A long, long flight

Well, we managed to get packed for our trip and settled down for our pre-trip slumber at about 2:30 am. Not too excited to set my alarm for 5:30.

Coby is getting along better with Lina's cats: Nobu and Ludo. She has a very distinct "hello" for them... some might call it a hiss, but they seem to be getting along.

The flight to Beijing is 13 hours, but it's effectively about 25 hours since we left Toronto at 9:45 and arrived in Beijing at 11:10 am the next day. We both managed to sleep a bit on the flight and watched "Failure To Launch" and the end of "Match Point" which we had already seen.

The food was yummy, but we've realised that sitting at the second-last row is tough when the plane is so huge (47 rows x 8 people in economy). It takes forever for the food to arrive!

The Beijing airport is like most modern airports. Of course I was surrounded in a flurry Chinese speech but it was really no different than going to Dim Sum restaurants in Markham. Got through customs with no problem which is good since my Chinese VISA reports my name as "Joshua Ricmmond". Must be something about travelling with Tanny. When we went to Iceland my travel documents were always messed up, ranging from "Jobhua Richmond" to "Joshua Ting".

We managed to make it onto the public transit bus and then onto the subway with no problems. It was hot and hazy. A curtain of fog as far as you could see. The subway system here is very well organised. There are three lines: 1, 2 and .... 13. #2 is a loop and #1 goes East-West through the loop. Sort of like in Toronto if the Sheppard line went from Finch W to Finch.

Anyway, we got off the subway and there were some convenient signs and a map showing the location of our hotel. Easy. Just head South three blocks and turn right. Or was it five blocks? We made it two blocks and completely forgot where to turn. After heading down a sketchy looking alley for a while we decided to head back and try the next street which proved correct.

We're not staying in a very touristy area which is great. We're in what's called a hutong. Basically an area built around a lot of narrow alleys and laneways. People have their laundry hanging out in the street, you can see and smell big pigeon coups in other people's "yards", there are numerous food stalls along the street. Lots of bike traffic here, though not the huge jam of bikes I saw pictures of when I was a kid. Still, it's a major mode of transportation. There are delivery bikes with wagons attached, people riding on pannier racks, bikes pulling rickshaws and all without a single helmet. Bikes, cars and pedestrians jostle with one another on the streets. There may be pedestrian crosswalk markings, but there are no lights. You just weave in and out of cars and bikes and hope you don't get hit. Cars just honk at you and the bikes and the other cars. In the hutong alleys there is only enough room for one car. Again, it's up to the pedestrians to stay out of their way.

Our hotel is very touristy but not very full. It's an old estate of some government official and has a beautiful courtyard garden. We've seen a few Chinese tourists here but it's mostly non-Chinese. Our room is very nice and decorated like an old room (plus a TV and A/C).

After we dropped off our back packs we set out to see the Drum and Bell towers which are only a few minutes from here. These are towers that used to announce the time to the Beijing people. Normally you get a good view of the hutong but it was still pretty foggy. Unfortunately it was clear to see that much of the hutong is being torn down by sledgehammer and shovel. Probably to make way for more modern buildings.

After walking around the Drum tower and watching their drum show we set out further into Beijing to get some food. We thought we had a plan.. looking for a dumpling restaurant that wasn't too far away but ended up being on the wrong side of the street. We still found a clean-looking restaurant and ate our fill of noodles and pork buns. Poor Tanny gets all the attention from the servers at restaurants since they assume she speaks Mandarin (which she does not). Luckily she can read some Mandarin.

On the way home we saw a huge line up at a Chinese bakery. Tanny bought a huge bag of some pastry and two peanut-shortbread cookies for about $1. The girl at the counter gave me a couple of free samples too. Mmmm..... cookies.....

We had grand plans for the rest of the night but got back to the hotel and fell asleep around 6 pm.