Day 12 Between Nanjing and Beijing

---

Today we leave Nanjing and go on to the least leg of our journey: Beijing.

I'm not sorry to leave Nanjing. For some almost indescribable reason, I haven't liked this city. Not liking a place I travel to doesn't happen to me much. I've been trying to disect my issues with Nanjing. It's crowded and loud; the opposite of relaxing. That's part of it. There are people every where, which brings my fear of being pickpocketed to the surface. I've been nervous in crowds ever since I was pickpocketed in that market in Papua New Guinea at age 13. I keep close track of my purse and backpack as I walk. Jesse doesn't understand, and doesn't consider zippers or how easy it would be in a crowd for a pickpocket to slide it open and steal the items inside without you ever knowing until it's too late.

Nanjing is also a city overcome with pollution, and I haven't been able to be outside longer than a few hours without suffering mind-numbing headaches. Being pregnant, I won't let myself take any drugs to relieve the pain; I don't want to harm the baby, and I'm already worried enough about the affect the pollution is having on the baby.

Finally, it's just plain frustrating not being able to speak the language. I remember being in France and how hard that was for me. I could never figure out how to pronounciate French, so although I could pick up what I read (it being so close to Spanish) I couldn't make myself understood there. Here it's even harder. I miss seeing letters put together into words I understand. I find the Chinese symbols beautiful, stunning in their simple lines, but I can't figure them out. As a lover of words, it's hards on me not to be able to read the signs I pass. And I can't eavesdrop on any converstations!

I'm an outsider here, and there's no getting around it. It's more than the language barrier, more than the clothes I wear. I stand out in the crowd. Those who know me well, know that usually doesn't bother me, standing out, but it's different here. At home you're always connected by a shared culture, however thin the strand might be in New York or Louisiana. Here, I feel no connection. We are all humans who cry when we're sad and laugh when we're happy, yes. But here I'm not a part, I'm foreigner who garners attention for her blond hair and strange manners. It was different in Shanghai. In Shanghai there were people from nearly every nation and we all blended together.

TRAVEL TIRES YOU OUT
I'm always amazed by how sitting in a waiting room, then sitting on a plane, then sitting on a bus or taxi can tire a person out. But it does, in a way that numbs your brain and leaves you empty of feeling -- at least every one but irritation.

We wake up a little early (well early for me, normal time for Jesse). I -- and the baby -- get the company-paid breakfast while Jesse checks out. The drive to the airport is about 45 minutes as it's located far out of town. As we slowly make our way through 2 security checks and a slow-moving ticket line, we both wish we were traveling by train instead of airplane.

Apparently all Chinese know which ticket booth is the one they need, but being newcomers to this airport, we're soundly confused. There are no Hannan Air or Air China signs anywhere. I figure we should be where the lines are, and it turns out I'm right. Call it instinct of a traveler. In China, there are always long lines for everything: the bathroom, McDonald's, and security. Must be because there are just SO MANY people in this country. At least that's one thing I've picked up on here.

Our flight leaves on time and we're off. By the time it takes to eat lunch, we're about to land. I've finally read that McGregor Brides book Bev loaned me in Belize (sooooo good and sappy), and Jesse has entertained himself with Bob and Tom podcasts.

CONFUSED IN BEIJING
We know the name of our hotel in Beijing and that its centrally located near Wangfujing street (because it is in the name), but that's about it. Jesse never got the address and I never mapped it out. As you can imagine, this leads to a tiny little bit of stress at the airport. We don't even have the hotel name written out in Chinese to hand to a taxi cab driver. Plus, we're both hungry as we liked only a small portion of our Chinese airplane food (it's not nearly as good). That's a bad combination.

On our own now (i.e. Emerson isn't reimbursing us for taxi cab rides), we decide to do it cheaper. The Beijing airport is about 20 miles out of the city, which is sure to mean a hefty taxi fee. So, seeing a sign for a shuttle bus, we buy tickets (15 RMB each) and hop aboard, neither of us too sure where it will drop us off and whether that will even be close to our hotel. I wish for a map that lists all hotels, and curse myself for not doing a simple Google search that morning before we left the Crowne Plaza.

The bus drops us off in the middle of a road. Seriously. No hotel or even bus shelter nearby. We have to walk to the end of the block to even get past the fence between the street and the sidewalk. At the corner an Olympic information booth is set up with helpful volunteers. It takes all six Chinese, but they figure out how close we are to our hotel and write the name down in Chinese for a taxi driver. Whew. We might make it after all. Odd that the Park Plaza was the first hotel to come up on an Expedia search but isn't one the locals recognize.

We're about 7 minutes away via cab; the standard rate here in Beijing is 10 RMB, one RMB more than Nanjing. The cabs are painted differently than the standard green of Nanjing, but they are still government owned.

I track our progress on my guidebook map, and have a vague idea of where we are when we arrive at the Park Plaza Wangfujing.

We check in and I crash onto the bed, ready to stay there for hours. I do conk out, with Jesse joining me after he figures out how to get online (it's a bit trickier with these PCs you know -- not as easy as a Mac). We don't wake up for 3 hours.

WANGFUJING STREET
We are ravenous when we awake, and head off in search of food. I'm ready to settle for the first restaurant we pass, while Jesse is pickier. My mood is cheerier now that we're seeing something new and in search of food. We're in an area (Jinbao street) that has one hotel after another. Many look new, like the Park Plaza and Regent next door. I feel lucky we found a hotel for just over $100 a night, when the place next door sells Rolls Royces. Ferraries, Mazaratis and Lambourginis.

A few blocks walk brings us to Wangfujing street, a "walking street" where no cars are allowed. It's busy, and shops tower above the street. We continue on Jinbao and run into a huge street market. I'm amazed by the types of food being sold on sticks here. Not quite like the State Fair. Here you can have silk worms, intestines from various animals, scorpions, centipedes, snake, eel, octopus, and more. Wow.

One of Jesse's co-workers told us the scorpions were good and crunchy, but I can't convince Jesse to taste it. I buy one of the fruit sticks. It's covered with the same caramel glaze of that sweet treat I bought in the Confucious Temple market in Nanjing.

We walk down the entire strip, then decide to eat at a restaurant behind the stalls. While we had seen many tourists on the streets of Beijing, we were the only non-Chinese in the restaurant. It was well-decorated. The hostesses wore long, traditional chinese gowns -- bright red. A wide tree sat in the center of the dining room -- fake -- but were were seated under its "shade". Starving we ordered 5 dishes. It was way, way too much food. Ribs, sweet and sour soup, fried rice, pea pods, and sweet and sour chicken (which tasted just like the stuff at home). We were pleased to get soy sauce; they never had soy sauce in Nanjing but always served the rice plain white even when it was fried. When we were both so stuffed we couldn't manage another bite, it looked like we hadn't touched the serving dishes. Wow. It's hard to get used to ordering family-style.

But then, restaurants aren't really standardized here. Some give you large portions; others are small. It seems you get more in the cheaper restaurants. We also haven't been able to figure out the prices. For the same bottle of Chinese-brewed beer (Tsingtao), you can pay 7 RMB to 50 RMB. There is no difference in the bottles at all, but the price varies so much it's amazing.

After dinner, we head back to Wangfujing to do a little shopping. Jesse has decided his watch is just to loose and pays 20 RMB to remove 2 links. The watch cost him 145 RMB to begin with. I get sucked in my sparkling jewelry, and pay 60 RMB for 3 pairs of earings. Jesse finds a tinder box for 10 RMB.

We lust over the fabulous wood carvings of dragons and elephants, but know we don't have enough room in our bags.

The streets are quite as full of scooters and bicycles here. There are more walkers. I wonder if that's because so many have switched to traveling by subway.

---

Photos

Asking for help
We asked the friendly volunteers just where we were as we really had no idea. We knew we were in Beijing and hoped it was downtown, but who really knew?

Volunteers
Some of the volunteer booths from the Olympics are still set up on streets to help lost tourists.

Taxi driver tea break
The taxi drivers here in China bring their fresh tea to work in these jars.

Checking into the Park Plaza
We're staying at the Park Plaza in Beijing. It's near Wangfujing, although not right on the famous street. We're about 5 blocks away. The entire area is full of hotels.

European hotel
This gorgeous hotel across the street from us. It reminds me of Europe...

Olympic signs
There are Olympic signs everywhere! I'll never forget the slogan: One World, One Dream.

View down Wangfujing
This is looking down the walking street from its intersection with Jinbao Street.

Snack market
This two-block-long snack market along Jinbao is famous. I try one of the fruit sticks. It's sticky and tastes like caramel.

Ready to serve
Anything you want on a stick.

We settle for a restaurant behind the snack market
The juice tasted like V8 Splash - soooo good.

Our delicious meal
Ribs, pea pods, sweet n sour soup and rice

Lambourgini
Okay, I thought these cars were supposed to be sexy, but this one is just plain ugly.

Ferrari
Now this is a hot car. The car dealerships were housed in the lower level of the Regent hotel visible from the sidewalk.

Beer garden
It was advertised as a beer garden, but was really an expensive restaurant on the patio outside our hotel. I thought it was romantic, but Jesse nixed the idea of sitting down there when he found out beer was 50 RMB. (He won't pay more than 20 RMB.)

Fancy elevator
They decorate the elevators around here, filling in a portion with a floral display.

Bed turned down
Our bed was turned down when we arrived back at our room.

Cold, but hot!
Freezing cold, Jesse puts on my sweatshirt to warm up. Blackmail picture!