April 29. Artists in China an endangered species.

Today is our train to Xi'an. It leaves in the afternoon and we have "stand up" tickets that in the worst case will force us to sleep standing in the proximity of the train toilets while they are being frequented by other, more lucky, travelers seeking to relieve themselves from their instant cupnoodles and other bowel-unfriendly trainfood. The best case would have us sleeping hand in hand, sharing a comfortable left over seat.

In the morning we visit another art district near 798 that is being torn down as we speak. Unfortunately the resident artists are not available for an interview, let alone a little donation for their effort to get out of this mess, and Ba Mo has to return home because she is off limits with her car. You see, Beijing has a regulation that says that cars with a certain pattern on their licence plate can only enter the city proper on certain days, and today its not her day. We get a glance of the crumbled old factory that serves as the artist residence and our host translates the many slogans that we read on the wall. They speak for themselves. "Safe our livelihood." "For the survival of the Arts in China." And so it goes on.

We slide back into restaurant mode and edit our websites, correspondance, as we fill our stomachs with nice food. A treat we need, since indeed, we don't have a seat in the heat of the train to Xi'an. We can sit on the dirty staircase however, and actually it is quite comfortable compared to that one Mozambique busride back in the days.

Back in the days? A couple of months ago! Traveling makes clocks tick in a funny way.

April 27. Magnificent Beijing.

A couchsurfing host has responded to our mail and so we move to Ba Mo's place in a calm district of Beijing this afternoon.

Before that we indulge in the tourist pleasures that this city has to offer (kindly note that cumulative endorphine levels during the preparation phase of a visit to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and other monumental reminders of this land's glorious past are way higher than during the actual visit). We see the Yonghegong lama temple, the largest, biggest, hugest, most beautiful, most fantastic, most extraordinary, most holy, wholly, solely, rock 'n rolly lamasery in town. it is a great place and manages to be an oasis of calmness in the middle of one of the loudest cities on the planet. The giant golden Buddha, hidden in one of the chambers at the rear end of the complex, is higher than a big house, and we enjoy a discreet peek.

TianMen Square. Place of a bloody massacre, the visible traces of which have ebbed away, very visibly guarded by chairman Mao's vigilant portrait at the entry of the Forbidden City. We take in the views, gaze at the ubiquitous surveillance cameras attached to every streetlight, yes we do our jobs as tourists, penetrate the forbidden city and read about its stunning 9,999 rooms, see a line in front of a small counter and turn around, like little Chinese soldiers obeying a shouted command. We've got the idea now, and what most struck me is the resemblance with Moscow and East Berlin, due to (I guess) the Russian reconstruction of Beijing. The same broad boulevards flanked by the same squared blocks of concrete state power.

So we find our way to Ba Mo's place and enjoy a friendly introduction. She also introduces us to the 798 art district, China's acclaimed focal point of studios and creativity. The art district is very large, and on our first walk around, we shoot a lot of pictures before having a bite at a Breton styled restaurant.

Ba Mo invites us for dinner and it is delicious. As we devour... pardon, I don't like the rhythm of this "as we" and have to pull the linguistic brake. It spreads out my language like a viscous brown cream sticking to almost everything and clogging linguistic pores. If anyone gets what I mean here, preferably Bill Bryson, please drop a comment and we can exchange ideas. So, where were we? We enjoy the food a lot and have a nice conversation about the possibility of charity in China. Government control is ubiquitous, as we had expected, but we might be able to support local artists whose studios near 798 are in danger of falling victim to bulldozers. We decide to visit them, but not tomorrow. Kamiel wants to see the Great Wall. He thinks it's stupid to go so near it and not see it, given the fact that it can be seen from the moon.

April 26. Arrrrrrrriving in Beijing.

We keep arriving in Beijing for hours, so huge is this city. Without any orientation thanks to our weight-saving measure of traveling without a guidebook, we gaze at the big buildings sighing "so this is Beijing". A natural urge makes us entter a coffee place that could easily serve a demanding European clientele. The internet is our guide and we discover that it is far from impossible to conquer this city. There is a hostel called Hai, right next to the Yonghegong temple and the metro ring, and we opt for the simple dorm room. There are 

Huge city arrival, famous main station, we spend the day in a coffee place looking for Couch and Cause. Then off to a hostel Hai, good value. A few guys seem to live there while learning Chinese. We have dinner in a small place in the famous restaurant street nearby. Good food again. A lot of different skewers with shrimps, mutton, mushrooms. We sleep well.