Vacation Blog: Beijing, China

Day one in Beijing was terrible. 17+ hours of flights in a seat with barely any room at all. It wasn't that I didn't want to sleep, I just couldn't. Getting into Beijing was another thing, it had been rainy in Vancouver during the time before I left and was blasted by 30 degree heat as soon as we hit the Beijing airport. So basically, recovering from the flight, combined with the culture shock made that first day terrible. But day two, things were looking up.

Day two began with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Many people can't think of Tiananmen Square without the word Massacre immediately proceeding it, which is unfortunate, because it's existence today is suppose to mean the exact opposite of Massacre. Following that we visited the Temple of Heaven which featured a few very intricately detailed structures. You could spend all day looking at it and fine a new detail every minute. Of course, I could say that about almost every temple we saw in China. The Summer Palace followed, which is situated on a giant man-made lake, although you'd never know it unless someone told you, or if you fell in somehow, since the depth is approximately 7 feet.

In the afternoon we went to a "Chinese" restaurant for our set lunch. It sucked. It sucked bad. It's Chinese food for Westerners. Vancouver has some of the best Chinese food in the world, but this was complete shit. It's understandable though, because these set lunches are prepared for Westerners who tend to enjoy it.

It's also interesting to note how the Chinese restaurants that cater to tour groups/foreigners work. There are separate sections (usually rooms, sometimes even floors) for each language represented. So one room would have servers with English-language skills, and another would have French or Dutch, and so on. In addition there is another section for tour guides, who presumably are eating real Chinese food(bastards!).

Those of you used to free water and unlimited refills will be in for a shock.

On the recommendation of our tour guide, Tony, we then went to separate Pearl and Silk factories. I gotta say, those sales associates are good, they speak perfect english and tag team to get you to buy stuff. Which is what I did, hey, Mother's Day was coming up, as they told me several times. Wish I had a pic of Phil modelling pearls though (SEXY!). It was because he's the same height as his mom so he could get an idea of how it looked. Don't believe him when he says I modelled some for my mom though, I'm wayyyy taller than she is.

Following this we went to the Silk Factory which was much more interesting than you think. It begins with a tour of the actual factory and how silk is made, quite intriguing really. Following that we were treated to our very own private fashion show, for the three of us, at our tour guide's request.





After that we were hushed into their gigantic sales area which has everything imaginable, done in silk. Phil bought silk bed sheets with a Dragon and Phoenix design, which symbolizes marriage. It doesn't look like he's getting hitched anytime soon though (bad luck). Also the sheets are for a twin-size bed, so even when he does get hitched it wouldn't cover him +1, so that's double bad-luck. These won't be the only cases of bad luck that Phil will create for himself this trip.

When I get rich(er), my entire wardrobe and bedsheets will be 100% silk.

If there is one thing I truly regret during the entire trip, it was that I did not get those Star Wars silk boxers (They weren't my size anyway). Just think about it, the power of the Death Star, in my pants.

To be continued....