Returned to the all familiar Beijing Train Station after a grueling 7 hour train ride. Being a weekday, I certainly expected fewer people in the vicinity. Instead, it is still as packed with people (Chinese, Uyghurs, etc). It was cosmopolitan indeed.

Took a train and headed for Hepingmen Station, which is the nearest Metro station (after a 15 minutes walk along Nanxinhua Jie with your luggage) to Far East Hotel (RMB220/night). Right smacked in a Hutong and close proximity to Tiananmen, Lonely Planet listed it as one of the top 5 accommodation in Beijing. I personally think that it will be perfect if not for the 15minutes walk to Hepingmen or Qianmen Metro Stations. Dinner was a bowl of beef noodles (RMB5, the portions were really LARGE) and I felt asleep soon after. I knew something was wrong when I woke up@3am with my really bad stomache and felt really stuffy. Felt so much better after puking whatever that remained in my stomach (mainly the beef noodles, Tsingtao beer and half a can of coke). Back to bed with a mild fever, 38 degrees was the value that got registered on my digital thermometer.

Nothing much was done next day apart from sleeping, panadols and visiting the Chairman Mao Mausoleum. Got filtered out from queue because we were with bags/camera and slippers. These were big no-nos in his eternal resting place. In the end, we deposited them for RMB10 and got a pair of Kungfu (canvas) shoes (RMB10) from a clever lady (she was hovering around the queue) who figured out a way to make a quick buck as there will be people who needs shoes to get in.

Despite from the constant reminders from the security guards on the need to behave and silent via queuing, some folks still act like monkeys. A lady was shouting (again through a loud hailer) on how wonderful it is for everybody to fulfill their "long-life" dream of paying respects to the Chairman and the only way to do it is to buy a RMB3 rose for the great leader. Alot of people did, but I was pretty unmoved. Perhaps I had not reached the heights of liberation yet.

The rest of the setup was pretty much similar if you have been to Hanoi's Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Everybody queues up and walked around the remains of the great leader. The Beijing icon was distinctly different from the Hanoi icon though. As I finished the tour of "duty", I started hearing people talking and laughing. I thought it was strange because this was supposed to be a solemn place. It turns out that eager staff was trying to promote their latest Chairman Mao watches and other Maoist souvenir.

Such was the thin thread between Communism and Capitalism in modern China.