Cash your dreams before they slip away.
Dying all the time,
Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind."
~The God of Small things, Arundhati Roy
On Wednesday December 30th, Jenni and I woke up at 5:30 am to catch the bus up to Seoul's Incheon Airport heading out to Beijing, China! The bus trip took us four hours in which we completely passed out and arrived in what seemed like fifteen minutes later. We boarded our plane at noon and arrived a hour and a half later in Beijing.
On our way to the Far East Hostel
For starters, I'll admit I was a bit nervous! This small town girl was on her way to by far the biggest city that she has ever seen with around 18 million people! Although, I was ecstatic about many things, I was also wondering how I was going to make it! So with my Chinese Yuan bills strategically placed all over my body in case of getting pocket picked (Ha ha... Hush, Jenni, I eventually found where I put them all!) and note cards of a few Chinese phrases my friend Sadie taught me, I jumped in head first into the world of CHINA!!!
Chickens outside our Hostel
Wonderfully enough, after arriving at the airport we ran into three lovely, Korean gals who were willing to split an airport van with us to our hostel, "The Far East Hotel." We laughed together as we admired the diverse architecture and all the people we observed along the way! Although, the Winter season in Beijing is freezing cold, many people were still peddling away on their bikes!
Street outside our hostel
Once we settled into our room at the hotel, we decided to head to the computer lab to email two of our gal friends from Gwangju that came to Beijing a few days earlier so that at some point we could meet up. Lone and behold, on our way down Jenni and I heard two sweet, familiar voices... "LAURA, LINSEY, WOW, YOU ARE STAYING HERE TOO!!!!" In a city of around 18 million people, we ran into two of our closest friends within a few hours of landing!! WOW!!! What luck!
Alice's tea shop
Awhile later, Linsey, Laura, Jenni, our three Korean gal friends: Linda, Alice, Amanda, and I visited a traditional tea shop. The tea owner, Alice, graciously invited us to dine at a Peking Roast duck Restaurant. Peking duck, a famous dish from Beijing, is considered as one of China's national foods and has been prepared since the imperial era. The duck is thinly sliced and eaten with a number of different sauces (including sweet bean sauce, hoison sauce, and many more), seasoned vegetables, and thin, almost tortilla-like "pancakes." Immediately, I thought I died and gone to heaven with the phenomenal bursts of flavor from all the dishes! Chinese food in America doesn't even slightly compare and it so sad, because EVERYONE IS MISSING OUT BIG TIME!
Peking Duck with Alice and Shi Shi
Not only was the food AMAZING, but the company was very warming and the conversations stimulating. Alice speaks English very well and was willing to answer any questions we had about Beijing, Chinese food and culture, and even personal questions about her life as a tea lady. She has one lovely daughter, Shi Shi and her husband, who we have the pleasure of meeting the next day. Oh, it was so much fun!
After a wonderful evening of delicious food and beautiful company, we turned in for the night so that we would be able to get up the next morning at 5am to catch a bus to the Great Wall!
