Qianmen Jingshun Hotel (Second) Beijing

... DONC JAI PASSE LE RESTE DE LA SOIREE A DANSER AVEC DES DIZAINES DE FILLES DONT UNE BRITANNIQUE PARTICULIEREMENT INTERESSEE PAR MOI ET YAY UNE QUEBECOISE ET UNE AUTRE QUI ESSAYAIT DE DISCUTER MAIS C"EST PAS POSSIBLE DANS UN CLUB A CE POINT LA JE SAIS PU OU EST LA BOUTEILLE DE DRINK ON L"A TU FINIE ???? OK DONC CA MAL FINI UN PEU JE METAIT DIS QUE JE BOIRAIS PAS TROP EN CHINE JE SAIS MAIS BON FALLAIT JE LE FASSE JUSTE UNE FOIS LA J"AI MA LECON AU MOINS ...

... blurred by the fog, and I sit in my room listening to the Amelie soundtrack. Tomorrow we leave for a weekend trip to a place called Chengde, this used to be the old imperial summer residence. We will also pass by a part of the Great Wall. But more about this next week. On top of everything they start talking ...

The cold Beijing winter is finally gone, Spring is at its best and the travel season in Beijing has officially started - it is May 1st, International Workers Day. This months also marks my 3rd year in China; it was a hate relationship first which changed to a love-hate relationship and eventually blossomed into a love affair. I feel comfortable in Beijing, I LOVE the food and changes one can witness every day. I love the mix of old and new although I have seen too ...

... signs managed to take us back down to the village where lunch was put on for us. Beer for 50p, bargain! We were given rice (obligatory of course) cauliflower, onions, tofu, in lovely chilli and soy sauces. We all stuffed ourselves whilst sitting around talking about travels. It seems everyone else we were on the tour with were coming to the end of their travels, home for Christmas I think. Te English couple had been away ...

... 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 ...

... I receive a free lunch daily, and they have seen to it that I get a Halal meal, which won't have any pork. Also, there are two other American teachers working at the school, who have taken me under their wings. They both work at the school year-round and have each been in China for several years. Today they introduced me to McDonald's coffee, which is drip, 7 RMB (dirt cheap for Beijing) and refills are free. Here I am in Beijing. Settled a bit, with a job and a purpose.

... my hotel is in downtown Beijing near the Olympic Stadium. Cost: 12 dollars a night adding up to a total of 72 dollars. Description of Hostel: There are many different styled studios and 1 bedroom apartments in downtown Beijing. My hostel was 5 minutes walking distance away from the subway line 2-thee ring. My hostel is surrouned by main tourist attractions in ...

... got into the square, which essentially was a parking lot for police and riot vehicles, the crowds made it impossible to get a good view of anything. Any momument or building was blocked off. I guess they are really afraid of more demonstrations by outsiders. In fact getting Misha into China was a bit of a chore with having to take the train to Manzhouli instead of any other way in. Hence, Mongolia was pulled off the intinerary. We spent enough time in the square to watch the ...

Upon arrival at the Beijing Railway Station, we were overwhelmed with people and luggage. Amanda and her dad walked us into the station so we could find our way because it is the size of a medium airport and potentially difficult to navigate if you have no idea what you are doing! We made our way through everything to the waiting room we were supposed to be in. It was crowded, but rather nice. I think that's because we had rather nice ...

... hostel at 6h45am and boarded a bus for a 3hour drive to Jinshanling.  We hiked approximately 8-9kms along the wall until we reached the village of Simitai. The experience was extradordinary.  At most, there was a dozen of us on the wall and this section is so far removed from the city that all you see is wall, mountain and sky. Fortunately for us, the sky was mostly clear and blue, which was a surprise because Beijing had been grey up to that ...