Hilton Beijing Wangfujing

We got up early today and took another bullet train to the Kansai Airport in Osaka. The airport is an island that the Japanese built. We checked our luggage and boarded a plane to Beijing China. Now we're in Beijing. As soon as the plane starts to descend we realize it's cloudy or is that the pollution people talk about? We step off the plane and the air smells like a fire is in the air. Is it? Hummmmmm.....no. We grab our bags and head outdoors. The air is thick and to top it off everyone is...

OK- So I will be updating this day while Virginia rests from our adventure yesterday ;) The night we got here we were having some snacks and drinks upstairs and we met two couples from La Jolla CA who had just come from Shanghai. They were really nice and after talking with them for a while they invited us to share a guide and go to the Great Wall with them. It was really perfect they had wanted to go to the same section of the wall as us and they were all really nice so we all met up in the ...

This morning didn't go exactly as planned. At 8:30 we heard a knock on our door and it woke us. By the time John got to the door no one was there. It was probably Jeff or Andrea b/c we thought we'd go with them to the Forbidden City and Silk Market today, but with the late night we had we crawled back into bed. Around 9:30 we went up for breakfast. I devoured a bunch and went back to bed leaving John in the lounge to finish his meal. Around noon I got a hand up on my hangover so we ventured o...

It's our last day in Beijing and can I say LET THE SHOPPING BEGIN! We haven't done much shopping here just alot of sightseeing. Today we went to the silk market with Jeff and Andrea hoping to find some great deals on silk, pearls and knockoffs. We were told what to expect with the negotiating and haggling but we didn't realize what we were in for. We take a cab to the market and as soon as we walk in the level of sound is through the roof. There are walls and isles of stalls, 6 floors of them...

Laura and John arrived in Beijing this afternoon, jet lagged but well-fed after 15 hours in Continental business class. John prepped for the trip by furiously cramming last minute Chinese phrases while watching Beijing Bicycle, a heart-warming Chinese indie movie about a dude trying to track down his stolen bicycle who gets the **** beaten out of him over and over (and over!) again. With luck, our visit to China will involve significantly less beatings. Ideally, none! We met up for dinner wit...

Hello from Beijing! I endured the 18 hour flight from Chicago to San Fransico and San Fransico to Beijing. I slept nearly the entire flight thanks to my NYE partying with friends in Chicago. I did, however, stay awake to watch the Sex & The City movie. (What can I say? I got "Carried Away.") On my way to the hotel, I passed a store called Kappa. Shout out to the Kappas- lol! Upon my arrival, I met two of my classmates in the hotel lobby. They were on their way to the Night Market so I wen...

Pagi ini kami tinggalkan kota Tunxi menuju Hangzhou airport untuk melanjutkan penerbangan menuju Beijing. Siang hari kami tiba di Beijing, Anda akan dijemput dan langsung diajak mengunjungi  Summer Palace yaitu Istana Musim Panas yang diperuntukkan bagi keluarga Kaisar. Malam hari ini kami akan diajak menyaksikan pertunjukkan acrobat yang sangat termasyur di dunia.

Hari ini kami diajak menyaksikan salah satu dari 7 keajaiban dunia, Great Wall yang merupakan maha karya yang membentang sepanjang kurang lebih 6.700 km dan membelah 5 propinsi di China mulai dari Jiayuguan hingga Shanhaiguan. Tembok besar ini adalah salah satu bangunan yang terlihat astronot ketika mereka mengambil pemandangan kearah bumi dari bulan. Selanjutnya mengunjungi Temple of Heaven, yaitu tempat Kaisar melaksanakan upacara keagamaan dan mengucapkan puji syukur atas sandang pangan ya...

Acara tour kami hari ini yaitu mengunjungi Lapangan Tian An Men, Mao Tze Dong Memorial Hall (bila memungkinkan) dan melihat sisa peninggalan jaman Imperialisme di Forbidden City yang terletak dibagian selatan kota Beijing yang pada jaman dahulu dipakai sebagai tempat tinggal 24 Kaisar di jaman Dynasti Ming & Qing. Tak ketinggalan pula, kami akan diajak mengunjungi Olympic Stadium yang dikenal dengan sebutan BIRD NEST. Disini kami dapat melihat dari dekat stadium bekas Olimpiade 2008 dan j...