So, here we are in Beijing on New Year's Day, about 6pm (5am back home). We get in a taxi (oops, we get suckered in by a free-lance taxi, not one of the state-operated ones, can't say we weren't warned by our American friend - and we pay a bit more than we would have otherwise, oh well, what's 350 Yuan anyway?)
We stay at a Holiday Inn in downtown Beijing. We note there's a McDonald's nearby for future reference, then go to a Chinese restaurant in our hotel and order something completely different than anything we've seen in the US. We call it an early night since we want to get used to the local time as soon as possible. The room is actually pretty nice. Lots of bottled water everywhere, a standard bathroom with a western toilet (yea - no squatting toilet .. yet) and a shower. The only thing "weird" about the room, besides the voltage, is the fact that you have to leave your magnetic room key card inside a switch by the door or else the lights go out - obviously for saving energy. When you leave, the lights go out.
We're in Beijing from Jan 1 to Jan 4 for a few days to ourselves. We make some touring plans the next morning. Jan 2: Ming Tombs and the Great Wall (Jan 2 is Rebecca's birthday by the way, so that's what we were doing when she turned one year old); Jan 3: The Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven; Jan 4: The Hutong, and then a flight to our next destination, Nanchang, where we would be adopting a one-year-old girl named Fu Dong Lan.
Pictures:
Amy on the Great Wall
