02.20.2011 Flight and arrival in Beijing, China

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Today is the flight to Beijing, China and I couldn’t be more excited. I will skip the nitty gritty and flash forward to the events. Kaori and I met an amazing couple at the Osaka Airport. Tohru and Atsuko Ozaki were born and raised in Japan but are now living in China. We got to talking and found out some very good tips from their personal experience. First off, they mention that if you are offered a price on any item in the streets or at store, divide it by ten to get the local price of item. Tohru mentioned that while shopping in China she paid 80 Yuan, about $12, for an item at one play then later in she found the exact same item for 20 Yuan. So if you are shopping around, don’t be afraid to walk away from a price you are unwilling to pay, because you will most likely find it somewhere else. Also, if there is any sticker price, divide that amount by four to get the local price. We parted ways and headed onto the plane. I had my first Chinese culture shock on the plane over to China. Coming from a “Japanese” influence for the first two months I had some idea that China and Japan would have some similarities and of course some differences. However, one thing I found surprisingly different was the amount patience people have for one another. Let me explain, in Japan, there is an emphasis on “being patient and curious to others” for example if someone is doing a job or helping someone else out, people tend to wait for their turn. Yet on the plane, The sturdiest was doing her job passing out food and drinks to the customers, but one after another people kept getting up and trying to walk past her to the lavatory. Now, I know that when you gotta go, you gotta go, but is it possible to wait for her to finish and move out of the way? Also, people almost seemed “mad” at her or other flight attendants because they are in the way. Things seem to be harsher and fast pace, I guess that makes since they need to prove they are the best one out of two billion people. However, I cannot judge a book by its cover and this is just an observation from a foreigner’s perspective. Overall the flight was comfortable, the food and drinks were good, and there were no problems.

Like many tourists I was interested to see the sky line in Beijing and if it lived up to the “smog” hype. This is the literal translation of how Kaori and I arrived into Beijing. Captain: “we are now making our decent into Beijing, please be seated and fasten your belt for landing.” The captain blared on the intercom, at this time Kaori and I were looking out the window. “Where is it? I can’t see anything” I said. No more than 10 seconds later “I think I can see a plane and…the terminal?” This was followed by a huge “BUOOM” as the wheels of the plane plummeted to the ground. I could only make an out faint building structures and planes going to a forth from what appeared to be the terminal. I had to rub my eyes just to make sure nothing was obstructing my view. When exiting the plane it felt like someone threw sand at my face! I noticed other passenger covering their mouths with their sleeves. What a significant change in environment, and to think it was only an hour and a half way from Japan. We had some trouble with getting tickets at the Terminal for the train to Beijing city, it was surprising that no one spoke English or even had English signage for incoming visitors. I managed to ask another passenger and was directed to buy a ticket for 25 Yuan or $3. Eventually the train took us to a transfer station called Dongzhimen; from there we transferred to another station, Yonghe, and then finally arrived at our hotel station called Dengshikou. Every train was packed with people and sometime you have to throw some elbows just to get a spot on the train. However, each station is very colorful and easy to navigate around. Also, all the maps and signage were in English, which I think is due to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was dark by the time we arrived, but we meandered our way to Park Plaza Hotel.

Arriving at the hotel, the concierge picked up our bags and took them to the room with us. The staff is very helpful and all speak English, Chinese and Japanese so there was no lost in translation. Strolling through the plaza and halls you could tell this was a very exquisite hotel; I noticed that Kaori and I were the only “students” here as well. I happened to find a great special on the rooms so this made it possible to Kaori and me to stay at this hotel. Our room was defiantly impressive. I almost felt like a king when I entered. The bed room was open and easy to access. There is a safe in each room as well as bottles of water since the sing instructs tourist not to drink the tap water. Also we managed to watch the TV later in the evening. We were watching CNN then out of nowhere it turned off, about 20 seconds later the TV beamed with life and the reporter finished the sentence “well that’s our news cast on china for the evening, now let move over the crisis in New Zealand…” Yes it is true that the Chinese government blocks the TV when anything is said about China. Also the internet was monitored 24/7, as well as Facebook and searches relating to Tiananmen Square were blocked. We had a quick 10 minute check around the room and headed off to find some food and adventures around the area.

I want to point out that in China there is no middle class only the rich and the very poor. An example of this can be seen just outside the hotel; a Rolls Royce, Ferrari, and Maserati dealer. But take 10 steps to the side and the building next it is old, worn, and broken down. Strolling through Wangfujing area you can defiantly tell Kaori and I are in an upper class district, or at least some building resembled the trend. We found a mall called Oriental Plaza about 20 minutes walk from the hotel. We walked around and found some interesting stores like BMW cloths, Snoopy items, and also the Japanese restaurant Yoshinoya. Once again the hunger bug was on our minds so we walked to an underground food area but we had to buy a card in order to purchase food, it has something to do with the restaurant employee’s not touching dirty money and cooking food. We didn’t find anything appealing at the time so we made our way to another food store and bought some breakfast for tomorrow. My first instinct while in China was to buy real Chinese food, but we ended up settling for Subway. Walking back to the hotel, it hit me “I am in China, yet I don’t have a clue what is going on”. I was very lucky to have Kaori help me with Chinese character translations, but it still felt like another world. Its tough to describe in my feelings words about the first day in China, but what I can say is that I was very unprepared and very naïve. Personally I never felt so lucky to be American. With that final thought, Kaori and I arrived back at the hotel and prepared for tomorrows Summer Palace visit.

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