Hi everyone!
Just a quick update to say hi and to let you know that we arrived at our hostel safe and sound
...total time in transit: 23 hours. O_o Yikes.
Taxi to the Airport! We head down, and the battery's dead! An auspicious beginning?
The driver called in, and a second cab was dispatched. We watched for a few minutes as the the two cabbies argued in Hindi about which was the positive and which was the negative on the battery, watched one get a shock, and drop the jumper cables, and then they got it right! We were on our way (in the second cab).
American security check as as thorough and invasive as we remembered. Might be worth getting a Nexus card, that way you'll only go through *one* horribly invasive procedure, instead of several.
The flight to Chicago was very uneventful, besides some turbulence on takeoff. We were both feeling like the walking dead by this point, and slept right through the flight. Our layover at O'Hare was nice
. Just long enough to grab a Cobb salad (Shannon) and a Chicago-style Buttercrust (tm) pizza (Andrew). ^_^
We decided at the last minute to upgrade our seats on the Beijing fight to "Economy Plus", and snagging two seats on the exit row. Effing sweet! ^_^ For an extra $140 each, we got all the leg room we could ask for, and we didn't have a third person beside us for the 14hr flight. The flight attendants were very friendly, and were making sure we were willing and capable to assit in the event of an emergency (God forbid).
The flight, for me (Andrew), was a patchwork of waking and sleeping, eating, and watching movies/tv shows.
Arrival in Beijing was on time, and put us on terra firma again at 2:45pm, local time. Drizzly and humid, but entirely tolerable. :)
We caught our shuttlebus, and drove into the centre of the city. It dropped us off beside a fairly major subway interchange, and we took it the three stops to our hostel.
Which is *awesomely* located, by the way. We're a 5min walk from Tian'anmen Square, and from the Forbidden City. We've checked in, showered, unpacked, napped and grabbed a bite at the Hostel restaurant. We're going to head out for a stroll, to check out the night market nearby, and then we'll call it a night.
Mostly wandering and investigating planned for tomorrow. Sunday is not a good day to do touristy things, so we'll leave that stuff for mid-week next week.
Cheers!
Andrew and Shannon
Beijingle bells, beijingle all the way!
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Beijing, China
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Fishcakes
2012-09-01
Beijingle bells!! HA!
Vanessa Slim
2012-09-02
Welcome to "Peking". Neighbour tells me the duck is really good in that town. Good grab on the extra space seats and even nicer not having to share the arm rests with the middle seat person, unless its your wife or somone equally nice. Chicago-style Buttercrust (tm) pizza - very impressive. Quite the way to load up before you head out.
Sending Wishes for loads of R & R.
Withlove,
d
Bas
2012-09-02
you guys went away again?!?!?!?!
JeremyB
2012-09-04
Safe travels, you crazy kids! Eat ALL THE THINGS.
MAMMA SHASTRI
2012-09-10
THEY SPEAK HINDI IN CHINA? HOPE U KIDS ARE HAVING BIG FUN...BE CAREFUL WITH THE STREET MEAT :p HAHA! PUT UP SOME PICTURES :)