Beijing Jiangxi Grand Hotel

... to bully him into coming to the Tibetan restaurant. I made my way to his side of town, on a Sunday. Being with Americans again was a bit of a shock. Having doors opened for me again by men, going to an Italian restaurant… eating with a fork… its all so surreal. But in all honesty- the worst of all was trying to eat the pasta with a fork. (I had to fight back the urge to request chopsticks, or eat in the Chinese manner of grasping the bowl and tilting the bowl/slurping your ...

... at the hotel. <br><br>We went to another Peking Duck restaurant tonight: Quan Ju De Restaurant. We met with Victor and Carol at around 4:30pm in our hotel lobby to take us to there. Carol's mother tongue is Mandarin and she was the one who ordered our food. It was quite nice to have someone communicate with the staff what we wanted. Colin and I were finally able to relax during this last meal in Beijing.<br><br>We ordered a whole ...

... liked it) and some Chinese movie. We arrived in San Fransisco about 12pm on Saturday 6/13.<br><br>Jake's parents picked us up from the San Fransisco airport and we spent the day at their house, as our flight from San Fransisco to San Diego did not leave until 8:30pm Saturday 6/13. We showed his parents our pictures and told them all about our trip. They showed us their pictures of their recent trip to ...

... into bed wishing for any type of relief from my flu! And after an evening of chatting with group of super friendly people i was lucky enough to meet in china i was ready for a bag packing session and a sleep. So the next day i headed back to the airport, managed to bag a seat with extra legroom and sat there watching films and films and drinking so much orange juice it wasn't true. I didn't sleep a wink the whole 11 hours cause i could'nt stop sneezing and was soon back in dear old ...

... of the new and the old with quaint old-style houses and shops still sitting amongst modern office type buildings; the contrast of our shoes being locked in lockers when we took them off at the restaurant, the cars parked securely in carparks and the bikes and scooters left randomly on the pavement or road - unlocked; signage displayed a lot of English language as well as Japanese. Osaka is a very modern city whereas Kyoto still has a lot of Traditional buildings and cultural ...

... triangle situation. It's ridiculous and people basically just watch it to laugh at how weird and absurd it is. I guess you have to see it to get what we're making fun of...but I think the movie was funny even if you hadn't seen it (though you may not get the midget part at the end...that was put in soley because there was a midget in R. Kelly's verison). Anyways, we tweeked the story a little (or maybe a lot, to be honest I've never seen more than two parts of ...

... was a shame, but it was very bloody cold - just go back the way you came, cross the road you got off the bus at, and walk under the underpass. The stop is right there. And if you want to head back to Qianmen, don't get off at the stop you started from (ie, where you changed from bus 6 to bus 339). Take the bus one stop further, hop off and get on the special number 7 bus. It goes to Qianmen, which is where we were staying.

... from Hangzhou and Taiwan know that the fun in having your hair washed in China isn't the washing itself, but the ½ hour head, neck, shoulder, and back massage that comes with it. In Beijing, this wonderful, relaxing pleasure costs 10RMB/$1.50. Yes, my favorite thing about the Chinese is that they consider massage to be a universal human right. It was the perfect end to a very nice and fun weekend...even if I didn't get to go to Qingdao.

... by it beyond the fact that it's Beijing, so I'm excited to see some of the sights tomorrow and of course the Great Wall. The Great Wall. Wait, as the reality of it sinks in. So off to bed I go, because when I wake up tomorrow, it will be time to go there. (Okay, maybe not, considering it's now September and I'm back in Lake Forest...please forgive the tense confusion, as some of this was written soon after China, and some in the months after coming home. Thanks!!)