As my mom woke me up, I heard the voices of my grandparents talking on the phone. Today is the day I go to China by myself. I got dressed quickly and ran downstairs to eat breakfast. I would carry three bags to China. Two would get checked in and a small suitcase will come with me onto the plane. My plane leaves at 12:00 at Washington D.C. National Airport. It took three hours to drive there, so I brought a book to read on the car. I go by myself onto a plane that leaves to Beijing at 12:00. [View Full Entry]

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Guess who went to bed with the sniffles and a sore throat and woke up with a sinus infection? THIS GIRL! Oh, yeah, China smog looooves me. I just don't get it. I drink like liters upon liters of water every day. Take a multivitamin, among others, every day. Haven't been drinking excessively AT ALL -- which is what started it last year, no dout. I have a feeling the universe is conspiring to tell me that, although I love Beijing, it's time to move on. Hopefully to Nicaragua, the land of lakes and volcanoes and the largest country in Central [View Full Entry]

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Today, I slept much better than yesterday night. I woke up to the sound of my grandfather making breakfast. I didn’t know what he was making, but I got up to see. On the table, I saw to toasts with lots of butter on them. A prosciutto and butter sandwich and some cooked eggs. As I got down to eat, I thanked my grandfather and hugged him. Then, I started eating. The toast was very good and so was everything else. Today, I would go to my first tennis lesson, at Xian Nong Nan club. When my father was little, [View Full Entry]

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The history of the Great Wall is said to start from the Spring and Autumn Periods when seven powerful states appeared at the same time. In order to defend themselves, they all built walls and stationed troops on the borders. At that time, the total length of the wall had already reached 3,107 miles, belonging to different states. In 221 BC, the Emperor Qin absorbed the other six states and set up the first unified kingdom in Chinese history. In order to strengthen his newly born authority and defend the Huns in the north, he ordered connecting the walls once built [View Full Entry]

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I was woken up this morning by Chloe, the dog we're dogsitting, and she wanted OUT of the room. I guessed the Ayi had come. Sure enough, she's back from vacation in Canada and coming here every Monday and Thursday for the next couple of weeks until the owner comes back from vacay along the Trans-Siberian railway. I gave Ayi the receipts from the AC/electricity saga and tried to explain the best I could what had happened. She appears to be a very capable late middle aged Chinese woman who immediately started making phone calls to see what had gone on [View Full Entry]

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Beijing has been invaded. It began at the start of the traditional tourist season at the end of May. A couple of hopelessly lost Koreans here, a few scattered Westerners speaking Mandarin with horribly mangled tones there, and a smattering of hopelessly lost elderly Japanese. As the summer arrived and the weather heated up, along with Beijing's interminable humidity, the trickle became a stream, which turned into an all-out flood. Foreigners are descending upon Beijing in droves, reminiscent of a locust swarm. These lecherous parasites have infiltrated the poshest hotels, are hesitantly venturing down Beijing's most upscale shopping avenues and, to [View Full Entry]

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last guest appearance by aabeyta and now, the end is near and so i face the final curtain... (a frank sinatra song for every occasion). yes, it's time for me to return to my sunny land of mexico. time for me to say goodbye to china. if i could extend my visa i wonder if i'd be going back yet...probably not. china has been FANTASTIC! we went to the fancy famous duck restaurant for dinner last night. the menu is literally a book. a BOOK the size of a dictionary. we ordered, we ate. it was wonderful. they cut the duck [View Full Entry]

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Aan onze trouwe lezers, sorry voor het ontbreken van updates de voorbije dagen, maar het was moeilijk om internet te vinden in Beijing. Wi Fi is overal beschikbaar daar, maar wij hadden geen pc mee en internet-cafes zijn vrijwel onbestaand omdat er zoveel wifi is. Wij zitten nu in Tokyo en hier hebben we gratis internet, maar meer daarover in een latere blog. Eerst Beijing. Wij zijn dinsdagavond na een half uur vertraging (onze enigste vertraagde vlucht in China) rond 11u geland en het was middernacht tegen dat wij met de bus aan het spoorstation zijn afgezet. Daar wouden wij een [View Full Entry]

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Hier zijn we dan met het tweede deel van ons verslag over Peking. Dag 2 hadden we beide een sportieve ingeving; om de enorme afstanden te overbruggen hebben we elk een fiets gehuurd om Peking verder te gaan verkennen. Echt schitterend! De fietspaden zijn er enorm, maar dit houdt niet tegen dat je je hart niet moet vasthouden (voorrang van rechts: hmmm en een rood licht verschilt ook al niet teveel van een groen licht). Na onze lef verzameld te hebben zijn we onze eerste bestemming gaan opzoeken: 'downtown backpackers beijing' in de Hutongs om ons te gaan inschrijven voor de [View Full Entry]

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Beijing begins massive Olympic shutdown By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer Sat Jul 19, 6:35 AM ET Beijing's Olympic shutdown begins Sunday, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital's gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the games. Half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent — and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted. In a highly stage-managed Olympics aimed at showing off the rising power of the 21st century, [View Full Entry]

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