Well, I met my contact and picked up the phones on the way, and have everything I need in theory. Saying good-bye to Chris in Chicago felt so strange. He kept reminding me that I was only going to be gone for about 48 hours (including 26 hours on planes), so all I should need was the phones, my passport, a way to pay for food and a way to co...

After a breakfast meeting to hand off the phones, I go off to explore the city. The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are only a short subway ride away from the Wanfujing station, so I cram in with the morning commuters to people watch on my way there. I wanted to go to the Chinese National Museum, which is also right there, but it is clos...

This morning I got a super early start. Well, every day. I was sleeping from about 8PM to 4AM each day, as I never adjusted to the time change. Had a great call with Chris (hooray for Skype and webcams!) and got up to go exploring a little more before I have to rush off to the airport. Breakfast buffet in the hotel, followed by a subway tr...

I took a bus tour, booked through the hotel, with eight other English-speaking people, plus our Chinese guide "Mike." There were three Canadians, three Australians, and a couple from the UK, and me. We traveled about an hour outside Beijing to Huai Zou to visit a jade factory and see the Ming Dynasty tombs. There wasn't too much to see on t...

I am SICK and IT SUCKS - lol yea well I didn't go to the WALL but I've been there 2 years ago and everyone said that it was really crowded anyway -yea going to the wall on a national holiday probably isn't the best idea - anyway I'm in bed taking medications, eating honey and lemon - I knew I would get sick - probably because of my low a...

this is the EEEEENNNNDDDD OMG it all happened soooo fast, seems like three days, but full of experience, hanging out, laughing, teasing Justin. It's great - I made some new friends - got to know people from Uni in a different light ... argh well, I felt much better after a day of recovery - I was back on track - and went to the "hutongs" t...