15 October - Settling down in Beijing

Back from dinner after a long day being in the air. The flights were pretty smooth with only the landings being really bumpy. As there was no time at guangzhou Airport for lunch, the on board lunch was much appreciated.

Eventually I reached Beijing Airport at about 5:20pm, which is pretty much on time. Took the airport express down to the city and I was wondering to alight at zhangzizhonglu station or dongsi station. Decided to go for dongsi station since my hostel was at the 9th alley of dongsi. Turns out that was a bad idea since the end of dongsi, which is the 10th alley, is right beside the zhangzizhonglu station! And so it was a 20 minute walk to my hostel, with the sun having set. Thankfully, the streets were still busy and there were people walking around.

The hostel turns out to be really good and value for money. I was allocated a room that already had three other girls inside, it's a mixed dorm. At S$11 a night, it's already a bargain for the cleanliness and comfort.

Being hungry from the airline lunch, I walked along the main street and found a restaurant that boasted of good xiaolongbao. The menu was really extensive and the dishes about S$4-S$8 each, in a typical Chinese shared dish concept. Decided to splurge a bit since it was the first night and ordered a tray of 12 xiaolongbao, a plate of walnut chicken stir fry and a plate of Tofu with Century egg. Added up to S$15 and obviously I couldn't finish it at all.

Here I am, blogging in the dark since one of the roommates is already asleep. The weather outside is 17degC with strong wind at times. Realised I'm the only one that's walking along the streets in a short-sleeved Tshirt while everyone else is wearing long-sleeved Tshirts and layers of jackets and sweaters.

I'm supposed to go to Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China tomorrow but the hostel staff told me that theres a marathon there tomorrow. Coincidentally I also found out that the forbidden Palace is closed on Mondays and I had planned to go there on Monday. And so the plans for tomorrow and Monday shall be swapped! Forbidden Palace and tiananmen square tomorrow and mutianyu Great Wall of China on Monday!