Beijing

October 20

my old MBA classmate Joe was at the platform to pick me up in the morning. I was pleasantly suppose to be dropped off at my hotel by his personal driver. Good to see Joe doing well in Beijing and he looks much younger than he did at school.

The Kingwing hotel was a def treat after staying at hostels. Having my own personal bathroom was such a luxury.

I decided to check out the nightlife in Beijing by subway. The trouble with my station was that they had no personal maps to give nor did they speak English. Somehow I stumbled into an area that seemed touristy so I felt a little safer to explore...Hey it was my first day in Beijing and I had done zero research. Luckily I ran into a nice guy named Michael who pointed me in the right direction to various places. I found it funny that it was an American helping a lost Chinese in China.

There's an area called Houhai that's pretty neat where their are bars and clubs lined along this river, well more a stream if you ask me. The live music scene there reminded me a bit of Austin. Be careful in that area for pickpockets and guys trying to take you to the ladies of the night.

October 21

I have to admit that the Nexus tour that I'm on is pretty sweet. For about 200 bucks before tips and miscellaneous charges, you get 7 nights stay at the hotel, all meals, and a guided van that shuttle's you from 730 in the morning till 8 at night.

The tour group that I'm in only has 18 which is small and more intimate. You really do get to know everyone if you want. Our tour guide is a local Beijing who married a cantonese girl so he was able to lead our cantonese group. My group is probably 80% cantonese aussies. Thus far i have found aussies to be the friendliest on my travels. Theres a couple from sydney named lucinda and ricky. Lucinda "ah-yee" has been very helpful translating some cantonese to english for me. Theres also another sydney couple who are from vietnam just like me. We discovered that our families left vietnam around the same time in the late 70s. The guy is Sang "sook" and im not sure his wife's name but she told me to search quang on skype for her. They have 3 daughters younger than me who helped them setup skype and facebook accounts. Theres also a group of 4 from Perth who have been friendly. The guy retired from the singaporean air force and i shared with him how i used to deal military parts to the singaporean defense logistics in a past life. Theres also a family of 4 from indonesia in our group. The dad is in his 70s and suffered a stroke a few years back but its been his lifelong dream to visit china because his father was originally from china but left for indonesia at 15. This tour is quite difficult for him because theres a good amount of walking. His wife also requires assistance so luckily there two daughters are with them on the tour. Every tour group needs the wiseguy comedian. In our group we have the chinese version of  grumpy old men. Those two are always making wisecracks..which keeps things lively. Theres also a guy who sits behind me that everyone teases because our guide asked if anyone had a spare room key for him so he could park at the hotel for free and this guy offered him his key. So everyone jokes that the guide will pay him a special visit at night now haha. 

We visited tiananmen square and the forbidden city today. Ive seen pictures before but seeing it in person was quite a treat. The place is big - enough said! Lunch was nice with many delicious dishes and even the infamous peking duck was served. I like the family style concept when it comes to eating...reminds me of home growing up.  After lunch we were dropped off at this mall to shop...apparently tours get kickbacks. Its a knockoff heaven that also challenges your negotiation skills. Just for fun, i engaged in a bargaining session with this girl. She kept on slapping my shoulder everytime she felt i was low balling her so i started to playfully slap her back...which then turned into a slap fest...to outsiders it must have looked like a pattycake session.

We ended the tour by going to see  chinese acrobats. Man they are super talented! I saw people being tossed up and down, a girl who appeared to have no bones by the way she twisted her body in ways that even contortionist couldnt imagine, girls doing acrobatic tricks on bicycles, ball jugglers, umbrella spinning and much more.

It was quite a long but fun day. I feel like ive made so many new aunties in the group. I think they feel sorry for me being the only single on the tour and the youngest by far. They are always looking out for me to make sure i understood the guide and they keep sharing food with me. Time to rest up...another early morning tomorrow.

October 22

Slow day on the tour today. We drove over 2 hours to get to Tienjin and most of the day was consumed with shopping. At the silk road store we were pressured by this slick saleslady to buy silk bedding sets. Shes probably good enough to sell ice to eskimos.

In the evening, Merry and i went to explore houhai. We went into a bar where a live band played. Overall a good atmosphere in the bar.

October 23

We started the morning by visiting the tea shop where we sampled various teas. My favorite was this one that tasted like ginseng. We all ended up buying after multiple rounds of negotiations. Heres a tip for shopping tours, since there's a set time that you're at the shop, the best deals happen at the end because the sales people have quotas that they have to meet. Also consider grouping with others to get volume discounts.

The afternoon event was a treat as we got to see the Great Wall.  Seeing it in person is so different than in pictures. It's amazing to imagine the amount of time and laborers it took to construct the wall. I tried to climb to the top but we ran out of time. It can be very tiring and I can see how it can turn away invaders.  The tour group certainly had a fun and enjoyable time walking and taking photos.

I ended the evening with a relaxing legit massage after all the walking I had done in Japan and China. I slept like a baby!

I forget to mention that the strap on my backpack broke in Japan and one of the aunties was nice enough to help me sew it back on. I told her that I needed to learn to do it myself so she taught me. I spent the morning sitting in the back of the van ride sewing!

October 24

The highlight of the day was certainly the performance we saw at Oct Theater in Happy Valley. It was a first class performance with a very large production team and budget. One scene even had gushing water to simulate a flooding scene. Everyone was so impressed.

October 25

early morning drive to Chende to see the resort palace area for the emperor. It took 3 generations of emperors to build this resort that represented mini China with trees and mountains to the Northwest and water in the southeast. We also saw a temple area devoted to Gwan Gong who was a God of law and righteousness. According to Auntie Lucinda all the police stations in HK have pictures of Gwan Gong.

Some of us ended the evening by getting massages from the blind. It's quite popular in China and I must say they are really good at what they do and it only coated 40 rmb... about 7 dollars.

October 26

today we went to the Olympic Village area and saw the bird's nest and the swimming pool area. Afterwards we went to the jewelry shop and I saw the master at work. He used every scam in the world.

The evening found us back at the first massage place. I had the same girl and finally made the connection that say chuen in Cantonese is sichuan in English. It's widely known throughout China that Sichuan province is known for their beautiful landscapes and most beautiful women in china.

She has lived a very interesting life for only being 22. She left her husband in another province and relocated to Beijing just half a year ago by herself.        
I'm not sure what prompted me to exchange info with her but she's def someone I want to stay in touch with.

This pretty much concludes my Beijing tour and I do admit that's it been much better than I expected. The history and sites no doubt were interesting, but I think it was the people who made the trip memorable. The uncles gave me some relationship advice that actually translates well into English. In Cantonese it's daum dye sum sye pay fu how and it pretty much means the man should be brave, have a gentle heart, and thick skin. Along with that I will take with me something I learned from every member of the tour group. Theres a running joke that there will be a reunion at my wedding. It's funny that I have an adopted mom now from Sydney who has a daughter in Japan that she's brought up a couple of times! So long Beijing and onwards to Xi'an.

October 27

I checked out of the hotel early in the morning to catch the fast train to Xi'an. The ride is about 5 hours and went by alright. I was quite tired since I barely slept the night before. I made friends with these four girls from England who are also backpacking across Asia. Always good to find other travelers when you are abroad. Safety in numbers! We made plans to go check out the Terra-cotta warriors tomorrow.  I had dinner and called it an early night.