Upon learning that I’ve just been to Beijing, most people seem to ask only two questions: Are the toilets really bad? And, are the people rude?
No, the toilets aren’t bad. Well, most of them anyway. The worst toilet we came across – or rather, that Em came across – was a public toilet three quarters of the way up the Great Wall of China. We thought it would be decent because not many people get up that far, but apparently neither do the cleaners. Public toilets where you have to pay for usage are great because they’re usually clean, but on the whole, we kept to the facilities of restaurants, posh shopping districts and, of course, our hotels.
Still, I doubt there would be many – if any – of those foul, doorless latrines I’d been warned against left. Thanks to the government’s Olympic efforts, the city has really been spruced up. Development is happening at breakneck speed but the thing that impressed me the most was the security. There’s practically a policeman around every corner. And it says a lot that I feel much safer in Beijing than I do walking the streets of PJ or KL. All in all, it’s a good time to visit…
Unless you have issues with rude people. Hotel and restaurant staff aside, probably one in three people are rude, especially the hordes and hordes of local tourists. I have never seen old people shove their fellow elderly the way I witnessed aunties doing it in Beijing, and I have definitely never had people cut my line in the toilet by wedging themselves between my person and the cubicle door. Seriously?! I have a soft spot for old people and even I felt like pushing back. But I didn’t.
Then there’s the driving. The countless continental cars around are another sign of the wealth that’s pouring into China, but I like the way Em put it, when she described the drivers as behaving as if they were still on bicycles. They stop when and where they please, change lanes however they like (even into incoming traffic!), and toot their horns liberally and ridiculously loudly. If you thought Malaysian drivers were bad, as I did, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
So the toilets were good, but the people were rude. The sights were breathtaking, but the air was really polluted (oh, how it was!). We were told Beijing only gets about 20 days of clear, blue skies a year. We got one. Guess we were really lucky.
