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Published: February 5th 2009
"Fasionable people doing questionable things" were the lyrics blasting in our iPods as we sat in an empty gate staring with wide eyes at our 777 plane docked and getting loaded with luggage. We were at the airport 3 hours early and our plane was delayed by about a half hour, yet (and without reason) we were minutes from missing our flight. As I passed my headphones to Alex to listen to the song, and only then heard "Bojanowski, last call" on the PA. We grabbed our stuff and got on an almost departed plane and vowed to move forward as smarter, and more aware travellers!!
We had a rather long direct flight (expected) from Toronto to Beijing and arrived around 6PM China time. I had the aisle seat, and the lady beside Alex barfed and spilt red wine all over her jeans. Bonus: seat back touch screen movies and tv. We watched "Burn after reading, Body of lies, several HBO shows until cross-eyed). Upon arrival were extremely jet lagged but managed to naviage the Beijing subway system with flying colours and walked to our hostel in a cute area on Yonghegong street. Our hostel is simple, semi clean and
close to the subway. Our bathroom is such that one could pee, brush their teeth and wash their hair at once, if so inclined.
Genuis move: packing a sleep sheet and pillow case cover
Non-genuis move: packing way to much shit
Beijing is an amazing city, full of friendly people and lots of culture and heritage. It is nothing like we would have imagined, living minutes away from Chinatown in Toronto - it is not so hussle and bussle (besides the obvi places like the Silk Street Market and other shopping areas). It is clean and easy to get around. Our first westerner habit to kick was coffee, we nearly spent an hour looking for a starbucks (rediculous we know, but an absolute necessity in our sudden case of withdrawl).
The weather is not warm, but not like Canadian winter. It is around a November month in temperature, and today mitts were not neccessary as we walked through the Temple of Heaven. The sun barly shines, and the locals never wear sunglasses. The Forbidden City was fantastic, but very busy.
More tidbits:
1. Dim Sum doesn't exist - Alex and I had a sheet of paper
with "We would like shrimp and pork dumplings, do you have?" written on it - that was highly successful ! Still, I would take the Bright Pearl over anything here.
2. Asians love Alex. And I mean love. They want pictures with her wherever we go. We thought it might be her big (round) eyes so she wore sunglasses today and it still prevailed....still a mystery.
3. You can get "Skin Whiteners" in the pharmacy
4. Beer is cheap, wine is not
5. Don't eat fuzzy pork buns (why would you to begin with?)
6. Jet lag is a bitch
Finished an evening meal of instant noodles and another beer is waiting for me in my room so I am off like a prom dress. Tomorrow's venture is the Great Wall of China - we are taking a tour from the hostel (both Alex and I hate guided tours but we sucked it up for convienience's sake). We hear there is a slide down the wall after the hike like a bob-sled path. Sign me up!
Until the next....
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Stephanie
non-member comment
Looks like you girls are having an awesome trip...looking forward to reading more on your blog!! :)