Jet lag. A thing of fantasy in my life. Something I have never had before. It is with great sorrow that I report it is not a thing of mysteries and fairy tales but real life! Somehow we had managed to sleep most of the 13 hour flight. With the exception of watching Pride and Predjudice Zombies and Zoolander 2 it was one passed out flight. So much so that I missed all of the food cart options.
Even with all of the sleep I could barely keep my eyes open as we got off the plane. Getting a taxi was the typical of any country. The second you have your luggage you are swept off to a desk that wants to charge you way too much money. China is not exception. Ignoring the people we went straight into the local taxi line an snagged a taxi for 1/3 of the price they wanted at the tourist desk.
Beijing is full of traffic. Maybe not as bad as Bangkok but pretty bad. Our driver swerved, weaved, and drove over curbs for over an hour to make our way into the hotel. Such a pleasant man for as he fought the traffic he hooted and Hollander and continued to sing.
Arriving at our hotel we were blown away. It is not an expensive luxury hotel but instead a very traditional courtyard inside a Hutong. A Hutong is a narrow street in which Chinese people gathered and lived in close quarters. Their shops were on the outside and they lived behind them. Immediately we were taken away from the big city feel and transported back in time. Our room is neatly decorated with gold and red everywhere! The bed has a beautiful canopy, an old fashion phone, a gold ordained wardrobe, and so much more you would consider when thinking of China.
Jet lagged and tired we made our way to explore the main road. It was clear we are halfway across the world. I have never faced such a language barrier as we have here. First, I needed to go to the pharmacy to get cream for my sun burnt lip. Because it was night the pharmacy is all locked up and they speak to you through a whole in the metal. Hand gestures and trying to explain we were left with nothing to help. Next stop food. I have never seen a book with so many options half of which were duck, tongues, goat, donkey, and every other animal on the planet. It took about five waiters to finally get our order! Once we made our way down to our hotel we had many people stopping and looking at us. For such a big modern city this has been a big surprise to me.
In the end we had a great arrival day and ready for bed!
No comments:
Post a Comment