Cinderella Apartment Beijing

... example. Who knows what BS we’re going to encounter in Shanghai. This has Cub worried because the second time we visit Shanghai, we have to go directly from the ship to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong and the timing could be crucial…. We’ll see.



We did get to ride in a very modern bus; however, the trip from the ship to Beijing was about 3 hours. We did stop for a potty ...

... bus so I decide to shimmy and bump my way back to an upright position. The bus takes off again, and as the bodies sway from one side to another in unison, I realize we are taking a winding mountain road. I sigh. The ride cannot possibly be much longer for me. Luckily, it was a cool day and with the windows open, the lot of us crammed into the aisles of this bus, were able to gulp some of the cooling air to make the whole experience bearable. Two elderly men sitting near the ...

... Yunnan food at the Middle 8th restaurant in Sanlitun. Excellent food presentation and taste, especially the Yunnan rice wine served in bamboo trunks. On May 28th, we got a day off as China celebrated The Dragon Boat Festival or Duanwu Festival. This is the time to see dragon boat racing, if you are in the south of China, and it lots of zongzi, sticky rice dumpling with a variety of fillings from pork, to shrimp to dates and bean past. Yummy!!! The best-known traditional story ...

... had blundered and given the faltering Free Tibet campaign a huge publicity boost. Ms McKeown spent Friday, Saturday and much of Sunday walking up and down the cell, playing cards and sipping water from her small bottle. Late on Sunday afternoon, the police said they would deport her. But first, she had to buy a plane ticket for £1,400 (Dh9,330). "They had a machine and I gave them my credit card. I also bought a ticket for one of the guys." There was a surreal twist at the airport ...

... I was on vacation!) I expected more difficulty. I think it helped that the agent obviously spoke absolutely no English at all. Too much trouble to raise any concerns with my visa I suppose. Works for me. In America at airports you see men in uniform with big guns. Often though, they're looking relaxed leaning against walls, chatting with each other or generally looking casual. It's often not very intimidating. In ...

... soldiers parking cars. The game itself was great. We sat in the left field bleachers. The tickets cost 80RMB ($11) a piece. There was a crowd of 12,000 people, and by my estimate, it was about 1/3 foreigners, 2/3 Chinese. They started the game off with the American national anthem and flew the American flag. The Chinese flag flapped next to it. Someone shouted "Playball!" over the loudspeaker. Other announcements were made in English and Chinese. They had ...

... it was in fact open for business. I went in, got in what I hoped was the right queue, got a man insisting I write down my "reference" (he meant amount), charged the card, randomly gave me Y2.84 change and sent me on my way. Relieved, I went home, stuck the card in the slot, the numbers changed... and nothing happened. No lights, no nothing came on. Another sigh-laugh and I called my friend to ask if there was something else I needed to do. One didn't answer ...

... sided courtyard house which is super duper clean. The only bad part is the bad plumbing in the old city meaning every time we lift the toilet seat, the whole room smells like rotting cabbage mixed with poo. Lovely. Le Great Wall demain. Trying the Mutianyu section this time, instead of the touristique Badaling. Still haven't tried that famous Chinese foot massage even though I reaaaallly need one!

... Jianhua). Deze hebben ook hun eigen kantoortje, maar dat staat weer in directe verbinding met hun "onderdanen", waar wij ook deel van uitmaken. Vervolgens zijn er nog de financiële afdeling en de gidsen (reception and logistics zoals zij het noemen) afdeling. Wij hebben het meest contact met vier dames (net afgestuurd van de Uni) die voor David en Frank werken. We zitten ook in dezelfde ruimte. De lunch nuttigen we ook altijd gezamenlijk. Vorig jaar hebben ...

... decide this grass planting effort is a government sponsored employment project. Or prison detail, I don't know, but it doesn't seem that they are accomplishing much. I am staying in a residential alleyway known as a huotong, where people hang outside their houses and just check out who's passing by. When I come along, large and white with red hair and big boots (too big for my pack) I get a lot of stares and many smiles, especially from the ...