China 2006 - arrival - part 2 - in beijing

written 20060315 beijing time

and so i landed. got confused with all the signage in the airport. when you are out of your familiar, the environment is completely different. the air is different. methods, i mean. methods of directing people is different. it took me about 45 minutes to finally get out of check out and baggage claim.

bus trip

we finally met, me and hongmei. she was near the end of the line of people waiting for businessmen and loved ones. of course, her sign had my name. i realized that i was exhausted from the 13 hour plane ride. so there i am lugging my things around, wondering what we should do next. eat or go downtown beijing. we settled on taking the bus downtown, bus #2. i tried to recall all of these traveling hints thinking i'd be doing this on my own eventually. i can't i finally realize, i will explain in length a little later.

in the bus, hongmei gives me a personal size box of milk. milk! i thought that was great, but i knew it would not be as cold, knowing that she too had to travel to Beijing. the milk was sweet. i didn't like it much. so, we sit for a bit more than an hour, and chatted. we passed by a lot of "fat" buildings. knowing that Beijing has a lot more people than Toronto, i tried to compare. their buildings are more fat than tall. there are more "open spaces," much more spaced out than the claustrophobic Toronto.

we get to our stop. i look over to the beijing subway entrance, which is cool. lots of honking. we get off and just as i've been warned, some people came up to ask if they could offer some service. these drivers wanted to drive us, free of charge, to a hotel. why? they worked for the hotel. i'm looking at hongmei hoping she knows how to handle this. i asked her if she trusted them. she said, "i don't know." in the end, talking to them more, we took their offer.

the hotel and eats

they charged hefty in comparison to everything else in china. 55$ canadian. i mean, we're talking about how a dish of good food costs a buck here. hongmei went to find a cheaper place, but no luck. our room was alright, the bathroom system is funny. the toilet is in the shower area, so it gets wet when you take a shower.

we actually each take a shower and decide to take a nap before finding food. it was sweet. hongmei asks the doorman (doorboy, seems young to me) for a place to eat. he points down the street, which becomes and alley. we ended up eating in a little shop. very good food, but i soon realize that they have no laws for smoking indoors here. i'm enfumagated. hongmei points out the kettle over the fire in the centre of the room. it's very customary of older shops. the meal cost 3$ cdn. we had three dishes with lots left over.

the mall

we take a walk around. we end up going to this mall. it's really like a supermall. we walk into an area with bras and underwear. "they're on sale," hongmei says, and we shop. hongmei makes a purchase and we proceed further into the centre. shoes. think sears shoe section. times 25. it makes me a bit weary as to which part would have the best quality shoes. all funky stuff. zahra would love it. she would just love it. we proceed into the rest of the mall. make up, suits, shirts, this and that. and they close at 10pm. it's crazy stuff. we walked out finally and walk to a bigger street. there was this other centre even more tempting to get into. i knew i didn't want to buy anything yet, or everything that i saw, so i just opted to go back to the hotel. while hongmei was brushing her teeth, i crashed. i closed my eyes. when i opened them, it was dark and hongmei was already in bed.

beijing bookstore building

so! we got up at 7am. i had gotten up in the middle of the night at 4am and just forced myself to sleep. i was getting adjusted to the time difference. we had complimentary free breakfast at the hotel, which was real simple foods. i had a hard boiled egg, despite all this chicken flu stuff. there was this go chow wai that was round, which was good.

the bookstore was not too far, open at 8am. hongmei had asked for directions. we turned the corner, and i am flabberghasted. this building didn't have a bookstore in it. this building was the bookstore. it was huge. it was definitely bigger than toronto's "world's biggest bookstore." we walk throught the 2nd set of plastic door coverings (the first at the mall the night before,) and we found reception. there were about 4 attendants behind the counter. i recalled at the hotel, there were a couple of staff at the door as well. i realize that there are always a lot of workers around, no matter the task.

we proceed up to the escalators. i realize that this store was bigger than the one in Toronto. we get into the audio/visual section. very big. lots of product. hongmei was looking for software for another English teacher. i wander looking at teaching esl software, then to movies and music. vcds for about 1-2$ each. i end up getting 2 that i eventually realize i can't play on the computer they gave me. i contemplate on getting a vcd player. live norah jones and eurythmics. we check out the esl books section. i get lots of books. we leave the building and take a lot of pictures in front of the building.

walking back, i take more pictures and a video. we got some street meat. lamb kebobs. i don't eat lamb, but didn't refuse it when hongmei offered to treat. it was great! got pictures of that, too. bikes everywhere! and pictures of that, too. i should have but didn't take pictures of probably 200-300 bikes stationed outside the mall we were at.

we get back to the hotel at exactly 12noon when we have to check out.

oh yeah. chinese people blow their nostril innards into the street like it's common habit. gross.