When I got to the airport in Bangkok to go to China I was told I would need to go through immigration, get my luggage and recheck it at the next airport.  Oh jeeze, I  have an hour between flights.  That’s going to be close.  Then I look at my seat and it’s row 33.  It will take forever to get off the plane.  Row 33 was actually the 6^th row.  Who knew?  I got to China, had to take a shuttle, go through immigration, get my bag, recheck my bag, go through security again, another shuttle, a long walk, get some water, and go to the bathroom.  When I finally got to the new gate, they were loading the plane – perfect timing.  China magic.

When I got to Beijing I was supposed to have someone pick me up from the tour company, but there was no one there.  I got scared for a minute.  I realize the tiny bit of Thai that I speak makes me feel more comfortable in Thailand.  I know no Chinese.  Then I told myself to relax and I just waited.  The shuttle guy looked more flustered than me when he showed up.  He spoke no English, but got me to the car.  The car driver spoke no English.  I walked out of the airport and it was cold!  It felt so wonderful.  Beijing traffic is horrible so it took forever to get to the hotel.  The hotel is nice.  My room has an actual shower and bathtub.  Unfortunately, my room also had wet carpet in the entrance and an angry voice in the bathroom.  Also, the heat didn’t work.  The man staying next door to me was in his bathroom yelling on his phone for over an hour.  I did get the hotel to switch my room, but now I have a twin bed instead of a king.  It is warm and quiet though.

Day one of our tour was awesome.  It’s a tour group of 23 people and a guide.  The guide is great.  So, far the people on the tour are nice and interesting.  We went to the Temple of Heaven.  In the park portion a lot of retirees come to play card games, knit, exercise and just generally hang out together.  In a lot of families, the grandparents take the kids to school and then go to the park to hang out.  Then they pick up the kids in the afternoon since the parents have to work.  The park had exercise circuit similar to Thailand, but much more of it and people use it.  There was a massage circuit too.  The park was beautiful and in great condition.  The actual temple was beautiful.  Our tour guide gave us so much information, but a lot of it I don’t remember so I just can’t pass it on.  Our tour guide gave us whispers – he can talk on a mic and we can listen over earphones.  It makes walking around crowded loud places so much better.  He can tell us about the area we are seeing as we walk around it.  After the Temple of Heaven we went to a jade shop and then lunch.  Lunch was ridiculous.  They just kept bringing out food.  We had at least 12 different dishes at each table.  I tried some of everything, but the soup – there just wasn’t any room left when the soup came out.  Then we went to the Great Wall of China.  This is something I’ve always wanted to see.  It is an amazing feat of engineering and hard work.  It’s so beautiful where we went.  My knees felt great – Thanks PhuketFit.  After that we went to the Olympic complex to see the Bird’s Nest.  We didn’t go in, but just took pictures from outside.  Dinner was Peking Duck and then another 10 dishes or more.  It was like ridiculous lunch all over again.  All the food was excellent.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore