Not long, especially when you are battling two highly populated countries in the busiest travel season. But somehow we made it through all the sold out buses, standing room only trains and lost airline reservations and made it to 3 different cities in China! So without futher ado I give you
China: Days 1,2 & 3
We left Incheon on Saturday, July 31st. Nothing too remarkable about our flight out, but a glimpse of the airport security guards left us with the "we're definitely not in Canada anymore" feeling.
I have no idea what kind of gun that is, but I do know these guys looked maybe 19 years old. Picture mall security guards, but with AK 47's and you'll know how we felt when we saw them.
We arrived in Beijing that night and made our way to our hostel. It was in downtown Beijing, about a 5 minute walk from Tienemmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was cute and appeared to be the place for foreigners to hang out at night.
We had to take a table under the Canadian flags.
Words to live by.
The next day we explored a little bit of Beijing. We walked through Tiennammen Square toward the downtown marketplace. Our photos of Tiennamen are scarce because it was absolutely boiling outside. It had to be at least 37 degrees and we were both dying walking across the hot pavement.
One thing Neil pointed out is that there were people walking everywhere BUT the grass. Last time Neil was in Beijing there were guards and signs to prevent anyone from walking on the grass. With millions of people travelling through there everyday the grass would be non-existent if everyone walked on it. The scare tactic of guards seems to have done the trick though, because the only section of Tiennemen NOT covered in people was the grass.
There were huge lines to see Mao's body but since Neil had already seen it, and I had no interest waiting hours to have 5 minutes to look at a dead dictator, we passed on this.
Later in the week though, I did get the chance to see one of the highlights of the trip across the street from Mao's body. And there were no line ups to wait for this one!
Isn't he cute!!!!!
He is so small - smaller than my feet, as you can tell by the picture.
I spent about 15 minutes petting, playing with this little guy and taking pictures, while Chinese people in the restaurant behind me stared and wondered what's going on with the crazy foreigner.
I'll take an adorable puppy over Mao's body any day.
On Monday we went to the bus terminal for our long trip to QingZhou, Neil's Chinese "hometown". At the bus terminal I got to experience a little bit of the Advanced Chinese Technology when I spotted this little cellphone charge station.
Seriously - hook your cell phone up to a battery and give it a boost. I love it.
And off we went to Qingzhou!!!
