Swissotel Beijing

Garden Stone Fountain
Garden Stone Fountain Zen fountains are said to create a feeling of well being and peace. The stones are one of the most important elements of a Zen water fountain. The mineral composition of the stones and how they are placed are important elements in the ancient philosophy of Zen. Some fountains are carved completely out ...

... wanted to see the spot where my friend Ilana won a bronze medal! After the park I visited another of the big markets… the Yarrow Market where I purchased a ‘genuine’ Rolex watch for my wonderful husband! From there I leisurely wandered back to the hostel on foot.

As I rode in the taxi to the airport that afternoon I had mixed feelings about leaving China… I had had 2 really good final days in Beijing… it was like when you make a hair ...

... hutongs disappearing over the past three years. But that's progress I guess and its impossible to revert to the old. So, what has happened over the past couple of months? Nothing much, really. I hibernated over the Beijing winter, which saw me watching a handful of movies and reading lots of BJ magazines, and some books such as "Walden", "The Piano Teacher", and "The Last Eunuch of China - Life of Sun Yaoting," who told many stories of his life with Puyi to close ...

... an entertaining film, yet not too violent. 4) The Shaolin Temple, 1982 Directed by Chang Hsin-Yen and starring Jet Li. This is Jet Li's first film. Jet Li was the all-round Kung Fu champion (martial arts) at that time (about 1982). Thus want to see the real thing, see Jet Li in this movie. 5) Snake in the Monkey's Shadow, 1982 Directed by Sum Cheung and starring John Chang. The best Kung Fu movie on the monkey style, snake style, and drunken ...

... Chicken Sandwich, Cheeseburger. Finally, it was packed and delicious. American fast food, especially KFC, is seen as upper class and generally more expensive than Chinese food. So, despite my misgivings, I enjoyed my Chinese McDonald's experience thoroughly. After the fast food fill-up, we walked around, checking out the sites. Olympic Park is a huge pedestrian area with all sorts of great buildings to look at. We did some bird flapping in front of the Bird's ...

... Businessmen who travel here every month are suddenly barred. Some tourists who have bought Olympics tickets cannot get in. Scores of four- and five-star hotels built to host hundreds of thousands of guests for China's coming-out party are less than half-full and look like staying that way. Excluding foreigners from the Olympics is a personal innovation of the security chief, Zhou Yongkang. Nobody beneath him, it seems, can get a clear answer about what exactly he is trying to ...

OK, almost one month completed here in Biejing, and all's quiet on the far eastern front. Shall we start with academics? Progress is quick, although my class has varying levels of experience and aptitude which at times makes the process seem painfully slow. That combined with the fact that whenever I ask a question, I always seem to get an answer from this one guy in the class. Have I shared with any of you my opinion of discussion based ...

... Then me and another girl who had been on the wall trip decided to go and see the Beijing Acrobatics show. Was REALLY great, although I was on the edge of my seat with nerves the whole time!! Really amazing what these people can do! 9th November Met up with a few others to go for breakfast then spent the day relaxing and organiing myself for moving on from Beijing tonight. Having been here for 5nights, I've pretty much settled in so needed to get ...

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyule and engage in uncoventional living. Chris McCandless, in a letter to Ronald Franz, from Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ...

Traveling from Hanoi to Kunming traveled for close to 24 hrs from Hanoi to KM. took a 9.5 hr train ride from Hanoi to Lao Cai. then crossed the Viet-China border by foot. followed by 11 hr bus ride from He Kou to KM. my bums were really sore from sitting down so long. luckily, i had some nice company in the form of a Jap student who sat beside me on the bus. he's called song tian (chinese translation) and is doing ...