1hai Inn Beijing

... to buy something, or rather not buy something from someone intent on selling it to me. In any case, I could live four months in this little room for less than $500. I was enchanted with the idea.

Luckily, Lynn was not. (My friend from the hostile) She insisted on seeing another place that one of her friends is currently living at. The apartment is a one bedroom, one bathroom, furnished, and has a kitchen. It is located in the hutong, but the building has recently been ...

... the staff were friendly, it was just what I needed after the long flight and no sleep. Well worth all the hassle and chaos. The staff showed me my room and gave me a suggested itinerary fo visiting. They wanted paying for the stay but I had no cash so they let me off.

For some daft reason I figured it'd be a good idea to just head out and explore on a bit of a recce. No map, no guidebook, no food, no sleep, and -5 degrees. In heindsight not a good idea. I felt a ...

... the tube station to the stadiums and so by the time we got back it was getting quite late. We stopped in at Wumart, the local supermarket, to stock up on provisions for the train tomorrow and then we got the tube back to the area near our hostel. We intended to go to a famous duck restaurant for dinner but it turned out to be closed for refurbishment, so instead we found a nice Thai/Indian restaurant, which incidentally was better for vegetarians! On the way back to the ...

... I was looking for a legitimate massage to soothe my aching muscles, I came across an ad that made me laugh. This ad tried so hard to look legit, until you get to the services offered at the end. Needless to say, I didn't make the call. She wanted 200Y/hour. LOL My services are provided right in your Beijing hotel or private room. Be Sure With The Quality Of my Services.... Thai Massage Full Body Massage Oil Massage and... The Special Full Happy Massage

... that are changing...if you go into the shops and keeping walking back through the maze of rooms (similar to what we saw in Bali), you come into decrepit living conditions. But it was still interesting to us and also to Tanti and her friends as they had not been there yet either. They took us on one of the Beijing subway routes to the place we had lunch.It was a wonderful dim sum restaurant that I described as chaotic but so fun. Okay, remember how we ate scorpions ...

... and tv shows oh its does super well here. i swear the more expensive the store is, the more people WANT to shop there cause everyone wants to wear the famous brand. anyway, i miss all my friends in america but i am LIVING a life here i thought i couldn't. i am do not depend on my parents as much as living with them infact im not depending on anyone as much as i use to, and i really like being independent.

We began our day by taking two taxis through very heavy traffic to Tiananmen Square - we stood outside the taxis hugging each other so that the drivers would know that we needed to end the trip together and so they would stay within sight of each other. Upon arrival, we were immediately met by a welcome committee of hawkers. Speaking of this: the Melinda and Melody were the Most Valuable Bargainers. It is hard to know how far down to ...

So, here I am in China. The plane ride was much better than expected because I sat in a two seat row with no one next to me and spread myself out. I slept a lot too. We to Shanghai today and it took a long time to get here from the airport because there is so much traffic and so many people! It is very Western in a lot of ways, there are so many KFCs and McDonalds and English is everywhere. It is the nicest hotel either one of us have ever stayed in, it is a five star hotel that ...

... comes. Friday we had a very ginger start (well, at least Jordan and I did - a few beers here, a few beers there, hanging out with the great crew of people who are here, and somehow it's 4 am!) So we rolled out of bed at 6, after 2 hours of strangely inadequate sleep, and headed off with Ma & Pa to check out the Forbidden City. The former palace (and indeed hidden realm) of the Emperors, it is the most austere and imposing place. The grandeur and scale of the City is awesome ...