China........The land of the Dragon

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Sayonara Japan......Ni hao China!!!!!

Beijing

After a short flight from Japan to China, we have finnaly arrived in Beijing. The whole flight experience has been quite interesting. Did you know that Narita airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, closes at night?...... Neither did we, After a 1200 km journey, we showed up at the airport in an effort to check into a waiting lounge to save a nights accomodation. Well.....the airport is closed...im talking lights off, only cleaners and security. They stop our cab at the gate and check our passports....then the let us through to anohter checkpoint and check our passports, then we go to the drop off zone, a security guy met us and checked our passports. After that he escorts us through the airport in the dark, and leads us to a waiting area with typical airport seats and then another guy meets us and guess what.....he takes our passports and records the information. After everything short of a full body cavity search, they show us our beds.....the typical airport seats!!! I was dissapointed that the airport closes, the rediculous security program, and the shitty seats. We woke up to many Japanese walking around, and loud announcments on the intercom system. Weird. Oh, Air China seats are designed for small chinese people. My gut hardly fit with the tray table down. It sucked.

When we got off the plane, we saw our first taste of how much preparation the Chinese did for the Olympics. The airport was incredible. Incredibly Massive and incredibly modern. We had to take an automated train from the terminal to pick up our bags after customs. Cool.

Our first impression of the Chinese was not very good. We were standing in line, waiting to talk to a tourist information place, and everone was budding in line. You cant take it personally though, as everyone does it. Just do as they do and everything is ok. Just remember that there is many people, and if you are in a hurry, just go straight up to the counter.

When we arrived in Beijing after being overcharged by private taxi, we were amazed at the pollution. Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and it shows. It is gross. On the best day, you might be able to see a few blocks. Keep in mind, this is directly after they lifted the car ban for a month for the olympics, meaning it was probably the best it will ever be. Emagine how bad it was before the ban!!!

Our accomodation was very close to Tianmen square and the forbidden city. It was a great location. The hostel had a great courtyard that was a haven from the hustle and bustle of the huge city.

One thing that can be said about China, is that it is full of amazing history. When you think about it, Canada is so new as a country compared to the 6000+ years of recorded Chinese history. This amazing country has changed over the milleniums, yet many things still stand, in perfect condition, carefully preserved.

Beijing has some of the most amazing structures in the world. The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the magnificent Great Wall......just to name a few. It is hard to fathom the sheer size of these projects. How did they ever create them? How many millions of people toiled for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years to build them? It is hard to understand, even with mordern construction techniques, how it could be done?

The most impressive and moving sight is the awsome Great Wall, but we are saving this for the next blog entry. Another great place that was very impressive was the Forbidden City. The entire complex is massive, consisting of 980 buildings covering 720,000 sq/m. It takes hours to walk through it and could take 2 days to check it out in any kind of detail. The arcitecture is very ornate, and many structures are made of wood, which is rare to see wood buildings of that age standing as they are prone to fire.

We also saw so many temples, towers and many other amazing things in Beijing which will be mentioned in the next blog.

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Photos

The most comfortable sleep ever!
Yes...at the Narita Airport, the night before we leave for China. It was quite the experience!

Our Hostel
This was the best hostel...it was so quiet and peaceful inside the complex and then the craziness and business of Beijing a footstep away. We met so many great people here that we attribute to the social layout.

Gate of Heavenly Peace
This is the gate at the front of the Forbidden City where a large picture of Chairman Mao is on the outside of the building.

Forbidden City view from Jingshan Park
The Forbidden City was huge. It stretches almost 2km long x 1km wide and takes a long time to walk the whole city. We spent at least 4hrs in the forbidden city walking and viewing the sites.

Monument to the People's Heros
This is located in the centre of Tiananmen Square for "Eternal Glory to the People's Heros".

Panjiayuan Market
The best place to shop for arts, crafts, and antiques only open on Sundays which sees 50,000 visitors daily. Be ready to bargain...hard!!! We got ripped off (badly) on our first item. They tell you to look first and ask prices to get an better idea of your bargaining power before buying.

Kung Fu show at the Red Theatre
We went to the Kung Fu show with a few people we met at the hostel. It was a great mix of theatre, martial arts, acrobatics, and music...it was better than Corteo (and cheaper too).

The Guys Eating Scorpion
They all actually said it didn't taste like much...like something crunchy deep fried. Scorpion among many other things were fried here...at one of the booths the scorpions were even alive on the stick before frying them.

Donghuamen Night Market
Bon Appetite!

Donghuamen Night Market
Woof!