Beijing

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Arrived after a good flight. Talked a bit with my neighbour and got some Chinese lessons. Not that I remeber much apart Lu-u, travel. She also gave me her phone so I could call her if I needed some help, very nice...
Once out of the airport, I was picked up and driven straight to my hotel where I met with Michelle. She helped me with the check in and provide me with train tickets to Datong and Pingyano.

I have to admit I didn't do all that much on my first date. I was much too tired. I had to meet some couchsurfers that evening but eventhough I had instructions, I couldn't find them.

What I did found was Tian'ammem square. Went on it and joined a lot of people who were standing near the guards as I expected a change. Nope, nothing happened so I left after 20 minutes. Talked to someone and found out that they were waiting for the striking of the flag. I had to be on the other part of the square so I started to walk. Seems that the square gets closed of at night, everyone was leaving it anyway. Also had a look at Qianmen Gate and as it was dark a view of the square by night. Intresting and beautiful.

The next morning I met Kat from Australia at breakfast. As we both were alone, we decided to team up, later joined by Mary from Canada so a very international company. First stop was the temple of Heaven, maybe the most impressive for all 3 was not so much the temple itself but the activities in the park. People working out in what you could call a public open air fitness center, playing music, singing... Other parts of the park were so quit that we could hear the birds sing, something I didn't expect. Of course the temple itself was also very beautiful! We had our first Chinese lunch in a nice and very crowded restaurant. Of course Peking Duck and two other plates. Price was nice and low...

Next stop the boat landing to go to the Summer Palace. Couldn't find it right away so we ended up going to a bridal fair that was held there and then back to the hotel as Kat had to meet her travel group at 6. Ended the evening eating at the food market, where you can find bugs and things like that but also more 'normal' thing like noodles.

First impression? The Beijing air is much cleaner than I expected and it's very easy to navigate your way in the subway/metro. Only bad thing about the last one is that you have to take an awful lot of stairs...

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leuk.. deze link werkte wel... geniet... en ik 'stalk' je ;-)