Jingyu Hotel Beijing

... from one side of the room to the other, turned a few circles and flicked my hair. Then, wonderously, a woman appeared in the window and placed a little Chinese sign beside her. I ran over and ignored the incomprhensible sign.
"One soft sleeper ticket to Shanghai on the next night train please"
"You want tomorrow?"
"...T-t-tomorrow?"
"Ye ah, you want?"
"...Why yes, that will do very nicely thank you!"
It was a rather exorbitant fee, but I was so glad not to ...

... It was absolutely beautiful. We went to the silk market that evening. (another bartering place). We also got to go see where the olympics were held. 
The time in Beijing blends in together quite a bit so I'm not certain exactly on what days I did somethings. I know one night a group of us took the subway system and ate at a pretty good dinner place downtown. Twice Erica, Amritha, Vivian and I ate at this cute little restaurant down from our hotel. The ...

... choosing a lunch for myself, either. Or to be precise, PingPing had no problems choosing a lunch for me as, not entirely unexpectedly, the English section of the menu had fallen by the wayside and no one in sight had any clue any more as to where it could be found. But at least every dish in the menu was accompanied with a photo, so eventually I did have some say in what would end up on my plate. Having eaten and had some rest, we thought we were now ready to move on. Shoulder to ...

... com.cn/china/2008 -11/18/content_7216714.htm Some interesting comments arose on the China Daily website in response to the survey, including this one: I note that all of this occured over a period of time when Chinese were crying and babbling like babies about western media bias and portayal of China...many suggesting there was a western conspiracy to suppress China and YET, the respondents in this survey suggested that they took their information from that same media ...

... brakes to yield. Not here. Not ever. You are crossing an 8 lane street to begin with, and basically, you NEVER have the right of way. That green walk signal? Doesn't mean a thing here. Even if you have the signal to go...you can't be assured it is all clear. Apparently, there is a signal for cars to turn into you at the exact same time ...

... barracks are provided by the employer. When the job finishes, the employer tears down the barracks (again in preparation for the Olympics) and the employees are forced to move on. So when Olympics construction is over and thousands of construction workers are left jobless and homeless in Beijing, what does the government plan to do? Remove them, preferably using incentives, but forcibly, if necessary. The government can't have migrant workers cluttering the streets and sidewalks ...

... is left even sadder and poorer, as they say. I say I'm busy, and she says, "...okay, let's get a coffee then." Is she really coming on to me, or is she setting me up to filling out a police report involving a missing wallet and passport? Either way, I could be in real trouble. I say that I don't drink coffee, which is true, and she counters with tea, and I decline and she smiles and says, "okay, nice to meet you, I go shopping now..." She then waves ...

... knew we plunged head first into the frenzy. Qings told us to stay firm when bargaining - 10% of the asking price and not a yuan more. She told us the shopkeepers hate seeing her guide tourists through. She gets verbally abused for revealing what we should really pay, so she stayed out of sight when we haggled. I got a pair of Diesel shoes for 70Y (~$10) down from 600Y and Elle got a leather Prada handbag for 80Y (down from 850Y), amongst other things. It was absolutely chaotic ...

After a night sleeping on the train, I woke up at 9.15 when we arrived at the station. We got off the train and split into our activity groups to travel to the hotel. We travelled on the subway and when we arrived at out hotel we were given our keys and we headed up to our rooms. I am in room 1325 with Lisa and Yvonne. We quickly packed our daypacks before meeting in the foyer. Our first stop today was the zoo. We went down to the subway and travelled 11 stops on ...

... beautiful, coming over the mountains. we decided to head back around 10. we ate lunch at a local restraunt where you could catch and beat your fish that you were going to eat. it was a tradition because it was some festival. we were going to take the bus back but a farmer offered to take us back with him for 200 rmb. we grabbed some beers and a small puppy and headed back to beijing. after several beer stops and bathroom breaks we made it back. great time.