We got to Beijing at 8:00 pm and were immediately shocked, to say the least, with the unbelievably beautiful, pristine airport that greeted us. Margaret wanted to take a picture of the bathroom, as it was so lovely. Our pre-arranged driver from the hostel was there, despite our delay, which also made us very happy, and he drove us to the hotel following the speed limit, stopping for stoplights, signalling, even wearing his seatbelt. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven.

Our new home, The Red Lantern House, looks exactly as it sounds. Picture a hostel that looks like your downtown Chinatown restaurant complete with a koi pool, red lanterns, plum flowers, red décor and more. We were very happy, and at about five dollars per person per night, so, what else can we say but "Hello, China!!"

We weren't very tired as it was only about 8:00 pm our (India) time, although it was 10:00 pm Chinese time. So we spent about an hour checking email, etc. and playing pool. When we went to bed, we were shocked at how cold the room was, but delighted by everything else. We felt ready to take on Beijing.

November 14, 2007

We awoke to cold noses in our cold room! The only heat in our room is provided by a radiator located directly beneath a large window that lets a great deal of cold air in. Despite the cool start, we were hot to see this wonderful city. The kids pulled their pants up over their pyjama bottoms and we wore all of our warmest clothes, including our Indian scarves, now used for warmth rather than modesty.

After an excellent breakfast at the Red Lantern House and a good discussion with two Berliners and two Dutch guys about how to proceed, we were off to run some errands. The first blast of cold Chinese November air was shocking and, at the same time, exhilarating. It felt like being home. We walked through the streets, caught up in the wonderful smells of roasting chestnuts, peanuts, and sunflowers, and the aromas wafting from fresh pastry shops and Chinese restaurants. The shops were colourful and modern and full of splendid winter wear, electronics, and other merchandise. It didn't take us long to make our way to the subway and, here, too, we were surprised. The subway station was beautiful and clean, and the system was organized and easy to navigate. We took a train to the Embassy area, walked to the Vietnam Embassy, and were about to congratulate ourselves on how easily we'd gotten there, when we discovered it had just closed for lunch and wouldn't re-open for a couple of hours. Oh, well, we found out how much our visas would cost and got four application forms to fill out.

Then, rather than hang around, we caught a cab and headed to the Olympus camera service centre to get our camera repaired, only to find out that it had moved. Hmmm. What to do? Why, get the new address written in Chinese, of course! Yes, we've been here less than a day and we are already getting pretty savvy!

Next, we went for lunch. Connor and Tessa had hot dogs from DQ, but Barry and Margaret were more adventurous, opting for Chinese fast food of rice bowls with chicken, pork, and vegetables. Delicious!

After lunch, we tried to get money out of three different ATMs. It was not easy but we finally found a machine that worked. At that point, we were a little pressed for time, so we took a cab back to the embassy area. Big mistake. First, we ended up trapped in traffic with precious minutes ticking away, as the embassy closed at 4:00 pm. Once we broke through the traffic, the driver took us to a hotel in the embassy area, but blocks from where we wanted to be. To make matters worse, we were totally disoriented. At this point, it was 3:15 pm. We walked until we stumbled upon a map and a nice British couple. This got us moving in the right direction. Tessa suddenly recognized some landmarks, so we made it to the Embassy with 15 minutes to spare! Hurray!

The embassy was near the new Olympus service centre location, so we walked out to the main road and asked a guy to point out the Xin Hua building. He tried to sell us DVDs, which - yes, we can't believe it either - we bought! Ahhh! Anyway, back on track, we made our way towards the building and were approached by a calligraphy shop owner who wanted us to come to his shop. It felt strange because Beijing is ultra-modern but people were still asking us to come see their shops, exhibitions, art etc., exactly as we'd seen in Egypt, Kenya or India. We wondered if people do that in Canada as well, but we just don't see it because we're not tourists. Hmmm.

The Olympus building was brand new, gorgeous, and smart! We punched the number of the floor we wanted into a terminal and it told us which elevator to board. When we got on, it went directly to the floor we ordered! Cool!

The people at Olympus Camera were absolutely brilliant. They took a look at our camera and told us they could fix it in one hour, which is exactly how long it took. Unfortunately, even though the camera is covered by warranty, we had to pay because we didn't have the warranty documentation with us. We probably won't get this money back, either. However, the most important thing is that the camera is fixed, so life is good!

We took the subway back to our hostel neighbourhood and experienced the crush of Beijing population. Truthfully, it wasn't that bad. Everyone was very well dressed and friendly and, even though we were squished, it wasn't threatening or weird at all.

That evening, we ate an interesting meal at the hostel. Nothing we ordered from the menu was what we thought it would be, but it was all really, really good. The kids played pool and read, and Barry and Margaret spent the evening working on the laptop, checking E-mails, and reading up on the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

November 15, 2007

Our room was considerably lighter this morning when we awoke. Delighted with the sunshine, we decided that it was a great day to see the Great Wall! It was lucky it was a bright day, as the power had gone out during the night all over the neighbourhood. We skipped the all-you-can-eat breakfast (35 Yuan; about $4.50 each) since we couldn't have the egg/toast/coffee/tea part of it, and instead headed down the alley and across a very busy street to have a MacDonald's breakfast for about 18 Yuan each. We got some more cash, bought two pairs of mittens for 10 Yuan each, and bought a picnic lunch from a bakery for about 30 Yuan. We were set for the day!

It took awhile to find the #919 bus and when we did, it wasn't going to the part of the wall that we had wanted to visit. Worried, however, that we might not find exactly what we were looking for, we opted to take this bus and paid what we thought was the whole fee.

The trip wasn't the greatest. First off, the tour guide talked non-stop throughout the drive over a very loud sound system, totally in Chinese. It made it hard to enjoy the ride because of the volume and, of course, because we couldn't understand a word. When we got to the wall, we had to pay another fee, but it was low season pricing and the kids were half cost, so it wasn't so bad.

We began to walk up the steep incline of the breathtaking wall under clear blue skies and, although the temperature was only about 5 or 6 degrees, we quickly warmed up from the effort. The magnitude of this feat of engineering astounded us. We rested a few times as it was certainly a tough climb; but totally worth it, especially when we gazed back upon our progress.

When we got to the top, we ate our picnic lunch while listening to Tessa lament about how cold her feet were! On the way back down, we talked with a couple of Dutch teachers (no jobs yet) who were travelling before working. They'd been as annoyed with our "guide" as we had been but they were lots of fun. Both were from Utrecht and both were very outspoken, which made us laugh. Ah, the Dutch!

When we got to the bottom, we bought some oranges and enjoyed the fall sunshine. We were supposed to be on our way by 3:00 pm, but people were late. When we finally drove off, the tour guide immediately started up again! It was a short speech though, because we pulled into a store parking lot and everyone got out to shop!! Dried fruits, liquor, snacks, roasted birds-on-a-stick - you name it, people were buying it! We didn't want anything, but Barry and Connor went on reconnaissance anyway and found out that everyone visiting the store was given a numbered tag to redeem when they left, and suddenly guide lady's intentions made sense. The beauty of commission.

The rest of the bus trip was only marginally better than listening to the tour guide drone on in Chinese. Instead, the bus played a very bizarre video that was like the Chinese version of a Dean Martin - Jerry Lewis show. It took a long time because of the crazy rush hour traffic, but at least it was orderly (i.e., nothing like Cairo or Delhi). When we got off the bus, it took a moment to "orient" ourselves (ha, ha) but we managed to figure out the way back to our hostel. We stopped at a DQ/Yoshinoya restaurant, like the one we had eaten in the day before. This time, we all had the rice bowls, which were absolutely brilliant fast food (nothing but good stuff - cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, chicken, rice, and a delicious sauce) and then indulged in a banana split for dessert.

The Red Lantern House was still in the dark when we got home, so we huddled around a candle and the laptop for light and heat. At 7:50 pm, the power came back on so the kids played pool and we booked flights and train tickets for the next couple of legs of our China trip. Connor went to inquire about heat (as he had done the two nights before), but this time, we were given a remote to control the electric air conditioner / heater in our room. It doesn't get any better than a heated room in Beijing.

November 16, 2007

Beautiful, beautiful morning! Don't get us wrong. It's still cold, but like a frosty late-September morning, and we were thrilled to be enjoying fall weather.

We started off by grabbing some breakfast and picking up our Vietnam visas. From there, we took a very crowded subway ride to Tiananmen Square. We were delighted to see that the Beijingers agreed we were very squished, and many of them laughed over our experience.

When we got to the square, the sun was shining down and the immensity of the square was very powerful. The kids and Margaret had read about the student uprisings and subsequent violence in and around the square in 1989, but seeing this huge area in person was truly amazing. The present Tiananmen Square has an area of 440,000 square meters and has become a relaxing place for the common people to fly kites and walk. Thousands of people come to the Square every day and we could understand why it is a must-see place in Beijing. We looked around the square, noting the buildings and monuments we had read about. We walked up to the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, and took in the flag, of course. The Mao Zedong Memorial Hall was at the south side of the Square. This Hall is divided into three smaller halls and Chairman Mao's body lies in a crystal coffin in one of them, surrounded by fresh bouquets of flowers and grasses. There was a huge line-up, which we decided not to join. Another important place we took note of was the China National Museum at the east side of the Square. We wandered and gazed around, enjoying it all, even the hawkers selling hats, postcards and, of course, Olympics, Olympics, Olympics!

From the Square, we crossed the street and entered the Forbidden City - so called because it was off limits for 500 years. It was the home of two dynasties of emperors, and is now the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. The colors, details and styling of these wonderful buildings were truly amazing and we spent an enjoyable afternoon wandering through this ancient city. We even paid an additional entrance fee to view the Clock Exhibition Hall, which contains a fascinating array of timepieces, many of which were gifts to the emperors from overseas.

A quick taxi ride home (2 dollars Canadian) got us to the Red Lantern House in time to get ready for an evening Chinese acrobatics show at the Beijing Guan Yuan Theatre. At 5:15 pm, our cab driver arrived and drove us over to the theatre. The theatre was clean and beautiful and we were one of very few Westerners, although we discovered later there were lots of tourists, just not many Europeans or North Americans. The show was fast moving and fun, performed by young people with amazing strength, flexibility and showmanship. Barry got called onto the stage and did a great job spinning a basketball for the crowd - with the help of one of the performers, that is. The great part was that he got a DVD of the show, so that was pretty cool. We enjoyed the whole show and were very glad we'd gone. A couple of Chinese grandmothers took a shine to the kids, and constantly turned around to look at them. Apparently, they were amazed at their similarity and we think that they were trying to decide if they were twins.

It was tough getting a cab back, but we walked until we finally found a spot to wave down a taxi across from a hotel, and arrived home only a little frozen. We'd enjoyed our day but, tired, we looked forward to an early bedtime.

November 17, 2007

We awoke to our last morning in Beijing, realizing that we'd just touched the surface. There were still many places we would love to see. We have all agreed China is one place that demands more time. Perhaps next time, we'll go when it is a little warmer!

We decided to make the most of the time we had left, so we asked the staff at our hostel for advice on getting to the Olympic Park and the Summer Palace. They gave us great instructions for buses, so we left with high hopes.

We had no problem catching the #409 to the Olympic Park, but figuring out where to get off was a little more complicated. When we caught a glimpse of what looked like an Olympic-sized stadium, we got off and walked towards it. The grounds around the area were under construction but we went on, anyway. We weren't allowed to go everywhere, but we did get some good views of the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube Aquatics complex. It should be pretty spectacular when it's all done!

Our next stop was the Summer Palace. We wandered down the paths of this stunning park, seeing only about one-tenth of it, but getting a good understanding of why Emperors and Empresses would enjoy taking refuge here from the heat that roasted the Forbidden City. We entered the East Palace Gate and walked past the Garden of Virtue and Harmony. From there, we climbed up to the Hall of Happiness and to the Pavilion of Rich Foliage. We noted the Glazed Tiled Pagoda of Many Treasures, and from there we made our way to Suzhou Street and walked around its quaint walkways designed to mimic the famous Jiangsu canal town. Finally, we climbed up to a vantage point from which we gazed upon the Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha. We also had a great view of Kunming Lake. What a fantastic park to walk through and relax in.

Any sense of relaxation quickly disappeared when we caught the bus back home. We had a train early in the evening, so we were very time-aware. We got on board at 1:45 pm and finally reached our street at 3:00 pm! It was very slow and overcrowded, but we enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

After a quick meal, we gathered our backpacks from our hostel's storage area and headed for the Beijing West Railway station by cab to catch our train to Xi'an. When we got there, we couldn't believe the mass of people. It was absolutely packed and it is hard to understand how so many people can be processed and loaded onto their trains. We went to waiting room 11, which was bigger than any community hall we've ever been in. It was jam-packed with people sitting on chairs, on the ground, on their bags, on each other, and spilling out into the huge walkway that led to it. We joined in, sitting on our bags, and Connor and Barry went on a quest for snacks, coming back with oranges and chocolate. Mmm...

We got on the train with no problems and settled into our soft sleeper compartment and spent the night reading, playing cards and enjoying the smooth ride.