First stop on world trip
I arrived in Beijing today. The trip was pretty uneventful, except for the start in Miami where the customs official told me that my visa for China was not valid until June 20. After about 10 minutes of frantic questioning, he figured out that he had been looking at my Vietnam visa – details! Other than that, the main theme of the trip was the surgical masks everywhere, especially in Hong Kong.
After taking the train and subway to my hostel in the center of Beijing, I went out for a walk to grab a few beers and some spicy chicken, then headed over to the neighborhood park, Jingshan. There was nary a teeter totter or swingset in sight, but they had a number of massaging/stetching machines that looked like they came staight out of a chiropractor’s office. Little kids and old men were using them all – they even had one for practicing Tai Chi, consisting of 2 rotating discs that reminded me of the movement of “wash car” in The Karate Kid. Went home and slept for 12 hours, and will go this morning to The Great Wall.
Tags: 1
plight69
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Hey, Phil. I’m glad things are going so well and you got to your first of so many destinations.
Take some pictures, man!