Sandra from China
The TSA recommends a traveller to check-in at the airport 3-4 hours before your flight. This being my first trip internationally, I decided to heed the advice and get to the airport at 3am for my 6am flight. My friend, Hue, was kind enough to drive me to the airport. When I arrived at the airport, I learned that the ticket counters don't open till 4am. So, needless to say, I was at the airport too early for no good reason. My advice to anyone traveling internationally out of SeaTac, if you have a early flight, just get to the airport at 4am, otherwise you'll just wait around till the counters open. Also, going through baggage check is quite fast early in the morning. I didn't have to wait at all. The flight from Vancouver to Beijing was quite uneventful....just the way I like it, so there's not much to mention there. All I have to say is that 11 hours on an airplane is just a tad too long and it's even longer when the airline is playing bad movies (Match Point tanked in my opinion). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one thing; if you want to get a good USD to RMB exchange rate, wait till you get to Beijing International airport and exchange money at the currency exchange booth. I changed my money in Vancouver and the rate was 7.05RMB to 1USD; it was 7.96 in Beijing...doh! Beijing is quite smoggy and when you walk into the streets, a layer of sweat covers you from head to toe. A night shower before bed is somewhat mandatory if you don't want to feel sticky.
My first day in Beijing was interesting. I arrived at 3pm, found Jon with flowers (awh...) in front of the Starbucks in the airport and took a cab to the Red House (it's a pretty nice motel with good plumbing for about 50USD). After I rested for a little, we went to dinner with MCK and Liu Yu, Jon's friends from IUP. They're very nice people, I just wish that I had more energy to speak with them...I was pretty jet-lagged. After dinner, MCK invited us to this art show in the Rain Bar and it was quite interesting. If I hadn't been tired it would have been cool to see MCK's friends perform. I also had my very first experience using a Beijing toilet. My advice, don't wear long pants that will touch the ground (don't wear overalls and strappy pants because then you'll have to keep track of where things are at) and inhale through the nose sparingly. Also, one MUST carry tissue on them at all times, especially if you're a girl.
On my second day in Beijing, we woke up and tried to find this mushroom hot pot place to get some lunch. We walked around for a bit and couldn't find it, so we decided to ask the locals...apparently, the place had been torn down. Oh well, we found a nice little Sichuan place to eat instead. Then, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, where we met a nice man from Henan. I think it was Henan, I had a hard time understanding his mandarin because of his accent and also the fact that my mandarin is quite rusty. Jon was doing most of the talking for us. It's quite funny though because everyone would look at me when they were speaking expecting me to understand them. I got a kick out of that one. The Forbidden City was awesome, we weren't able to see some of the palaces because they were being renovated. Also, the guards kept on herding us from one section to another. We weren't quite sure why, but we didn't want to disobey the guards. I also got a kick out of seeing a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, it's kinda sad and funny at the same time. I can't seem to remember what we had for dinner. I remember meeting Liu Yu at Wangfujing and getting ice cream from TCBY. We also went to the night market and I got to see where Jon skateboarded. There was a bunch of food stands on the street, but I was too chicken to try anything. I didn't want to get an upset stomach while on vacation.
We went to the Summer Palace on the third day. The Summer Palace is lovely and very peaceful. After we were finished, we met Dai Lu for dinner at a japanese restaurant. I don't remember what the restaurant is called ...(Yixin) It had really good food and it was 50% off, 86RMB (about 12USD) for enough sushi to satisfy 3 people. Jon wanted something called Yubing after dinner and Dai Lu took us through Tsinghua campus to find the stand that sells it, but it was not there. No Yubing for Jon. Dai Lu then took us back to her place and it was the first Beijing apartment that I'd ever been in. Dai Lu is very nice and kind, her english is awesome.
The fourth day was Great Wall day. Jon and I were able to get a taxi driver to take us to Simatai, a part of the Great Wall that was restored for tourists. We decided to spend some money to get a taxi driver because it was more convenient than riding the bus and then getting a taxi in the city near Simatai. The taxi driver was a good driver, but man, was he a crazy one. I got carsick and threw up in front of the ticket booth at Simatai. Then I threw up again after we ate some lunch. I had some Pepto Bismol, which I took because I wanted to enjoy the trip. Well, I made it onto the Great Wall and threw up in one of the towers. I think it was tower number 3 maybe. Even though I threw up on this trip, it was quite amazing and I had a great time. I'm tired, but it was worth the burning calves. The views of the Great Wall were amazing and the weather was clear; blue skies with feathery clouds and a gentle breeze. I also called my mom when we got onto the Great Wall; it was pleasant to be able to share the Great Wall moment with my mom when she's half a world away. Go cell phone technology!
My first day in Beijing was interesting. I arrived at 3pm, found Jon with flowers (awh...) in front of the Starbucks in the airport and took a cab to the Red House (it's a pretty nice motel with good plumbing for about 50USD). After I rested for a little, we went to dinner with MCK and Liu Yu, Jon's friends from IUP. They're very nice people, I just wish that I had more energy to speak with them...I was pretty jet-lagged. After dinner, MCK invited us to this art show in the Rain Bar and it was quite interesting. If I hadn't been tired it would have been cool to see MCK's friends perform. I also had my very first experience using a Beijing toilet. My advice, don't wear long pants that will touch the ground (don't wear overalls and strappy pants because then you'll have to keep track of where things are at) and inhale through the nose sparingly. Also, one MUST carry tissue on them at all times, especially if you're a girl.
On my second day in Beijing, we woke up and tried to find this mushroom hot pot place to get some lunch. We walked around for a bit and couldn't find it, so we decided to ask the locals...apparently, the place had been torn down. Oh well, we found a nice little Sichuan place to eat instead. Then, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, where we met a nice man from Henan. I think it was Henan, I had a hard time understanding his mandarin because of his accent and also the fact that my mandarin is quite rusty. Jon was doing most of the talking for us. It's quite funny though because everyone would look at me when they were speaking expecting me to understand them. I got a kick out of that one. The Forbidden City was awesome, we weren't able to see some of the palaces because they were being renovated. Also, the guards kept on herding us from one section to another. We weren't quite sure why, but we didn't want to disobey the guards. I also got a kick out of seeing a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, it's kinda sad and funny at the same time. I can't seem to remember what we had for dinner. I remember meeting Liu Yu at Wangfujing and getting ice cream from TCBY. We also went to the night market and I got to see where Jon skateboarded. There was a bunch of food stands on the street, but I was too chicken to try anything. I didn't want to get an upset stomach while on vacation.
We went to the Summer Palace on the third day. The Summer Palace is lovely and very peaceful. After we were finished, we met Dai Lu for dinner at a japanese restaurant. I don't remember what the restaurant is called ...(Yixin) It had really good food and it was 50% off, 86RMB (about 12USD) for enough sushi to satisfy 3 people. Jon wanted something called Yubing after dinner and Dai Lu took us through Tsinghua campus to find the stand that sells it, but it was not there. No Yubing for Jon. Dai Lu then took us back to her place and it was the first Beijing apartment that I'd ever been in. Dai Lu is very nice and kind, her english is awesome.
The fourth day was Great Wall day. Jon and I were able to get a taxi driver to take us to Simatai, a part of the Great Wall that was restored for tourists. We decided to spend some money to get a taxi driver because it was more convenient than riding the bus and then getting a taxi in the city near Simatai. The taxi driver was a good driver, but man, was he a crazy one. I got carsick and threw up in front of the ticket booth at Simatai. Then I threw up again after we ate some lunch. I had some Pepto Bismol, which I took because I wanted to enjoy the trip. Well, I made it onto the Great Wall and threw up in one of the towers. I think it was tower number 3 maybe. Even though I threw up on this trip, it was quite amazing and I had a great time. I'm tired, but it was worth the burning calves. The views of the Great Wall were amazing and the weather was clear; blue skies with feathery clouds and a gentle breeze. I also called my mom when we got onto the Great Wall; it was pleasant to be able to share the Great Wall moment with my mom when she's half a world away. Go cell phone technology!
posted by Jon Keto at
7:21 AM
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