I just return from three weeks in Beijing, China and the following is my impressions of this amazing city.
Travel from day to night
This is my fourth trips to China and third visits to Beijing. How I got there is rather a story of its own. Although my parents were born in Southern China both had to leave when they were very young in order to survive. They made their way to start a new life in Hong Kong and later to Canada. They had no desires to visit their home town where they were born. My father never had the chance to return to China, he passes away while in Canada. When my best friend Michael a non Chinese got a job offer in Beijing China about four years ago which started my China visits. One year, I even able to convince mother to travel with me and helped to erased the bad memories of the hard times when she was a young girl growing up at her village. However the long travel is too demanding for a 82 years old body. This time, she is not traveling with me to the great city.
Michael has been working in anther city Qingdao for the last two years and he only returned to Beijing with a new job for two months.
This time my travel is extra long as I couldn’t get a direct flight instead I would travel first from Toronto to Vancouver then onward to Beijing.
I left my house at 6am on the 23 of October and arrived in Beijing on the same day at 6pm because is 12 hours ahead which means I had traveled for 24 hours with little sleep.
Michael was on a business trip when I arrived but he arranged a friend who is a tour guide to pick me up at the airport.
I had met Rong once before, he has help me travel to Qingdao to visit Michael last year. Although it was mid afternoon but Beijing looks rather gray and I was told it was cause by the pollution
After about 45 minutes my cab arrived at the hotel it was all dark at 6 pm! The hotel required the full amount of the two days stay plus 300 RMB as deposit. Without even unpack I hit the bed to catch up with my badly needed sleep.
alfredngdesign 