After 22 hours of planes, buses, taxis, security checks, showing passports and trying to get comfortable in small spaces, we are at the hotel in Beijing! Zoey and Jada were excellent travelers. Journals, sticker books, a borrowed DS(thank you Sandra) and in-flight movies kept them entertained.
Our hotel is on a street that is lined with restaurants that have beautiful red hanging lanterns above the sidewalks. We hope to be awake tonight so we can see them when they are lit.
We walked around the area and we are not in a tourist area. We are immersed in the local culture. There is a local open air market in an alley way with dragon fruit and other exotic fruit. There were turtles, raw ducks with the heads still on, dried hot peppers and an man was making fresh long noodles. Long noodles = long life!
There is a vision that sticks in my mind from the first day. It is the mix of old Beijing with the new. A man is a business suit was standing next to his bicycle while a worker was sitting on the sidewalk fixing his brakes. It is a site that you would think you would see all over Beijing, but next to his tiny gray repair shop is a bright yellow and red McDonald's with an ice-cream bar selling cones and McFurries on the street. Is there anywhere in the world to get away from fast food?
Quote of the Day
While walking down the gray sidewalks and seeing all the workers, people on bikes, horns honking, red letters and Chinese characters Jada looks up and says "I don't remember being born in a place like this!
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