Touring Beijing

In the week or so I had in Beijing, I managed to cover the basics. On our first day, Matt and I went to the Forbidden City, Wangfujing, and wandered around the lake district. The Forbidden City is huge. You could spend three days wandering through the emperor and his court's residences. Lucky for us, the Emperor's pad was closed down for renovations, so we didn't get the chance to see that, but we did wander through tons of other spaces that are currently being used to house some of China's National Museums. There are tons of art galleries with various different themes - classical and modern of course - and there is an exhibition hall that ironically had a huge display about Great Britain. I was crowded, but not more so than any other national monument on a weekend, so that was pleasing, and the weather was pleasant (a budding summer day with spring clouds and breezes).
After about 3 hours of the FC, we made our way over to WangFuJing (a city street name and major tourist area). Actually, on the way we were approached by several rickshaw drivers all offering overpriced transportation between the two destinations (about a 15 minute walk). One asked if we wanted a ride, after refusing, he offered to sell us a Rolex. Without saying anything by the word "No," Matt managed to talk him down from 100 yuan per watch to 10 yuan for 2. Hilarious.
WangFuJing is Beijing's version of LA's CityWalk, NYC's Time Square, the National Mall in DC, or Chicago's Loop. It's littered with tourists and cheesy overpriced stores. But it is home to one golden egg - Foreign Language Bookstore - where a hopeful Chinese Language Student cannot only find cheap books and study guides, but they also have tons of fiction and non fiction books in English. Being the nerds that we are, Matt and I spent about an hour wandering around inside.
On our second day in Beijing, we went for the more "light-hearted" activities. This means we went to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. Fun was had as we strolled around and looked at all the animals including a huge panda exhibit, and the great Aquarium and their dolphin and sea lion show.

The world's second most populated city

Beijing

Because of my finger, I didn't end up heading out of Shijiazhuang until Thursday, May 3.  From May 1 - 8 is "May Day Holiday" in China and it's the biggest travelling and shopping season.  About 500,000,000 Chinese hit the roads, railways and air to explore their own country.  The other 800,000,000 hit the shopping malls for incredible deals on everything.  It's kind of like the Friday after Thanksgiving, but for 7 days (Mel, get your credit cards ready for this one).  

I waited almost a week because I was lucky enough that one of the guys at my school - Matt - was also planning a trip to Beijing.  He ended up being my personal porter at the train station!  At any rate, he also bought us tickets on the new high speed train which gets to Beijing in 2 instead of 4 hours.  Upon our arrival, we started on an adventure to find James' (one of the administrators at the school) Beijing apartment (gotta love free accomodations).    Thursday afternoon/evening was a bust as we just walked around the neighborhood and watched DVDs until we both fell asleep.

Finger Delay

Sydney Australia - Airport

Ok, so my last post was ages ago because . . . I nearly severed my finger in the door of my apartment.  Long story short, I sliced it down to the bone.  The best hospital in the province is only 2 blocks from my host family's apartment, so I was seen by a doctor and stitched up about an hour after it happened.  I've got pictures - don't worry, the finger's wrapped and I'm sitting in a huge room with an IV, so no blood.  I'll post them after I get home on Friday.  

Still can't move it, and going to see the hand surgeon in Chico shortly after I get back.  I knew I wouldn't get home with out a scratch, but almost losing a finger is a little ridiculous!