26-27 June 2017
Every new adventure starts with a
feeling of anticipation. Saying goodbye to everyone doesn’t feel real until you
step into the airport and you’re faced with an onslaught of things to do and
places to navigate. There wasn’t too much kerfuffle at the airport, only
donating a tube of toothpaste at customs and grabbing some antioxidant rich
juice before our flight. The dinner on the plane was excellent, some very
tender beef rice and veggies which we supplemented with the classic - fruit and
nut mix. But we were so over the moon (almost, but not quite), when we
discovered that we had TWO vacant seats next to us! Before you could say
Beijing, I was snoozing on the floor and Dad had 4 seats to lie down on! I
awoke about an hour and a half before we landed, and I had a dream that I remembered on the plane about already arriving in Beijing and our names being on those green and white road signs that you often see. I think that dream was a sign of good times to come!
Dad tried Congee for the first time, and he liked it! When
we landed in Beijing, the first thing we noticed was the smog. It was
remarkable. It filled the whole sky, and touched everything. We arrived at
Beijing airport at 5.30am, so we had time to make use of before we met “Bruce
with Glasses” outside Starbucks. We made our way through customs, bought some
delish coffees, and then told stories and made our sign for Bruce!
We met Bruce and then began our journey. He drove us through
the sprawling outskirts of Beijing, towards the Northern countryside, pointing
out street stalls, statues and orchards. We reached the great wall, and we were
surprised to have the opportunity to take a cable car to the top and then
toboggan down after walking a section of the wall, seeing the view was just
like a postcard, and so incredible! We then went back, dad had a cold beer as
it was his birthday and we met Bruce again. Bruce took us back to the hotel we booked,
but what a sight it was! A very lovely and interesting lady greeted us, but she
had quite a range of interesting rooms that we didn’t think we could stay in (we meaning Dad as he said he wasn’t
impressed as there were no tea making facilities!) We then left the hotel with
our host, as she was showing us her favourite supermarket, but leading us onto
the road as she did so! And who was driving along but Bruce! He saved us!! We
thought he had left us and gone back to work! We instead ended up visiting Tiananmen
Square, Chairman Mao’s Palace, a number of incredible gardens, a hectic
shopping strip where many Yuan were spent, and a 5 storey restaurant! We also
had many hilarious cultural encounters, Dad trying steadily to ‘de-Bogan’
himself. We then made it to the airport, navigating the very intricate train
system, and had a refreshing shower before sleeping for a bit before our 4am
flight.
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