Breakfast in Beijing.
I woke up this morning in a small hotel room thinking it was the afternoon and my sister had been waiting in the airport for me for a couple hours. Rest assured she is still in the air and it was just 8:20 in the morning, even though I tried to find the time on TV, i just called dialed 8080 and got the front desk.
Beijing i am here! It is good to be back again. Thanks to my friends, I flew BUSINESS ELITE in Delta on my 11 hour flight to Beijing. That was the shortest flight i have ever taken in my life 🙂
I got in, exchanged some cash which I obtained at the ATM in Seatac, got my bag and hopped on a taxi. It took a couple of body signals and someone who spoke a bit of english to communicate where i was going, though I had a map of my destination in Mandarin. We were off!
As I was driving in this cab, which is like a 4 door sedan of sorts, I was getting excited. Here i was again, on the road, in a different land and it was so easy to get here. 11 hours from Seattle is like going to the UK. I noticed how the buildings were mostly all dark, something quite different from the states in how we keep most of our buildings lit. Probably a public relations thing for all the tourists who take photographs. How much energy do we consume by keeping our buildings on? How much security is insured by keeping them on…my mind wanders…
So, i get in, get to my hotel/hostel which is Kings Joy and check in. Get to my room, its 11pm and I’m not really tired. I just hopped on a flight at 730 pm from Seattle and here i am in Beijing at 10:30pm! And I slept about 5 hours of my flight. I figured i could drink a beer before going to bed and so i went upstairs to the bar that was located on the top of my hotel.
As i order a Tsingtao, a man immediately inquired to me. “Hey mate, how are you?” British guy. We kicked it off and made pals. This guy was a Pakistani british citizen here in china and he was going to university here in the country for one month. While he was on the path of drinking himself silly like most 20 year olds might, i was content just sticking to my beer and chit chatting, which we did.
I met some local chinese at the lounge and asked them about Facebook and censorship, where they were from, and if china changed. They agreed, China has changed and that even though china censors Facebook, you can still access. as I write to you now, there is a note on my computer in the hotels internet cafe that says ” CLICK fg707x.exe can get on Facebook.” 🙂 Can’t stop the net.
Brilliant. Well, as the night went on I went to another pub, met some Chinese police officers, whether they were secret or not, i don’t know but they were kind and offered me some of their Tsingtao brew and lamb kabob, to which i happily accepted. We talked about china, fashion, the states. Good times. I was even able to write my name on a brick in this pub with a fairly large black marker. So if you go to Bar. 098 near the Forbidden city, pat my brick down and think of me 🙂
By 1am i was tired and I moved into going back to my room. I enjoyed a short evening meeting local Beijiners and people who moved from Hubei or another province to the city. Much like americans or people in other countries do. And yes. China has changed. A lot. I am anxious to see just how much and what is in store for this country of 1.5 BILLION people. I am also curious to see if china has a soul. More to come…
Welcome, Come Sit and Have Some Tea. 