Though everyday thus far in China has begun early, this was one of the earliest. With a 5:30 AM wake up call, most of us began to quickly assemble our bags for departure. Since we didn’t have predetermined time of departure, most of us (or probably just me) assumed we needed to operate as if we had borrowed time. We were only noticed of when we needed to leave when Li Laoshi came to each of our rooms. At that point, there was no time for breakfast. Fortunately, the hotel we were staying at packed us a breakfast consisting of hardboiled eggs, a Chinese version of pound cake, water, an apple, and milk in a pouch. For those of you who did not attend elementary school in the 1990s, there was a brief time when they switched from carton to plastic pouch. Needless to say, poor design coupled with responsibility of an eight year old made for some very messy lunches. This meal provided the Gang of Seven to reminisce about our early years. Good times.
After having to recheck the rooms for items forgotten, we departed for the train station a little late. Since all of us could see the station across the street from our hotel, we felt no major need to rush to the station. However, Li Laoshi can be quite “persuasive” at 6:00 AM. Once at the station, we quickly went through very lax security and began to wait in the #7 waiting room. At 7:00 exactly, we began to board the train. Though a bit of a walk to the train, we were pleasantly surprised to find our train to be a very sleek, modern, high speed train that was probably manufacture in Germany, not China. We were even happier to find that our 256.00 yuan dollar tickets ( ~$34.13) were for the first class cabin. This was greatly appreciated when we found out this train did NOT have a luggage car. We had to have our luggage strapped to shelves above our heads. Being the experienced travelers that we are, we easily ran out of room in our part of the car, forcing us to stick some bags in the aisles of the seats with people. Though slightly cramped, the comfortable seats more than made up for any displeasure we might have had otherwise.
Most of the train ride was low key, as expected. Some slept; some (Kim) worked feverously; some stared out the window; some even colored on Mr. Kilmer’s head. Since our train sped on to Beijing at 200 km/hr with only four stops in between, we easily made it to the West Station in slightly over five hours. Once at the station, a young worker at the station piled all of our luggage on to one cart, and carried it out to our bus. This feat, combined with the several hundred meters we walked to the bus made his effort virtually priceless. After meeting our local tour guide, Cherry, we went to lunch.
At lunch, we had pretty typically fare, nothing too unusually. The only different thing that we normally wouldn’t have access to was the squid, but it looked like the “faux” squid, not the real deal. After lunch, we all part took of a little Dairy Queen treat on the first floor of the restaurant building. I had the chocolate lover’s Blizzard. It was exactly what the name described it as.
Afterward, we went to our posh hotel. The Jade Palace Hotel is a five star hotel in northwest Beijing. We were stoked to find out our hotel had a pool, a bowling alley, and a spa. After settling in the hotel for a bit, we took the subway to downtown Beijing. The subway here is like the New York subway and the Chicago “el” were combined, except there were only three lines: 1, 2, and 13. We had to transfer trains twice, allowing us to ride on each line. I thought it was fine method of travel, but my classmates thought it was a bit cumbersome, and slightly taxing to try to squeeze your way on to three different trains.
Once at our destination, we were allowed to wander up and down this one block of a shopping center. Kim, Colin and I stuck with Li Laoshi while everyone else went with Mr. Kilmer. My group enjoyed a nice meal at a Japanese restaurant while Mr. Kilmer’s group went to Mickey D’s. We saw various street vendors selling unique street food, a short Beijing Opera performance, and some make blown sugar sculptures. Mr. Kilmer’s group went shopping. Later, we all ended up wandering around for the last forty minutes. At 8:00, Li Laoshi took us all to the Xinhua Bookstore so we could buy our textbooks for next years. Li Laoshi, the cunning bargainer that she is, got us a discount on our books in a store that NEVER bargains with anyone. Finally, we tried to hail a cab for about 10 minutes outside the bookstore before we realized we were hailing them from the wrong side of the street. Once we got a cab, I went with the first group home. Our driver was nice, but we felt he took the scenic way back to the hotel. The other cab beat us back to the hotel. While on route, my foot fell asleep, so when I stepped out of the cab, I literally had no feeling in my foot, and almost fell over as a result. Pretty much, I’ve been lacking my usual figure skating grace the past few days. I blame my lack of skating, but who really knows. Now back at the hotel, all of us are repacking for our next couple of days in Chengde. Since Chengde is a closer to large bodies of water than Beijing, we all hope we will get a slight relief from the intense heat that plagues China.
Best Wishes from Beijing,
- John
After having to recheck the rooms for items forgotten, we departed for the train station a little late. Since all of us could see the station across the street from our hotel, we felt no major need to rush to the station. However, Li Laoshi can be quite “persuasive” at 6:00 AM. Once at the station, we quickly went through very lax security and began to wait in the #7 waiting room. At 7:00 exactly, we began to board the train. Though a bit of a walk to the train, we were pleasantly surprised to find our train to be a very sleek, modern, high speed train that was probably manufacture in Germany, not China. We were even happier to find that our 256.00 yuan dollar tickets ( ~$34.13) were for the first class cabin. This was greatly appreciated when we found out this train did NOT have a luggage car. We had to have our luggage strapped to shelves above our heads. Being the experienced travelers that we are, we easily ran out of room in our part of the car, forcing us to stick some bags in the aisles of the seats with people. Though slightly cramped, the comfortable seats more than made up for any displeasure we might have had otherwise.
Most of the train ride was low key, as expected. Some slept; some (Kim) worked feverously; some stared out the window; some even colored on Mr. Kilmer’s head. Since our train sped on to Beijing at 200 km/hr with only four stops in between, we easily made it to the West Station in slightly over five hours. Once at the station, a young worker at the station piled all of our luggage on to one cart, and carried it out to our bus. This feat, combined with the several hundred meters we walked to the bus made his effort virtually priceless. After meeting our local tour guide, Cherry, we went to lunch.
At lunch, we had pretty typically fare, nothing too unusually. The only different thing that we normally wouldn’t have access to was the squid, but it looked like the “faux” squid, not the real deal. After lunch, we all part took of a little Dairy Queen treat on the first floor of the restaurant building. I had the chocolate lover’s Blizzard. It was exactly what the name described it as.
Afterward, we went to our posh hotel. The Jade Palace Hotel is a five star hotel in northwest Beijing. We were stoked to find out our hotel had a pool, a bowling alley, and a spa. After settling in the hotel for a bit, we took the subway to downtown Beijing. The subway here is like the New York subway and the Chicago “el” were combined, except there were only three lines: 1, 2, and 13. We had to transfer trains twice, allowing us to ride on each line. I thought it was fine method of travel, but my classmates thought it was a bit cumbersome, and slightly taxing to try to squeeze your way on to three different trains.
Once at our destination, we were allowed to wander up and down this one block of a shopping center. Kim, Colin and I stuck with Li Laoshi while everyone else went with Mr. Kilmer. My group enjoyed a nice meal at a Japanese restaurant while Mr. Kilmer’s group went to Mickey D’s. We saw various street vendors selling unique street food, a short Beijing Opera performance, and some make blown sugar sculptures. Mr. Kilmer’s group went shopping. Later, we all ended up wandering around for the last forty minutes. At 8:00, Li Laoshi took us all to the Xinhua Bookstore so we could buy our textbooks for next years. Li Laoshi, the cunning bargainer that she is, got us a discount on our books in a store that NEVER bargains with anyone. Finally, we tried to hail a cab for about 10 minutes outside the bookstore before we realized we were hailing them from the wrong side of the street. Once we got a cab, I went with the first group home. Our driver was nice, but we felt he took the scenic way back to the hotel. The other cab beat us back to the hotel. While on route, my foot fell asleep, so when I stepped out of the cab, I literally had no feeling in my foot, and almost fell over as a result. Pretty much, I’ve been lacking my usual figure skating grace the past few days. I blame my lack of skating, but who really knows. Now back at the hotel, all of us are repacking for our next couple of days in Chengde. Since Chengde is a closer to large bodies of water than Beijing, we all hope we will get a slight relief from the intense heat that plagues China.
Best Wishes from Beijing,
- John
