Day 1 – Traveling to Beijing
10/08/2009 05:47:00 AM
What a trip! Eleven and half hours flying over the Pacific, Alaska and Northern Asia and close to 16 hours in airports and flying domestically in the U.S. THAT’s exhausting! I don’t know how Sean did it but he slept just about the entire trip. Tricia dozed on and off on the Beijing leg and I got about 2 hours total here and there. But we made it!
Got to the hotel and checked in with our guides (more to come about them) around 8:00 and everyone hit the sack for a good rest. After sleeping for several hours Tricia and I ended up getting restless (no exercise in the past 36 hours!) at 4:30. Up and put on the running cloths and hit the bricks. We had no idea where we were going, but we stayed on the major roads. No real activity that early in the morning even in Beijing.
As we slowly jogged down Chang An (Ever Lasting Peace Street) we came upon the first street vendor of the day cooking breakfast on his bike. Tricia told me to bring some money but I ignored her. If we had money I would have stopped to get whatever he had cooking. It smelled SOOOO good! As we headed along in our ignorant bliss, we failed to realize what street we were jogging along. The buildings along our chosen path were more grandiose and guards started to appear.
As it turned out, our morning path was taking us into Tiananmen Square. The National Day’s celebration is still happening and according to Wang (our national guide); the government has authorized the celebration to continue until October 11th. Things were roped and guarded, so we decided to head back to the hotel to shower and grab breakfast. With only one wrong turn and a short diversion we made it back with plenty of time to get ready for the day.
Breakfast brought 1000 year old eggs, dim sum dumplings and fruit (there was other traditional or good imitations of traditional American fare, but heck we are in China!) Sean and I split the 1000 year old egg and I was NOT going to share the dim sum dumplings and real pot stickers! I’m sure there will be more food experiences for me to share and photograph. Stay tuned!
My 6 week crash course in Mandarin has not been tested yet and honestly I don’t think it will. Everyone speaks English well and so far communication has been easy (now remember we are on a guided tour – LOL). I plan on completely embarrassing myself and Tricia in the process with my attempts to communicate in Mandarin. Here we go …. !!!
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Got to the hotel and checked in with our guides (more to come about them) around 8:00 and everyone hit the sack for a good rest. After sleeping for several hours Tricia and I ended up getting restless (no exercise in the past 36 hours!) at 4:30. Up and put on the running cloths and hit the bricks. We had no idea where we were going, but we stayed on the major roads. No real activity that early in the morning even in Beijing.
As we slowly jogged down Chang An (Ever Lasting Peace Street) we came upon the first street vendor of the day cooking breakfast on his bike. Tricia told me to bring some money but I ignored her. If we had money I would have stopped to get whatever he had cooking. It smelled SOOOO good! As we headed along in our ignorant bliss, we failed to realize what street we were jogging along. The buildings along our chosen path were more grandiose and guards started to appear.
As it turned out, our morning path was taking us into Tiananmen Square. The National Day’s celebration is still happening and according to Wang (our national guide); the government has authorized the celebration to continue until October 11th. Things were roped and guarded, so we decided to head back to the hotel to shower and grab breakfast. With only one wrong turn and a short diversion we made it back with plenty of time to get ready for the day.
Breakfast brought 1000 year old eggs, dim sum dumplings and fruit (there was other traditional or good imitations of traditional American fare, but heck we are in China!) Sean and I split the 1000 year old egg and I was NOT going to share the dim sum dumplings and real pot stickers! I’m sure there will be more food experiences for me to share and photograph. Stay tuned!
My 6 week crash course in Mandarin has not been tested yet and honestly I don’t think it will. Everyone speaks English well and so far communication has been easy (now remember we are on a guided tour – LOL). I plan on completely embarrassing myself and Tricia in the process with my attempts to communicate in Mandarin. Here we go …. !!!
Sour dough bread in San Francisco Airport - Dinner
Transportation to China
The 6 hour layover wait
Finally! Beijing Airport
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