Blogging in Beijing

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Griff and I arrived in Beijing Saturday afternoon. Getting through customs and everything was quite simple. Like Seoul, Beijing has a subway train within the airport for you to take from customs to luggage pick-up. We exchanged some money, and then headed to the taxi queue. I had meant to see if I could find a Chinese translation of the hotel name online to show the driver ahead of time, but didn't get a chance to. That's unfortunate, considering we then dealt with language barriers trying to get a cab. In hindsight we ended up overpaying by local standards (300¥), but when you consider we were in the taxi for more than an hour, that's close to what I would pay back home.

Griff has a nasty cold, which he (and many of the other HAFS teachers) have so kindly shared with me. I think I slept between 16 and 17 hours of the first 24 we were here. We tried to find a pharmacy Sunday night, but everything was closed because of New Year's Eve.

Sunday night, we participated in the hotel's New Year's Eve party, since neither of us was well enough to go out (going out for an hour to try and find a pharmacy was brutal on my lungs). We got to learn how to make Chinese dumplings. I made three or four. Each one was better than the last, but we definitely have some work to do! We got to eat some of the (better made) dumplings after. We missed the prize draw, but that's okay.

I'd managed to fall asleep, despite some fireworks going off in the evening (actually, they'd been going off since we arrived). Griff woke me up just before midnight, since the fireworks were constant. I was groggy and grumpy about it. The fireworks from our hotel room at midnight were incredible! Our room wasn't even facing the city centre and all we could see were beautiful fireworks displays. It was like each neighbourhood was trying to out-perform the other. I'm glad that he woke me up.

Yesterday was another laid back day to try and recuperate. I talked to my family and I caught up on my paper journal. I'm glad that we have just under a week in Beijing. We went out for lunch, but that was about it. We also booked our Tour of the Great Wall of China on Thursday. So excited for it!

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Photos

Dumpling Making
Kate is taught how to make a traditional Chinese dumpling.

新年快乐
New Year's Fireworks from our hotel window.