Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Beijing!

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It's been a while, indeed it has.

Since the last blog, I have moved onto Beijing and have visited the following sites:
-Chengde in Hebei Province
-Inner Mongolian Grasslands
- The Great Wall of China
- Various sites around Beijing

The time here has been nothing less than phenomenal although I could do without the pollution, the lack of orderly traffic (I swear I almost died 5 times) and the overpopulation and crowds at various sites. I can't believe that I'm here, but I know that I am and I'm very fortunate to have spent the time here with a group of amazing people from all over the world. Kudos to Lana, Sam, Harma, Dirty Harry, Jerrard, Kathi, Linn, Lina, Dennis, Alex, Karen and Kyra for making this time so memorable. I won't forget the good times (Inner Mongolian fireworks and the very public toilets)

I've noticed major differences between Beijing and Hong Kong:
1. I am SUCH a tourist. I can't speak Mandarin and I can't understand it enough to hold a decent conversation. It's at times frustrating because I am Chinese, therefore, a lot of people give me funny looks when I don't understand what they're saying. But then again, there are a lot of tourists here, mostly from other parts of China.

2. There's no such thing as shame or privacy while doing your 'business'

3. The sites are spectacular and you don't understand the grandioso of the place until you actually come here. The sites are HUGE. I'm serious they're bigger than you can ever possibly imagine. The buildings such as the Forbidden City is enormous and one can definitely spend an entire day there just visiting from building to building.

4. The history is amazing, especially the hutongs which is a network of little grey houses that was built in the Qing or was it Ming dynasty. It's just a network of neighbourhoods and they're really cool. When you want to look for Chinese that's where you'll find it.

My time here in Beijing is almost up and my next stop is to Guilin and Yangshuo in the Guangxi province (southern China). I can't wait for it, but I'm also sad to leave this place behind, but I'm also very excited.

Sorry I haven't been posting up pictures. I will definitely do this when I get back home, I'm having battery pack issues right now.

I miss spaghetti!

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Comments

[Chris Evans]

Hey Anne!
Hey Anne! Great to hear you're having an awesome time. Is it really that hard to find spaghetti in Beijing? Take care: watch out for the traffic and keep exploring! Best regards! Chris