Internet Access at Long Last - Day 3 in Beijing
What an eventful last three days it has been.
I had a hard time finding internet. Now, at long last, after three eventful days of travel, heat, meet & greet, fun, and exhaustion, I’m finally sitting here doing my thing, blogging through the UBC VPN.
Flight
I had a wonderful flight over here to Beijing from Vancouver. I was aboard Air China’s CA991, on an Airbus A300-200. I gotta admit, the flight was the best flying experience I’ve had. To start off with, the plane was nice, new, ‘n shiny. Each person has an individual TV/entertainment system mounted on the back of the seat in front. Did I mention that the food was great? The whole experience and plus the pleasentness factor make the flight quite a quick ‘n smooth sail. After a cat nap and a movie or two, I found myself strolling inside the new Terminal 3 of the Beijing Airport. All I can say is: impressive. Impressive not because of the sheer scale of the buildings and fancy lightrails and all the pazzazz, but impressive because of the facelift of the whole system, the whole nation as a whole.
Oh, and this guy sat beside me 
(do the glasses look familar?)
First Looks of Beijing
It is 2008, and the Olympics are coming here afterall. When I first stepped out of the airport, into the Beijing friday-night-crazy-like-it’s-crazy rush hour, I was simply amazed. Lanes on Beijing roads simply serve no purpose. It’s a constant struggle between cars and pedestrains.
What about the weather… the pollution, you ask? I’ve so far stayed for 4 days. Day 1, after landing through a thick coat of clouds, the sky wasn’t exactly clear. So no, the first day wasn’t the great. But the second and third days, however, were simply terrific. Blue, cloudless skies where one can see miles down. Here are some photos:
@ Tiananmen sqaure. Cops everywhere. Every bloody where. We even had to go through a bag check to enter the square. But hey, I ain’t complaining. I see skies of blue and… traces of white t-shirts here and there . Simply beautiful ( <– maybe that didn’t make too much sense gramatically. I’m typing this on the spot… kinda rushed).
@ the National Statium, aka “Bird’s Nest”. Ahh.. see the uh.. blue sky ‘n beautiful sunshine? Happy now, BBC, China-bashers?
More Thoughts
Internet sure was hard to find. Maybe the area I was staying in is somewhat remote (XuanWu District) but there were hardly any wireless connections. I went to WangFuJing — downtown Beijing (where there’s supposedly some sorta wifi) — but could not find a spot to sit! All the cafes and places were swarmed with people. Starbucks was “riduuuuunculus”! Ahh…the sea of people.
Alrighty better pack it in. Will leave you with this:
(Don’t mind the typos in this post!)
Reader's Comments
While I do not envy the time spent on the plane ride (what was it, 9 hours? More?), the meals really do look impressive, and the fact that everyone gets their own screen must have made the flight that much more enjoyable. Good timing on the photos too.
Haha nice. We’re leaving tomorrow for HK. See you in a few weeks.
Hi, well I have experienced China Air to be a fairly good airline but you should definetly try out Emirates. It is got to be the best airline ever. I usually fly more then 10 times a year and therefore I consider myself experienced
I can only agree with you about terminal 3 but as soon as you exit the Terminal then the CHAOS will start. No one in China understands english and they all look so angry and not willing to help. So I am wondering if they can handle all the turists coming to China for the olympics ??
Cool!!
I’m jealous!!
Have fun in Beijing and watch out for those cars!
[...] an extremist comment? You’re right, the reality does speak louder than words. Just look at my photos in front of Tiananmen and the Bird’s Nest. What do you have to say about that? Ohh.. let me [...]
Your post is interesting. I enjoyed visiting your site.
Looks like you were having a great time! I love that jumping pose of yours. Enjoy the games!
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