It's The Final Countdown!

  Beijing, China
June 04, 2009

Can you believe that we arrived in our final city today and that we will be going back to Canada on the 11th??? WOW!

We woke up around 6:00, but neither of us had slept well. The beds are hard and I think that they turned the a/c off during the night.

We arrived in Beijing at 7:15, but our journey did not end there! We came up and out of the train station and passed the bus station. We thought we were at the North train station (as confirmed by our non-English speaking cabin partner). We were trying to walk to the nearest subway station. We stopped and asked a police officer how to get to the nearest station and I pointed to the one I though was the nearest. He directed us back to the bus station for bus number 387. We did not feel that this was going to go in the right direction even though we could not read the sign in Chinese only, so we started walking East again.
 
We had walked for a while when I asked 4 guys who were waiting at a bus stop. They told us to take bus number 9 and then catch the blue line.

The bus arrived right away and only cost 1 yuan each. Bill stayed near the front and I moved toward the middle and was talking to a girl from Florida. The bus was incredibly crowded and my purse was in the lap of one girl the whole time. One only man went by me and started berating me for at least a minute about my bag. Seriously Buddy, I am enjoying this a lo less than you are! We started to arrive in an area that I could find street signs for in our book. We found the Tian'an Men Square stop for the Floridian and we went a few stops more to the Chongwen Men stop.

We boarded the subway at Chongwen Men and went to the Jianguo Men stop (we found out later that the Dengshikou stop is right beside our hotel) for 2 yuan each. After we departed the subway we walked another 15 minutes - 1/2 hour. My shoulders and neck were killing me (and still are days later). All in all, it took us over 2 hours to get from the train station to the hotel.

Our backs were soaked when the bell hops peeled them off of us. We checked in and upgraded our rooms for an additional 288 yuan ($48) we get the breakfast buffet, use of computers, all day tea and coffee and happy hour food and drinks from 5:30 - 7:30 each day.

We went to our room and it will be a good home for the next 8 nights. We relaxed and unpacked. Then we checked out the internet on the 15th floor. There are 2 computers, that is good news.

We walked out of the lobby and there is a Starbucks! Hurray!

We went to a shopping center and ended up eating at Pizza Hut for lunch. Bill has taken a big step forward! He ordered an orange drink and a Supreme without pineapples and olives and then did not eat the sausage and ham... I had curry beef on rice with diet Pepsi.

We walked along the pedestrian street. There are stores, souvenir shops, food stalls with live scorpions and seahorses on a kebab, gyros meat, candy stores, department stores and fast food restaurants. 

We went to  Tian'an Men Square, also known as Guang Chan, "the Square of the Gate of Heavenly Peace". It is dominated by a large red pavilion that has a massive picture of Chairman Mao. It was here on October 1, 1949 that Chairman Mao announced the People's Republic of China.

There are many police and security guards everywhere, like every 20 feet. We had our bags checked twice, they were scanned once and our passports were checked once.

We went across the street to the infamous area that has the Monument to the People's Heroes that was erected in 1958. It is the largest monument in China and is located in front of Mao's mausoleum. The sign says it is only open from 8 - 2. It is flanked by 2 revolutionary statues.

We caught a glimpse of Zhenyang Men (Gate) and Arrow Tower (Jian Lou) that were built during the MIng Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Together these buildings form the Double Gate (Qian Men).

We saw the China National Museum, built in 1959, but it looks like it is under renovation and not open. On the other side is the Great Hall of the People (seats of the legislator).

It is very hot out today, so we bought a couple of waters and some sunglasses for 25 yuan ($4).

We went up and in Tian'an Men pavilion. We had to check our bags and we went through a scanner. It was 25 yuan each for entry and 2 yuan for bag check.

There was a good view, but we could only walk around the front. Inside there was a room with heavy wooden chairs. In another room there were souvenirs and photos on the walls.

After we walked down and claimed our bags we walked toward the Forbidden City. We went along the wall and by the moat and then headed back toward our hotel.

We picked up some water and gatorade at the department store. I bought my Beijing Starbucks mug and a sugar-free iced tea for 108 yuan ($18).

I watched a French movie while Bill napped. We then went up for happy hour and had chicken kebabs, fish, peanuts and raisins, watermelon, club soda and wine.

We went for a walk back toward the pedestrian area and went inside the massive mall. We looked in some of the stores, the MLB store (most NY stuff), a book store and the Nike store, but we did not buy anything.

On the way back to the hotel Bill bought a DQ blizzard and I bought an apple and peach. We ate our snacks and went to bed.