Guangming Bridge Hostel Beijing

... drohen. Hehe ach wie nett, kommst nach Beijing und etwas vom ersten was du tust ist mit der Polizei zu drohen... gut hab ich dann auch gemacht und nach etwas zähen Verhandlungen doch tatsächlich 70 Prozent des Geldes in Bar! zurückbekommen. Waren nicht mal Blüten :) Dass war also mein erster Eindruck von China. Ich war dumm und selbst schuld, aber hab immerhin wieder mal was gelernt! Bin ja nicht nachtragend und solches Zeug kann überall passieren wo dumme, naive ...

... streets are small, winding and bustling with activity, but lack the modernity of even Bangkok. The general feel and smells are the same as the other countries I have visited over this way; a mix of dust, markets, street sellers and hot bodies. But there seems to be a distinct lack of traditional Chinese architecture. I assume everything was demolished during the Cultural Revolution.

We fly to Lanzhou tomorrow at midday, so will be leaving Beijing behind until ...

... sites as that was where they are headed to tomorrow. We told them about our travels and where we were off to. They were quite impressed. We took pictures of them and they took pictures of us and off we went. As we passed the children they all said 'hello, how are you' and we would answer them back and then ask their name and say our names and then say we are from Canada. Len tried to get some of them to say 'howdy', but they didn't understand that and ...

... five steps to the toilets a woman had a child going to the toilet outside on the footpath! I will however miss the cheap taxi's! The minimum fare is a euro and apart from being ripped off in Shanghai getting to our hotel from the airport the most we have paid for a taxi was seven euro! Not bad considering we were in it for over half an hour! Next stop is Hong Kong, we have a twenty five hour train journey to get there so it's not as great as I make out! Still I prefer the train to working! :-)

... sold it for, but it was so much less than what I would expect to pay in America that I am happy with the results. [P.S. I found my missing earring, so all is well! 6/24/08] More observations: City planning: Beijing has a terrible case of sprawl. There are at least 10 ring roads that circle the city, but there is no clear downtown area. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are in the middle, but of course it's not a conventional skyscaper ...

... area. I was hardly bothered by people trying to sell me things because they were so stunned that when I stopped to take an occasional photograph they could not react in time to give me their sales pitch. At the Northwest corner of the Forbidden City, I entered the hutong area. Let me tell you that, as expected, the area shows the hundreds of years of human habitation. There was a lot of dilapidated brick buildings and trash everywhere, but ...

... such as not being allowed to turn over a letter and pretend it is a blank did not apply. I am happy to say that Danielle and I won AND we were the only team that did not cheat or use made-up words. God how boring! Oh no. And look at that. It is too dark to see the temple now..... I shall leave you to wonder how a guitar-playing Pakistani Christian pilot singing Elton John's greatest hits on the sixth floor prevented me from seeing the Lama Temple until next time....

... at the time, I felt my videotape might be confiscated and caught a cab and headed to a famous electronics mega mall here called, "Buy Now." There I was able to purchase a webcam which we will late use to "Skype" our families back home. Chinese food is great, but we are really missing Western food. Monte has a hankering for a real western hamburger and finds one on the menu at a restaurant. Afterwards, Monte still has a hankering for a real western hamburger.

... huge in scale. They say things are big in Texas, but they haven't been to Beijing yet. I definitely had my own personal space there. Over the next few days, I will upload some of the pictures I took on the trip. But in the meantime, here's a few to tie you over. Only 7 days left.

had a v civilised breakfast in our room or tea and raisin/coconut bready things we'd bought last night. off to the bus for a three hour trip to the great wall. crazy driving as ever. ooh - even more civilised was that C and i filled our mugs with more tea for the trip! managed to drink it on the way without throwing it over ourselves which, considering the driving, was a result ...