Jade International Youth Hotel Beijing

We're in Beijing! Yay! The whole arrival thing went smoothly and was relatively painless! Upon leaving the airport, we shuffled into the taxi line, loaded into our assigned taxi, and enjoyed the uneventful ride into Beijing. Our taxi driver did have trouble finding our hostel, as it is down a tiny alley, but its location is fantastic! It's walking distance to the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square, the night market, and for the more conventional, there is a convenience store around the corner...

Tonight we visited the famous Night Market and indulged in overpriced food on a stick. Everyone has to visit, even if you don't plan on eating scorpion on a stick, which we did. I found it dry and crunchy, with no real taste. I followed it up with squid tentacle on a stick...it was really good. My favorite was a drink that they dropped a chunk of dry ice into, so it looked like it was smoking. I couldn't resist getting one. As we were walking around, we saw a film crew filming what I can only...

Today we visited the Great Wall! We went to Badaling, the most restored section and the easiest to get to. We booked a tour through our hostel, so of course we didn't just visit the Great Wall. The tour also included a Ming Tomb, lunch, and a lovely jade store.

And the day began with lots and lots of rain. We visit the Ming Tomb first. I hadn't packed anything waterproof, so I was completely unprepared for the rain, but Chris let me wear his waterproof jacket. He bought a plastic bag...

Today we took on Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City...it was an impressive day! As we were walking from the hostel, we wonder through the park next to the Forbidden City, and encountered our first "art student." She would be the first of many, and I can't thank various guidebooks enough about writing about this scam (I studied art history and would of been easily suckered into this!). The girl was pleasant, and we talked about American TV and studying English, until we reached our exit of...

what up?! OK so we left you the last time with us being really lost and stuff.That hasn't changed a whole lot but we are managing a bit better.I was telling you of how we'd heard rumors of Tiesto the best DJ in the world (hes dutch for those who don't know) was playing in a place called the banana club in a hotel only a few Min's away from our hostel. well we got tickets and he played the bloody roof off the place! 3796people in a night club with the best sound system I've heard since club Ra...

The train ride went perfectly. We arrived at 6 in the morning with no plans or reservations. We figured we'd find an internet cafe, look up a hostel, and get a room. Sounds simple. And it was. It happened exactly like that, with no hassle or unnecessary expense. We're getting around Beijing like we've been here for weeks. On hostelbookers.com I found a place called the Jade International Youth Hostel for a little over 6 bucks a night. It's right next to the Forbidden City and Tienamen Square....

Upon ent**ing the dragon, we w**e set upon by efficient predators, taxi touts who rushed us at the arrivals gate. Alighting a cab outside the Beijing Int**national Youth Hostel directly opposite the train station, we completely missed a pale looking Montagni who was patiently waiting our arrival. With the tearful reunion out the way, we set up our bags in his lavish room, nev** ones to turn down no-cost comfort. Nick had joined us for the final leg of our gargantuan expedition having finished...

Wow, is all I can say about Beijing. I arrived around 8am on the 28th of June 2006 and was totally awe struck by the size of everything. I've never seen so many massive buildings, cars or people. It is just huge. Found my hostel, the "City Central International Youth Hostel" which didn't quite live up to its name. Not exactly 'central', but it was clean and had no cockroaches so i was happy. Got chatting to some American bloke who allowed me to tag along to breakfast with him and his friends....

PHOTOS HAVE BEEN ADDED Greetings from Beijing. Or rather greetings from the Beijing Jade International Youth Hostel, where we have stayed for 3 nights and will stay for 1 more. It is the longest we've stayed in the same hotel or hostel since we left the States over a month ago. Man, traveling can be exhausting. So we've done a bunch in the past four days. We went to the Great Wall...twice. I guess I haven't updated the blog for a couple days because I knew this would be a long one... So on Th...

Caught the night train to Beijing, unfortunately we booked the train late and only managed to get on a soft seater which for 11 and half hour train ride is not the most comfortable way to travel. arrived in beijing and about 7am so just ended up sleeping at the hostel which was really more like hotel, for a good part of the day. Anyway, after resting we decided to go the night market which was quite an experience, every single type of meat that you could possibly think to put on a kebab stick...