretty piece of paper, which gives us the right to stay in the country for 72 hours without a visa. But we don't need that much. In 13 hours a plane to Ho Chi Minh is waiting for us. That is, we will walk all our night)) Remember - didn't eat all night, didn't sleep all day, of course I was tired?

Back at home, I ordered a free lounge at the airport to take a shower and drink free coffee, but there are security checks between the arrivals and departures halls, which means that once we get into a clean zone, we won’t be able to go out into the city. The shower was cancelled.

A traveler to smell good must have sanitary napkins and toothpaste with a brush. Although I really want such a kit, along with earplugs, a sleep mask and slippers, to be distributed by airlines, but so far not everyone is handing out, remember that toothpaste is equated to liquids and must be transported with other liquids - creams, perfumes, thermal water , - in a transparent separate ziplock bag.

Where can a traveler put himself in order in a foreign country so early in the morning? Right! In the airport toilet. It takes a lot of time, but absolutely necessary)

Hint - disabled toilets are big enough to change comfortably, and sometimes they have a washbasin, which is great.

Beijing Airport is so big that there is a train inside Terminal 3. It's free.

Then another train takes you from the airport to the city. You need to buy a ticket at the box office. 25 yuan.

To find the Aeroexpress at Beijing Airport, you need to look for this sign on the signs, which also means the subway:

Aeroexpress is located in a convenient location for searching - right in the center and at the very end)

Without going outside, we find ourselves in the Beijing subway. It will take another 2 yuan. It seems to me that this is the most confusing subway in the world)

If we have written all the stations through which the train passes, then in Beijing there is only the current station, the final ones and the next one. There may also be a transfer station. The rest are replaced by dots. It looks something like this:?

(The photo is not mine, I was afraid to take pictures in the subway)

That is, you need to calculate "your" station on your map)

We liked the metro. We even got lost once, although in the cars, as almost everywhere in Asia, there is an electronic circuit, according to which it is a no brainer where the train is moving and at what station it is at the moment.

And here we are in the center. Do you see the young man in the gray sweatshirt? At the airport, he asked us how to get into the city. We tell him - it's only 8 degrees, you'll freeze. And he - so what to do, I did not take warm clothes)

Moreover, 8 in our country and 8 in Beijing is a noticeable difference. It's very cold in Beijing. The sun is shining, the thermometer shows 8 degrees Celsius, but the ice doesn't melt and the wind blows you off your feet.

To get to the very center, where the Forbidden City and the largest square in the world are, you need to stand in a huge queue and go through a magnetic frame. I don't usually go through the frame, but here I didn't find a way to bypass it. A dense stream moves quite quickly, people in uniform with gloomy faces are in control. In general, I lost heart and did not explain to them. But for sure you can try to avoid the magnet if the contraindications are severe.

Comrade Mao guards the entrance to the imperial quarters)

To get into the Forbidden City, you need to buy a ticket, showing your passport.

I'm delighted.

Don't feed me bread, just let me roam around old towns and houses.

The Forbidden City is huge!

An emperor once lived here. And so the City was forbidden to the common people.

Everything I love is there - colorful, antique and full of energy

We were lucky - the sun was bright. In Beijing, most often it is gloomy or even smog.

Comrade police officers are on duty. Nostalgic)

The Forbidden City consists of many courtyards, and each one is smaller than the previous one

And each one is getting older

The painting is a little faded and just breathes history. Fifteenth century.

Such steps can be found in Chinese temples around the world.

There are figures of lions everywhere. The middle lion is holding a ball - a symbol of the universe. Far, or rather distant lioness, holding a lion cub. Complete harmony.

In general, the figures are very interesting.

And a mosaic

And at the end of the City there is a beautiful park

And who's to say that there was ice in the first yard? ) Everything here is green.

Ah, no, not all)

Leaving the Forbidden City through the North Gate. There is still time, but no strength)

Ahead of Coal Mountain, we understand that we will not master it and take an auto rickshaw to go to Beihai Park

Handsome park with a huge stupa on the mountain.

There is such an interesting tourist bus in the park. But we went on foot, although our legs were already begging for mercy) We are normal heroes.

You need to buy tickets here twice. The first time you enter the park, the second time you enter the temple courtyard.

And of course we climbed to the very top)

Although, it's interesting down there too)

When we walked up, we didn’t have the strength to drag ourselves to the subway at all. We tried to find a taxi or auto rickshaw, but in vain. And then we crossed the road and got on the bus) We asked the conductor if the bus was going to the metro. Showed a map (a map in your pocket is half the battle in any country)), the conductor confidently pointed to the station, which was next to the one where we were heading there is Peking Duck!

We had a great ride on the bus and got exactly where we were aiming) Just one stop on the subway. . . and the quest began.

(nope, not my photo))

And then there should be a long story about how we were looking for Peking duck.

But I won't tell you. I can only say:

1. Write down important addresses on paper. Devices sometimes fail. And most often at a crucial moment.

2. Do not ask anything from the Chinese. They really want to help you! Therefore, you will circle until you are blue in the face, but you will not find anything.

Well, you already understood everything yourself)

We did not find the restaurant where we planned to eat duck.

Another tip - plan to travel from the city to the airport for at least 3 hours. They were enough for us. If we had found a duck and left the restaurant as planned - 2 hours before the plane, it is quite possible that the plane would have left without us. The thing is that at the airport you need to go through control, and control in Beijing is very, very thorough and very, very slow)

True, our plane was very delayed during departure. And we, instead of arriving at 12 at night, arrived at almost 3, and reached the hotel only at 5 in the morning.

But that's another story - a story about an unusual and wonderful country, Vietnam.

Whole cycle:

1. Preface to the story of how I went to Vietnam

2. Morning in the middle of the night or Hello Comrade Beijing!

3. Ho Chi Minh City is delicious.

4. Part 4. Ho Chi Minh City-Dalat.

5. Part 5. What would a day be like if it started in a madhouse?

6. Part 6. Da Nang. Marble mountains.

7. Part 7. The soulful city of Hoi An.

8. Part 8. Why did they destroy Michonne?

9. Part 9. By air, by sea, by land.

10. Part 10. Must see. Halong bay.

11. Part 11. On the road again. Cat Ba-Hanoi.

12. Part 12. Hanoi. Only the old city.