Arrival in Beijing – March 16

As you know if you read my post last Wednesday, we just got back from China. For the past week, I have been trying to decide how to recount our trip. Each day was filled with activity, and there is so much that I want to share with you. There is no way that I could include everything in a post or two. We took nearly two thousand pictures in the twelve days we were there.

Therefore, I have decided that for the next couple of months, Mondays will be China day here at the Cape of Dreams. I hope that you will join me on this virtual trip through Beijing and Shanghai.

Today we will begin with our departure from our school in Westchester, NY at 8:30 on March 15. We were a group of twelve students, our lead chaperone, Douglas and myself. Our flight left from Newark, and we arrived in China at 15:30 in Beijing Capital International Airport.

We traveled with the group China Prep. They did an amazing job of organizing all of our activities and arranging our travel, so that all we had to do was sit back and enjoy the trip. Abby, one of their leaders, met us at Newark and traveled with us to China. Valerie, another leader, and Michael, our Beijing tour guide, met us at the airport with a bus.

The first thing that I noticed on our trip to the hotel was this large bird nest. I joked to Douglas that it was big, but I was not sure how all of the people fit in for the opening ceremony of the Olympics. All joking aside, this is a magpie nest, and they were everywhere. I also saw a magpie on the way but was unable to get a good photograph. I became obsessed with snapping the perfect picture while I was in Beijing.

Our first stop was to check into the Oriental Bay International Hotel. It was a lovely hotel just north of the second ring road in close proximity to the Bell and Drum Towers.

After checking in we left for dinner at the Lost Heaven Restaurant at Qianmen (Chianmen) Dongdajie next to Tiananmen Square. The food was amazing; I fear that American Chinese food has been spoiled for me forever. The food that we ate in China was far superior to even the best “Chinese” that I have eaten here in the States.

It was a beautiful night. The weather was perfect, and the smog was not bad. We had a clear view of the moon, which was full.

After dinner we drove around Tiananmen Square. I was disappointed that was our only opportunity to see it. I would have liked to walk around there, but we did not have the time.

On the way back to the hotel, I took more poor photographs out the bus window.

My pictures included the largest KFC in the world. It is sad that this is what we export to them.

That night we collapsed from exhaustion. There was no chance that the students were going to get in trouble because they were too tired to keep their eyes open. I woke briefly at 2:30, but was able to go back to sleep until 5:00.

Check back next week to hear about our visit to the Great Wall of China and the 798 Art District.

Happy Homemaking!