Beijing

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Day one: Beijing, China.

Leaving Australia on Friday, 7^th of September it took 12 hours to fly from Sydney to Beijing. Although only a stop over to switch to our LA flight, we had 15 hours in Beijing between the two flights. This was enough time for us to go all over the city. Jae and I paid 1600 RNB (about $245 AUD) between us, which got us a chauffeur for the full day. The driver couldn’t speak a word of English so with the help of a Chinese man at the information booth at the China airport, we managed to get the main tourist sites listed for him.



First he took us to the Great Wall. This took a bit over an hour from the airport and it was possibly the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. Chinese people cannot drive. The freeways are swamped with cars, bikes and trucks, all weaving between traffic without any sort of indication, ever. Most of the time there would be 3 cars together in a 2-lane street.



When we arrive at the Great Wall we’re put into a shoddy cable cart and sent up the mountain to the wall. The wall is packed with mainly Chinese people, which made us stand out easily (later we find out this is how it will be through the rest of China). The walk up the wall is steep and a flat surface in most areas. Having to walk up this steep ramp made it all the harder with people pushing past each other to get ahead. After the long flight in I had little patience with people, especially with the older group, who were the main ones dashing up the wall pushing anyone out of their way. I managed to get some footage of the wall (posted in blog) as well as photos to get an idea.



After the wall we headed into the market areas where we got to experience some traditional Chinese food. I saw starfish, sheep penis, scorpions, beatles, centipedes, all sorts of random crap. All skewered ready to be eaten. I tried out the scorpion, which was alive and wriggling prior to me eating it. They seasoned it and grilled it flat. I didn’t manage to get footage of me eating the scorpion since the vendor demanded I eat it in front of him. But I did get a shot of them alive, as well as a dried seahorse, which I munched down a lot easier.



Finishing up the day in China we made our way to the Forbidden City where we were met again by swarms of people. It was a great place to take photos but I found it hectic and difficult to get around. Once done with the site seeing, we headed back to China Airport for another 12-hour flight to Los Angeles.

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