Hello, hello, hello!
Oh how I’ve missed the “tap, tap, tap” that sounds out the creation of a new blog post! China was definitely a fun vacation, but I missed all of this so much.
Now, summing up an 11-day vacation to Beijing…this may be tough! I did managed to see all the sights I wanted to, except for 798. As for the unusual things:
1.) I passed out in a KFC: Let’s get one thing straight. This restaurant is taking over Beijing! They’re like Tim Horton’s in Canada. Absolutely everywhere! Once I started to feel the familiar ‘ears popping/vision closing in’ feeling that I get from being overheated and underfed, I made a quick stumble to the only recognizable neon sign in the vicinity, and took my place in the long line for the counter. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground with a terrible pain in my side and a bunch of people screaming over me in Chinese. I have NO idea how long I was out. There were definitely at least 10 people crowded over me, so it must have been a descent tick around the clock. I made a perfect recovery though: Stood up, brushed off my legs, waved away the people with a smile, ordered some sort of odd fish stick/corn kids combo, and left before any emergency services showed up. Bam.
2.) Party “Where the Wall Meets the Sea”: I met some international students from Columbia and Brazil that invited me along to a popular annual party about five hours out of Beijing. It was a crazed event with a lot of people…about 1500. I was dancing, but I didn’t feel too safe having too much to drink. It was all-in-all rather tame considering the event, but worth the added awareness on a dark beach among many party-happy people.
3.) Temperature Checks…and more Temperature Checks…and then some more: On the plane, down the corridor, in the airport…the Chinese authorities have this swine flu thing covered. The one thing I found peculiar, though, was that they turned of the plane, which left the air stagnant. In the 40 degree Celsius day it soon turned into a sauna, and needless to say, more than a few temperatures were retaken.
So, that’s about it for the strange stuff, but hopefully I’ll find some time later to truly recap a lot of what I saw – if I can remember all the events. A lot has happened since China!
I’m now in my new apartment in UB, having just arrived by train only a few hours ago. I shared my travel quarters with two Mongolian men and a Taiwanese woman who were all very nice. The funniest scene was me trying to converse with Esse, who only spoke Mongolian. I would ask something in English, the Taiwanese girl would translate it to Chinese, the Mongolian that spoke Chinese would translate it to English, and then the whole process would go in reverse for the response.
Anyway, I should probably go rub shoulders with my new family. I’m going to be spending a lot of time with them, it seems!
