Arrival in Beijing

---

It wasn't until we got to Beijing that we realised how accustomed to India we had become. As more people mentioned the dirt, the noise, the pollution….(what dirt - you could eat of the floor here, noise? we can’t hear a thing), we began remember what it was like to be in a clean country.
I think seeing Starbucks as soon we came into arrivals clinched it for us. This Aussie guy attached himself to us, so we went to Starbucks to chill for a while, soak in the Chinese atmosphere!! Eventually we left the safety of Starbucks and got a taxi to Leo's - the Aussie dude also decided to stay in Leos - why not?! It’s not extremely easy to navigate taxis in China - unlike the Indians who want to rip you off, the Chinese won’t fleece you but that’s maybe because neither party understands the other. Eventually our driver just rang the hostel and got directions off them.
We actually were put in different rooms in Leo’s, I got the room full of nerds really but Irene just got a coffin to sleep on…it was literally a plank of wood covered with a sheet. She put in two nights on it but I can’t even imagine how she did an hour. When you knocked on it - it made noise…that’s not what is supposed to happen with a bed! She nearly got out of it the first morning but the cleaners wouldn't let her have it and she was too tired to argue. Then, the next morning she just moved her stuff over but some girl came in saying she was in her bed. She almost cried at the thought of another night on a plank, but anyway in the end the girl got a bed in my room - near her boyfriend. The funny thing was the coffin disappeared for a few days, it was literally a makeshift bed plonked in the middle of the room - all the rest were bunk beds, but then it reappeared for some other poor person...or so we thought. Because this time the bed actually had a mattress and wasn't half as bad!!
We only got to the hostel around 10/ 10.30 due to our detour to Starbucks and we'd been up since 3am, however once we saw we could have a drink we decided to stay up! Was quite the novely after India having a beer...they even had Bacardi Breezer!
Ended up drinking with Owen, Arul, Z and Paul that night...they had been playing some version of Chinese chess but quickly gave that up in favour of drinking!

---