Ana_Beijing, China

Day 1 Tuesday,Sept. 5-6
We left Prague very early in the morning. I was a bit tired. It felt that I got a nap only. We ended riding with Greg, the funny Californian. He realized at the last minute his flight was at 7am not 2pm. He was a bit hangover. He literally came straight from the bar and was checking his email before going to bed. Good thing we
stopped at the hotel to wait for the taxi. Our flight was also leaving at 7am. We had a layover in Brussels. We managed to find a quieter waiting area and were able to take a nap. It felt nice.

Finally it was time to board again. Time after time the trip always in the airport. In the waiting area we were surrounded by bunch of Chinese people talking away and of course not understanding a word. Some dressed really funky. Just different I should say. It was fun to watch. As we enter the plane the flight attendants greeted us in Chinese and had Chinese music in the background. Colors of seat were purple with red. Good thing for the meal we had a Western choice. But we had the Chinese meal noodles with beef. Tim and I just looked at each other and said “here we go, our trip starts now. Noodles from now on!”

The plane flight was long, about 11 hours. I managed to fall asleep here and there. We safely arrived around 6:30am China time, which is 6 hours ahead from Prague and most of Western Europe. The airport is huge. Just to get to customs we had to take a bus that literary took 15 minutes. Was comforting to see signs were also in English as well seeing other foreigners.

The first thing I saw walking at the gates was a Starbucks. I couldn’t believe it. I mean I understand with the Olympics coming up in 2008 they’re getting ready for all the Westerners, but did you really have to. Nevertheless, we had Starbucks waiting from our ride to our hostel. Couldn’t help it! I know two-faced.

On our way to the hostel you could see Beijing is just a massive city. Tons of cars and high-rises everywhere. And again a lot of construction in preparation for the Olympics.

Our hostel was in the middle of Hutong area, which literally means “narrow alley.” And immediately you can tell it has a lot of character. More shed houses with people all over the streets either working on construction, passing by, chillin, and our riding bikes.

It was around 8am when we checked in. Just in time for breakfast, which it was decent for our usual hostel breakfast, at least we got an egg with our toast. Soon after we crashed for a short nap. Five hours later more like 3pm, we woke up. We decided just to walk around our area, which is very colorful, full of shops, from guitar shops, to restaurants, to massage places to clothing store. We ate at little place down the street from us. We had lamb and chicken kabobs with fried rice and iced tea and coke for just $2US. Oh, yes the exchange rate is 8 Yuan for $1 USD. After our fulfilling meal went back to our hostel. Our roommates were really friendly. I was the only girl in the group. Lucky me… hahaha.

Later on decided to get a massage. We heard from another backpacker that just got one and it was the best and cheap. We’re talking about $8 USD for a 1 hour massage. I’m there! Tim came with me too. It was interesting when we walked in. We were greeted with “Ni Hao” which means hello and thankfully had the menu of services in English too. We pointed at the 1 hour full body massage. No one really spoke English. The pointed us to a room. Good thing Tim and I were in the same room. They told to lay face up first. Soon enough the one guy started massaging me another massaging Tim. It felt good right away, starting with the head and working down the body. It got weird when it started massaging the inner thighs; he got really close to my private part. Yikes! Of course I had my clothes on. Overall it felt good but towards the end I tensed up when he was massaging my back. It felt good but I had some sore parts and I think he was too strong. The next day I had a bruise on my lower back. Oh, of course after the massage ended they wanted to add more services. One being putting several round bottles on your back to suck in on your skin and leave like a bruise to force new blood flow. Tim had done it before and he said it helped if you’re really sore. So he got it. I didn’t dare plus I didn’t feel like I need it. Just watching the process I was happy I didn’t do it. His back soon started turning purple in the spots the bottles where. And the really purple parts were the tenderest parts. It looked awful. But Tim said it didn’t hurt but I probably wouldn’t like it. After half an hour the Chinese dude took the bottles off. I took some pictures. Ouch! I could barely look at it.

After getting back from our lovely massage. We decided to go to a local bar to have a drink and figure out our next destination in China. We went to this bar that had an upper deck. It had a lot of character mix-matched chairs with old lamps and slanted table. The draft beer was only .75 cents for a big glass. Can’t beat that. Soon after a group of Swedish with one Dutch guy joined us. We started drinking and just chatting about our trip. They had just done the Tran Siberian train. We were very jealous of course. After a while we went back downstairs to hangout with the cute Chinese girl and guy working there. We played some drinking game with them. Fun! The girl, Lujia, was so funny. Her English was decent. Around 3 am we crashed!


Day 2 Thursday, Sept. 7
You’d think going to sleep so late we’d wake up late. But no, we woke up like a 7am. Had our Western breakfast. We decided to go find out about extending our visa. We only have a 30 day visa but wish to stay longer. Apple, the girl at the reception, gave us the address in Chinese so we can tell the taxi. We got there no problem. I was surprise that it was very organized and some signs were also in English. We asked information and only one guy spoke decent English. NO we couldn’t get an extension at that time since we had to wait closer to the expiration date. But we did find out it might take 5 days to extend and we could get it in another city. So that was done.

Walking back we wanted to stop at the Lama Temple. We had a map and I’m glad Tim has such good sense of direction. Not me, specially the name of the streets are so confusing and they change names depending on the direction you’re going. We finally found it.

It was very crowded but with Chinese people. They actually go there to pray to the Buddha with incense. It was really neat to see. They stand in front of the temple and raise the lit incense and hold it close to their heads and bow a few times. And once they enter the temple they do the same but only with three not lit incense. No sure all the history around it but they had different Buddha’s in different temples. We even saw a group of monks in prayer. It sounded beautifully, they were chanting all at the same time and it echoed so peacefully.

In the last temple we saw a big Buddha. We’re talking 50 feet high. It supposed to be the biggest sculpture made out off one piece of wood. It was massive. We slowly made it back to our hostel. Walking around was just fun. Just to see the people and all the different interesting shops. We saw to Sex Shops. Didn’t go inside but had to take a picture of the sign. Very funny! Oh yeah, the signs here crack me up sometimes. They try so hard to translate into English and sometimes it doesn’t quite translate properly. In our guidebook, they call that Chinglish. It’s hilarious! I've seen signs like “International Washes the Alliance,” for a laundry place and “Digital Photo Flushing,” for a photo processing place. It cracks me up. Those are the two I remember. Tim thinks I’m crazy because I keep taking photos. But I think it’s funny.

We had dinner at the same place we ate the night before. This time we tried to order something different and yes we got something different, not what we expected. It looked like Chinese ravioli. It was OK I guess. After we went to a coffee shop to have a hot chocolate and just figure out our plans for the next few weeks. I tell what a hard decision. We go here or there. I forget sometimes how lucky I’m for doing this trip that the one our major stress is to figure out where to go. =)


Day 3 Friday, Sept. 8
Another yummy Western breakfast to start our morning. But this time I was getting sick of it. Our plans for the day were to visit the famous Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. We took a cab to get over there. It’s really cheap to take taxis here and considering the distances. Everything it’s so spread out and it takes too long to walk, plus you pay like $2 USD for a 15 min. cab ride. Not bad at all.

We got there and it was packed with tourist like us, but specially tour groups. It was impressive just to enter the gate. It literally felt like a small city. It’s crazy to think emperors lived there for years and never got out. We walked and walked through the different temples. You couldn’t really go inside but just saw the exterior. Gorgeous colorful rooftops! It was sad to see towards the middle a Starbucks. Come on, it’s the Forbidden City. I couldn’t believe it!!! We slowly made our way out to the other side and took us to the Tiananmen Square entrance. The first thing you see its big picture of Mao, which ruled in the 1950’s and built the square. It’s the biggest public square in the world. It’s funny walking around it knowing people died nearby in a protest against communism and wanting democracy. The people didn’t get killed on the square but were taken elsewhere so it was not as gruesome for others to see. Being in the actual plaza it’s eerie. You feel you’re being watched. There cameras all around the lamppost and police guys, which by the way look 16 years old.

Yeah, it’s funny to know this country is still communist. It’s not that obvious. People work and seem that they have the freedom to do whatever, except have no voice in voting. It’s only one way.

While walking around I was asked to have my picture taken with these two Chinese girls. I've heard from other travelers that they have been asked as well. No sure why. Maybe it’s because we looked different and might be cool or something. Either way I felt like a movie star...hahaha

Walked around to find this specific restaurant in our guidebook. No luck we ended what it seemed like Time Square in New York, a street full of big neon signs and shopping everywhere. Saw a KFC and just had that instead. Our stomachs were starting to feel off and decided some grease would do us good. And indeed it did. Although the chicken had a Chinese taste. Everything here has a Chinese taste. I don’t know how to explain it. But you buy chocolate and it taste different. Not bad, but not what you expect. It’s just a bit different to what you’re use to, a different kick to things.

Took a taxi back to the hostel. Cute taxi driver was holding the map the whole time. He really had to concentrate to figure it out. We gave him some tip at the end. Oh, by the way you don’t tip here. But when you do they get very surprised and happy. We've heard that some my get offended. So far, no one has.

We made some phone calls to figure our visas for Tibet and just took care of details. Went to sleep early since the next morning we had to be ready by 6:40am to go to the Wall.

Day 4 Saturday, Sept. 9
Rough morning. Didn’t sleep much. For some reason I woke up around 1 and had a hard time falling back asleep. Then woke up around 5:45am. Not a happy camper!!! Good thing I manage to fall asleep in the van. The ride to the wall was around 3 hours. It was cool going in a group and everyone was from our hostel.

When we arrived the driver gave us our tickets and told where to go but didn’t understand very much. All I heard you have 5 hours to do the 9km hike through the wall. But we didn’t realize there was a different path. Good thing we asked our “guide” and he pointed out the way. Later we found out other people took the long way. The hike was beautiful, but harder than I thought. Some parts were really steep, a bit scary. I couldn’t look down, it would freak me out. But it was amazing to see this long wall that extended as far as your eye can see. It wasn't as tall but for sure very long. Amazing idea to build a fortress so long. It took a lot of man power for sure. The weather kept changing between the valleys. It would get really windy and cold and you walked few meters and it would be sunny. By the end of the walk my legs felt really weak. I was ready to sit down. Great hike! Tim took tons of pictures. It was hard not to. The scenery was amazing, and you kept seen different angles of the wall along the way. I can’t believe we actually hiked around the China Wall. Awesome experience!

On the way back we both felt asleep. Good thing because our driver, Paul, was a crazy driver. He kept cutting people off on the curves and stuff. I was glad to arrive at the hostel in one piece.

It took all day pretty much. We went to dinner to a different place, Drum something. It was really good. We had Kungpao Chicken with noodles. Very tasty!

Went back to the hostel and Tim crashed around 8:30 pm. I tried to keep him awake, because I knew he’d wake up really early, like he had been doing the past few days, but no luck. I wasn't sleepy at all. I managed to stay awake one more hour and then crashed too.

Side note: I've been talking to my sister pretty much every day I've been here in Beijing. It’s so great to know we’re in the same country. I love knowing that ‘m so close to here, although she is near Shanghai. We talk for like an hour every time. It’s so cool to share our experiences about this country so far and here about here teaching experiences. I love mi Mani!



Day 5 Sunday, Sept. 10
Tim woke up super early he said. The sun was barely coming out. He read and read some more. I woke later like 7ish. I had the Western breakfast; Tim did the Chinese one for a change, dumplings with some soupy rice thing. No thank you!

I felt tired after breakfast, Tim did too. We both lie down in our bunk beds and fell asleep until noon. It felt nice to take a nap. Rodrigo, our Mexican roommate told us we cheated. He couldn’t go back to sleep. He invited to go with him and the other two Danish roommates to the flea market. We finally made it over there around 1:30 pm. It was sunny and hot. Not humid, but it definitely burned.

We walked around for like two hours. There was so much to see from jewelry, sculptures, paintings, furniture, crafts, books, pots. It was so interesting just to mingle with the locals. I saw a lot of people napping next to their stalls. It’s funny. I've notice that a lot of people just sleep throughout the day just anywhere, next to their job sites.

We didn’t buy anything. Tim regrets not buying couple of painting he liked. I wasn't crazy about them. Not my taste. I didn’t mind the surreal style but didn’t care for the subject. One that he really liked was a little Chinese girl holding a knife ready to stab a cute pig. Another one was a group of Chinese kids dressed in communist army clothes and just fighting each other. I didn’t care for that one as well. I told Tim if he wanted those painting it would have to go in his office. I didn’t want to see it hanging in our future living room. Not my cup of tea. I’m sure we'll find more stuff along the way. We hope to buy more towards the end of the trip so we don’t have to carry it all or pay tons of money to send it back home.

I personally wasn't crazy about anything. Cool market though.
We got back around 5ish and just relaxed for a minute. I was trying really hard for Tim not to nap. It worked!

Later in the evening we tagged along with two American guys, Shady and Rich, along with Rodrigo to have duck for dinner. I've never had it so I was bit hesitant. But the place we went was supposed to be really good. We finally found the place. It was crowded with locals, a good sign. The first thing of the menu was a picture of a duck. The menu was very interesting had so many different not so tasty stuff. Like pig intestine, brains of I can’t remember what. The picture of the food looked good, but reading the actual menu was grousing me out. I order a side of fried rice just in case I didn't like the duck. But I actually liked it. It tasted between turkey and chicken, very different but similar. It was more fatty and juicy than both. I liked!

On the way back to the hostel we stopped for a drink. I had a capirhina, Chinese style. It wasn't bad but not the same. Went back to the hostel. I talked with Mani for a while. Tim and Martin, one of the Danish roommates wanted to played cards. We went to a local bar, the same from earlier in the week.

We played Texas holdem. I beat the boys once. It felt good. Tim didn’;t like it. He hates loosing, especially to me. After couple of games Eno, German dude, joined us. He was already pretty happy. We had couple of beers as well.

After a while this funny, local, businessman came to join us and wanted to play. Problem was he barely spoke English. It was very bad and it would be so hard to explain poker to him. But he insisted. Tim didn’t want to sit next to him. So he got up to go to the bathroom. We all tried to avoid the game. The guy was just funny. But it was hilarious just to watch him. Another guy in our table was talking to him trying to get out what he did for a living. It took him half an hour to get that the funny guy was a consultant. I took several quick times just to capture the experience. I was laughing the whole time. Fun night!


Day 6 Mon., Sept. 11
We slept in until 11ish am. Skipped breakfast!?
We rented bikes to go around the city. I could tell Tim was a bit hesitant to have me out on the crazy streets of Beijing. Good thing was after lunch time and the street was not too bad. I had Tim go in front of him so I can follow his lead; after all he has biked across country back in the states. Tim kept looking back at me, I could tell he was nervous. I kept shouting "I'm OK VIDA." We made it to the Drum tower near by. It was cool to see the drumming. It happens every half an hour. It's like the bell ringing in a church to tell time. The drums here were huge.

After that I wanted to bike some more. We had no where in particular to go. But Tim had the bright idea to check out the 7 Eleven we saw in the taxi couple of nights ago. The idea of slurpy sounded good and refreshing since it was very hot that day. Too go to be true. No slurpy! Tim said they had Chinese stuff, noodles and more noodles. I was getting hungry at this time since we skipped breakfast. We kept biking some more, were trying to find a mall recommended by one of the guys we met back in the hostel. Supposedly he got three suits made for really cheap. I had no idea where I was. I just kept pedaling. At the intersections I was so nervous. Bikes everywhere and cars not stopping. I felt like I had to have 20 pair of eyes. But for some reason it seemed a very organized chaos. It all worked and everyone passes each other just fine.

No luck finding the mall. But we did fid Mc Donalds. Its grouse to know we're eating so much McDonalds this trip but it's good when all you eat is Chinese food for three meals. The grease is nice here and there. And I this point I was about pass out. The tiger was coming out like Tim calls it.

After lunch we went back to the hostel. No crashes. We made home with no scrapes. My bike was really old and rusty. It was cool. I wanted to ride one more time before the night was over. I could tell? Tim didn't. We biked along the lake near by, an area with lots of bars and restaurants. Bad idea! It was rush hour and traffic was crazy. I bit challenging to get around. It wasn't so bad going in the big bike lanes it was when you had to stop at a traffic light. People passing each other and I was afraid to crash and cause a major collision. After a little bit Tim said "let's go back." I didn't argue one bit. I was happy to avoid the chaos. Again we made it back in one piece.

Got back and walked to get an ice cream cone at Mc Donalds. What can I say our milk source for the day. Talked with Mani for a while, it’s always great to talk with her.

Tim typed on his blog for a bit. I didn't feel like. I felt so behind with my blogging. Instead I talked with two nice American guys from North Carolina. The same guys we went to dinner the night before, Shadi and Rich. We just talked about travels, hurricanes, earthquakes and wars...Deep!


Day 7 Tues., Sept. 12
Last day in Beijing. We only had half a day to lounge around. We decided not to do anything crazy. I woke up early to type on my blog. It was nice to be by myself and just type about our adventures. I let Tim sleep in. I woke him up around 10:30ish enough time to get up and pack. We had to checkout from our room by noon. We skipped breakfast again. It was nice to be lazy. We had a nice lunch. Finally I manage to eat with chopsticks I figured out a way to hold it, my lefty way. I pretty much ate without dropping anything on the table. I was proud. We had Mongolian beef with noodles. Really good food a bit greasy but good.

After lunch we decided to tried and find the mall with the cheap stuff. Maybe Tim could find some thicker pants for Tibet. We asked at the reception of our hostel but I think she misunderstood us. We ended up in a different mall. It was basically like a Macy's just the Chinese version. Stuff was similar prices to the US. It was pretty much just window shopping. Went back to the hostel to rest for a bit. Caught up with emails. I spoke with Mani.

We took a cab to the train station. Lucky us there was another couple taking the same train so we shared a cab. It took about 45 minutes to get there in mad rush hour. HOLLY SMOKES! The station was huge. It's probably the biggest I've ever seen. You could see it from a mile away. Entering was crazy! Crowded like every where else you go in China. Good thing that the use regular numbers for things so we can read them. We manage to find our gate. There was a line to get in. I should say a crowd of people in packs near the gate. I kept being push. Good thing I'm taller than must people so I could breath and not get too claustrophobic. After waiting 40 minutes they let us in the train. We pushed and shoved to get in. I don't get it, we all had assigned seats. It was my first train ride experience in China. CRAZY!

We manage to find our beds. In overnight trains the have the option of hard sleeper and soft sleeper. We chose the hard sleeper which is an open cabin with six beds, three on each side of the wall. We got the middle beds. Interesting! We barely fit our long legs. But it was better than sitting the whole night. We shared the cabin with a cute couple with their baby boy and two interesting man. The kept starring at me from the top bunk beds. It's not a bad stare but after a while it gets weird. It feels like they're invading your privacy.

Lights went off around 10pm. I kept waking up here and there to check the time. I didn't want to miss our stop, Pingyao. But they did tell us when it was time, which I thought it was really nice.