Blogs from Beijing, China, Asia - page 485

Well, at least that's what they say here in China. There are people everywhere selling different kinds of meat on a stick. You select what you want and then they barbecue them for you. We've been told to just go to certain places because otherwise you can get pretty ill and that it tastes great but you can never really be sure what it is you are eating. We decided to try it out and we discovered that there actually are things that you might want to stay away from. We started off easy with chicken, beef and lamb which all were very good. Then Dan decided that we should be more adventurous so he ordered in bugs (some kind och bettle I guess or a cocoon, we couldn't decide) and smelly tofu (that's the name ... read more

Sorry everyone...I haven't been able to get access to internet for a long time. I think I am having internet withdraws. If I haven't responded to your email, I am sorry. Well I am now in Beijing settled in and ready for school. I am living in a hotel suite with two other students, one male and one female. The suite is situated in a way that there are two rooms. The suiite has two separate rooms, one only having one bed and the other having two. I sleep in the double with the guy. My roommates are pretty cool. The guy roomate is from Alabama. The girl roomate is from New Hampshire. I am the only one from California crazy huh? I having a lot of fun in Beijing. It's a very big city and ... read more

Saturday, September 3, 2005. Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 80's. First, a few additional words about our arrival. Having done our air independently we did not have the benefit of being met at the airport. Our first concern was communication since we do not speak Chinese. Not to worry! Everything is well signed with both Chinese characters and English translation. Capital City Airport is quite modern and the entry is no different than any other international arrival. It took us no more than 10 minutes to present our documents to immigration and be on our way to collecting our baggage from the carousel and locating the "green lane" for those with nothing to declare. We emerged into the usual sea of people awaiting those arriving. Immediately outside of the customs area we located an ATM, slid in ... read more

Friday, September 2, 2005. This trip is a packaged tour offered by Viking Cruise Lines and is to start on Saturday when most of the passengers will arrive. Since most of the people arriving will come in at various times of the day there are no activities scheduled for this day. We decided to book our own air arrangements and arrive a day early. Since our arrival was late in the evening we simply booked a room at the Sino-Swiss Airport Hotel. They offer a shuttle making things easier for us. By the time we cleared Immigration and Customs and got to the hotel it was around 10 p.m. and that was a perfect time to jump into bed and get adjusted to the new time zone that is exactly 12 hours different from what we ... read more

Today is "get things out to pack" day as tomorrow we head for New York City where we will start our journey to China on the following day. Our trip takes us, via Tokyo, to Beijing, China, where we will meet our tour group for two weeks of an exciting adventure. This will be the first trip in which we have taken along a laptop computer that hopefully will enable me to keep a record of our travels with photos to be added after we return home. After 3 days in Beijing we will be on our way to Xi'an to see the terra cotta warriors exhibition. Then on to Chengdu where we overnite in preparation for an early morning flight to Lhasa, Tibet, the "Roof of the World." After 3 nights in Lhasa we ... read more