Ni Hau from Beijing

Highlights so far: (updated again on June 14)

• Loooong flight. Bring an extra laptop battery and lots to read. Air Canada does a good job of making the hours pass reasonably quickly, however, beware that after the 10th hour you will experience space-time warp where time will slow down to a crawl.
• Your Limo drivers assistance, usually a cute slim one ;-), will pick you up right from the plane’s exit door and walk you to your car. Yes, you will be treated like royalty.
• Clearing Immigration and Customs is amazingly quick. These guys are very efficient.

• The weather is hot, hot, and gets hotter… 38c+.
• Highways and city streets are nicely architected. Very efficient thorough traffic. Safe city. Cops/Soldiers everywhere. Big tall buildings. Lots of construction = signs of Asian booming market. (Beijing looks more developed than last time I was here. Maybe because of the upcoming Olympics.)
• Everthing is huge here. The building, the streets, bridges, etc. For example the pedestrian walkways are about 3 lanes wide, 2 lanes for bikes, and then 5 or 6 lanes for cars. And that’s on each side. Not bad, huh?
• You will notice lots of bikes on the street. Best way to move around city if you have the stamina.
• Really nice Hotels. (expensive)
• Visited the famous Silk Market. If you want clothes, shoes, electronics, jewelery, this is the place. How about a gold Rolex watch for $15? The vendor assured me it was original, complete with a certificate of authenticity :-). But learn to barter. He will first try to sell it to you for $100.
• Food is excellent here. Prepare to dine like a king. Huge variety of dishes. Be careful what you order though.
• There is fish in everything — fish stock, fish eggs, and fish head! :-) Food is so much better than normal Chinese food I’m used to. Western Chinese food is crap.
• Get used to duck feet, shark fins, cow ears, eel, turtles and lots of other strange stuff in your menu.
• Learn to use chopsticks. Asking for a fork will result in getting a strange look from the waiter/waitress! Somtimes you they will not find a fork so you have to end up using the chopsticks anyway :-).
• Dishes are shared amongst people. Various dishes are placed on the table and everyone digs in their chopsticks in every dish :-). Oh and if you go out to lunch/dinner with others, usually one person orders for all :-).
• Service is great here. No, service is fantastic here. There are tons of people working in restaurants or Stores/Shops. For example you enter a tea shop to buy some tea. You will be greeted by several people at the entrace. Then every few yards there are at least 2 or 3 people standing around to assist you. You will never be alone or lost! The overall result is A+ service.
• Slurping and making noise with your mouth while eating is normal. Everyone does it :-). Get used to it.
• Sounds of aa, ah, ee, um, hya, hoe ?_? with a closed mouth are all normal during conversations.
• Finding a taxi driver that speaks English is like finding a needle in a hay stack.
• Get usued to taxi drivers speaking very loud on intercom or phone with other taxi drivers for the entire trip :-).
• Smoking is allowed almost everywhere.
• Everyone respects foreigners. People are friendly.
• It’s a safe city. Crime is unheard of.
• SMS is huge here. Everyone likes to SMS. Cell phones and SMS are used like candy.

Overall, Beijing is not a backward city. Beijing is at the forefront of today’s technology. The Asian market is booming. Beijing is more advanced and more developed that most of the mega cities in N.A. You will notice signs of high-tech everywhere. With over 13 million living in Beijign alone, I am amazed how efficient traffic flows. Overall a great trip. But, I miss home :-).

Tags: Travel

Category: Lifestyle