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Chinese Dumplings
Put this on your list of food you must eat while in China! Any type of dumpling simply rocks!More project kids were on my flight to Beijing than I expected there to be. We all sat very far apart, but at least we would have company when the plane landed. I was joined by Tamera, Laura, Carla, Jon, and Kyle. Jon was able to enjoy the company of his new found Mongolian buddy while the rest of us hoped for decent sitting partners. I shared a seat beside an elderly Chinese woman who is returning home to visit her sister in Beijing. She was quite nice and gave me a lot of information that could be useful if I were to get into trouble. Our twelve hour flight to Beijing was straightforward and apparently boring when compared to the other kids on the project. Braden had a man die on his flight and apparently the man’s body was stuffed into one of the bathrooms on the plane for the remainder of the flight. Sarah was bumped from her flight and was forced to sleep in the San Fran airport for the night and catch the same flight the following day. Oh, and I almost forgot to say that my baggage was lost! I’m down a sleeping bag and a
Entering China
One of my first sights to see in China. chair. My dad’s over confidence has bitten him in the butt and believe me I’ll make sure he knows!
After filling out the report for lost baggage we went as a group to the People’s Bank of China to exchange currency. The exchange rate was $1USD for 8 Yuan. We hopped on some vans and made our way to the Taiwan Hotel which was pretty nice and pretty decent all at the same time. We had delicious breakfast served to us and the rooms were fine, but we found out that the contents in the bathroom and in the refrigerator were “uncomplimentary” and we would be billed for anything used. So much for that service...
My first impressions of Beijing are basically the air is so dirty you could cut it up and chew on it for a long, long, time. I never actually saw a blue sky in Beijing. All one could make out was grey and more grey. The weather was amazing at around the mid eighties. Much better than the cold weather we were having in Pennsylvania. The amount of stuff being sold on the streets of Beijing was pretty impressive, but a little overwhelming
Money Exchange
8 to 1 exchange is fairly favorable to Americans! when being asked to buy a dragon every block and having rickshaw drivers ask you for a ride even if you are only going for a one block walk. Oh, and I probably don’t have to tell you this, but Beijing is in a mad construction craze to prepare for the 2008 Olympics that they will be hosting.
The night life of Beijing took form through mass amounts of “Massage” offers. Apparently when the sun goes down the rickshaw drivers need a new job so they picked the occupation of pimps. It wasn’t rare for me to be asked “you like girl?”, “Want massage?”, “go to hotel room with you?”. Incase you are wondering about these massages they run for about $50USD. I’d rather not get arrested in Beijing so no thanks. Francis has told us that the amount of prostitution used to be very small and that he is shocked at how much prostitution now exists within the city. We even had a women jump over a counter when she caught sight of our group of guys walking past her stand one night. Being a westerner in China is like everyone has said before me; It's like you
Random
Right down the street from our hotel. are a movie star. On several occasions we were grabbed for photographs with random Chinese people. How flattering 😉!
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kelly (mom)
non-member comment
missing you
Dear Zach,