| |
05.11.2007
But Around the corner then straight ahead, only about 500 meter more to Tiananmen
Square. My horse Gustaf was in good spirits and wanted to proceed in trot. People
were smiling and waving to us. Suddenly a policeman pops out of nowhere. He raises
his hand and screams something. It’s to late to stop…so I just wave at him.
We decided to finalize our long expedition on Tiananmen Square. The only
problem was to get the horses to the city centre. I am not allowed to drive trucks
or lorries inside Ring#5 during daytime. In fact it is ok only between midnight and
six in the morning.
So it was an early rise on Saturday morning – at 04.00 am. Hen out to the stables
was our horses had been resting for a few days. We arrived to the outskirts of
Beijing on the 25th of October. So, they had a very good rest. Only thing left was
to do the final leg into the heart of Beijing.
The morning was quite cold and the bed felt so nice and cozy – but up we went.
This whole procedure took about one hour and we made it in to the city in time.
After that a back to the hotel and a quick breakfast – then we were finally ready
for the Grande finale…
We unloaded the horses in a park near a hutong close top the walls of the
Forbidden City. A lot of curious people surrounded us immediately – as had been
the case during our whole journey. Even in the most remote places people pop up
out of nowhere.
Well, this was not a remote place, but the same curious questions and smiles. Off
we went and we rode through some old neighborhoods and out on Cheguang Jie –
a nice street line with hanging trees. And also here a lot of people cheering and
weaving. It looked like this would be a pleasant ending to this endeavour.
But, as we are about to reach our goal that that policeman turned up and then a
second one…suddenly there were dozens. And a policeman heading straight
towards us. Tourists and visitors were taking pictures and watching with
amazement. Even Mao in the background seemed to be smiling. But the policemen
were not amused.
- Get down from the horse!! Screamed one policeman who definitely was
nervous. I did not see his eyes, they were covered with American pilot glasses and
he tried to look tough. But I was not convinced and tried to say to him to take it
easy. But he just screamed and screamed also after I stood firmly on the ground.
Policemen, security guards and curious people surrounded us in general. The
police did not know what to do and asked us over and over again the same
questions “ how did you come here and why “ The questions kept coming but
they did not listen to our answers.
The atmosphere was not hostile – just unorganized (quite common thing here..)
and bewildered.
We had decorated our saddlebags with Beijing 2008 Olympic flags and that made
them even more confused. And some of them thanked us for promoting the
Games.
After a while we were taken into the police station inside the Forbidden City for
questioning. That continued for two hours while our horses waited outside wanting
to eat of the forbidden grass.
The two officers who were questioning us asked again the same questions and I
got the feeling that this was just to kill time. They were waiting for somebody to
take responsibility and make a decision.
After a while they said that our truck had arrived and that we should load the
horses.
Hmm, I did not think that we could drive the truck into the Forbidden City but
here it was. What a service – to get police escort back to the stables.
After loading the horses we did set off. And for a while I thought that
This was a nice pic nic. But it turned very quickly sour as I realized that we were
not on our way to the stables – instead we did go the Public Security Office of
Beijing.
And there the questioning continued. Same questions over and over again. Still
not anything hostile…just the same feeling of “ we do not know what to do..” But
one of the guys – one that did not have a uniform. He was a stone face and after
a while it was obvious that he called the shots. One “question” seemed to be of
importance – “ you did cause traffic chaos – did you not ? “ every time we both
said “no, no chaos at all – just smiles “
A few hours passed by and then they brought a late lunch. Nice - I was in fact
starving and very tired of repeating the same answers in a slightly different form.
Chicken with peanuts, some chili and fried rice – not bad at all. Suddenly the
officers seemed to calm down and then the three star officer informed us in stiff
way that we had to leave the country immediately.
And that we had broken Chinese law.
We were astonished – out and now! Why?
“You have broken the law, you must leave today.
Shit - I started to expect something like a fine – but not deportation.’ Neither
Kristian or I would have anything against to go home after eight months of riding
through China.’
But now – and with so much to do such as sorting, packing and getting the
horses safely on the road to Kazakhstan.
Back to the hotel- nothing more to do than try to make the best of this situation.
Back at the hotel I did managed to get in contact with the Finnish Embassy and
as we where packing our stuff the first secretary turned up. He said that he does
not think there is much to do – but he has one contact that he could call.
So he did and many hours later I got a call from the police. The same three star
guy who had been questioning us – he just said, “ you don’t have to leave..”
Why? - To be continued..
All news
|
|
