An Incredible History Lesson

We got up very early the morning of Febuary 4th to get ready and packed up to leave for China. Neither of slept particularly well the night before, I am not sure if it was from the beg bugs, the rats scratching on the walls or just plain old excitement. We headed downstairs and got in a taxi to the Hanoi airport, which is about an hour outside of the city. After incredibly long lineups to check in, and the security process, we were ready to go. The flight was quick and painless, only 3 hours.

We arrived in Beijing and were surprised at what we saw. We were expecting the airport to be packed with people, and it is be loud and busy. It was the contrary, there was virtually no one there and it was so quiet, I was worried we were in the wrong city. We made our way through customs and a health check (to make sure we didn't have avian flu... all you had to do was fill out a form saying that you had no symptoms), got our bags and headed out into a croud of people. All of a sudden this nice young man approached us and asked if either one of us was Erin... that's me!! YEA... i was so excited. My good friend introduced me to a friend of his that is living in Beijing who we could stay with. I was not expecting it, but he was at the airport waiting to pick us up, which was so nice. We headed back to Paul's apartment and met his roomate Mathias. They had moved into the apartment two days before, and although there was no furniture, the place is beautiful and the guys are very welcoming. In the past couple of days we have seen this apartment turn into the greatest bachelor pad of all times with giant black leather couches, beautiful furniture and a flat screen TV. We have named it The Beijing Hilton and it is the nicest place we have stayed in 2 months!We were put to work helping them move in, and in no time we were assembling Ikea furnature like pros.

Our first day in Beijing while Paul and Mathias went shopping for stuff for their apartment, we wandered around the city and surprisingly didn't get lost. We had to pinch ourselves, we couldn't believe we were actually in Beijing. We went out for a great Italian dinner and then back to the apartment to move the new couch in so Koren and I had somewhere to sleep.

China has been very interesting and we are learning a lot about the culture every day from our new friends who are not only great tour guides, they also know a lot about Chinese culture. In China all apartments that you rent come furnished. The guys just got a brand new apartment with no furniture, so the landlord gave them a budget and they went and picked out all of their furniture and appliances. There are no dishwashers here, but something that looks like a dishwasher that sanitizes the dishes with ultra-violet light (i don't really understand how) and the washer and dryer are the same machine. There is no need to switch loads, it does everything for you. We have also learnt that 4 is a very unlucky number. Like in North America, in most buildings there is no 13th floor, but here is also no floor 4 or 14. When getting our cell phone we tried to pick a number with lots of 4s because it made the SIM card much cheaper. We are also trying to learn some chinese, and besides from a Ni-Ha here and there, by the time we leave we are going to be able to count to ten, say please, thank you, hello and good bye.

We got up the next morning and got all ready to go and headed to the subway. The one thing about Beijing is, nobody speaks English. For us to get anywhere on our own in a taxi we call Mathias who tells the driver in Chinese where to take us, it is a challenge, but a fun one at that.  We headed to the subway, unsure of where it went to get to Tianamen Square. We figured out which line to get on (after one phone call to the guys) and then headed onto the train with hundreds of Chinese. We were really excited and once we got to Tianamen Square we were thilled that we made it there. Tianamen Square was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, it is enormous, but absolutely beautiful, and just full of history. I read this morning that you are not allowed to ride a bicycle through Tianamen Square, but driving a tank through is all OK! We walked around for a while and took a lot of pictures before heading across the street (you actually walk under the street) to the Forbidden City. We were standing outside trying to get the perfect picture of the picture of Mao when a man approached us who spoke English. He was a tour guide and wanted to give us the grand tour. We originally said no to him,but then after thinking about it and talking, we decided it was probably a good idea. He took us to places that we would not have otherwise seen and gave us a great history lesson. We didn't make it inside the actual complex of the Forbidden City today due to lack of time, but we saw all of the surrounding area and the most incredible view of the Forbidden City and the entire city of Beijing from a Pagoda on the top of a mountain. We figured that we didn't want to rush the Forbidden City, so we would go back the next day.

We got back to the apartment and got ready to go out for dinner. On the menu tonight Peking Duck. Mathias took us to a great restaurant and took care of ordering us great food. We had a huge assortment of Chinese food, and of course Peking Duck, or as they call it Beijing Duck. I wasn't too sure I was going to like it, but as soon as I tried it, I was hooked. It was fabulous and you eat it inside a crepe with spring onions and cucumbers and this awesome sauce that sort of tasted like hickory BBQ sauce.

Day three in Beijing we got up and while all of the furniture was being moved into the apartment, we went back to the Forbidden City. It was as cool today as it was yesterday. There were lots and lots of museum type rooms and lots of places to see and to walk around. We spent another 4 hours just walking around and exploring before heading for lunch. After lunch we hooked to the Lama Temple, the most colorful and one of the largest Buddhist Temples in Beijing. The temple was beautiful and very interesting since it is still in use today. At the Lama Temple there is the Worlds Largest Buddha made out of one piece of wood... it was 26 meters tall. It was incredible.

Well, that's it for now. I am going to relax on the beautiful couch in the nicest apartment and watch a movie on the really nice flat screne TV. Tomorrow we are off to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall. Bye for now!