After
flying 11 hours from Sydney to Beijing, let me just take this moment to let you
all know that our experience with Air China was pretty alright! Considering we
were flying economy and through the night (and from my previous traveling
experiences) I was expecting worse in the form of uncomfortable seats, old or
malfunctioning entertainment equipment and other unfortunate mishaps (as my
luck has always been with these types of things), but I was pleasantly
surprised at the smoothness of it all. Granted, I slept most of the way, so
that may have been a contributor, but anyway, moving on!
We landed at 5AM Monday morning local time. As much as I raved about how smooth the trip was, we didn’t come out as unscathed as it sounds. Trying to sleep sitting up will do that to anyone. Steve’s Uncle Henry picked us and our luggage up in his, dare I say it, swanky Mercedes Benz.
It was probably less than 15 minutes between the warmth of the airport and getting in the car, but I totally felt the cold. It was my first time to feel -2 degrees at 6AM in Beijing. Comparing it to London weather now though, Beijing’s Winter is more dry than London-cold and I’d have to say I prefer “dry” cold than “wet” cold.
Now, because I’m definitely not fluent in Chinese, I totally didn’t realise that we were waiting for Steve’s grandma to get back in the car until he (belatedly) threw it over his shoulder at me from the front seat. Yes, translating becomes an afterthought to my fiancé when he’s in his home town, ha!
Meanwhile, I’m thinking, I have 11 hour travel-hair, travel-face, travel-breath, travel-everything, and this is the first – no, second. Technically, I met her when she came to OZ, but still! – first! Impression I’m giving your nan.
I guess it’s good that I’m not one of “those” girls then, because I only panicked for 5 seconds before getting over it. Ha!
We landed at 5AM Monday morning local time. As much as I raved about how smooth the trip was, we didn’t come out as unscathed as it sounds. Trying to sleep sitting up will do that to anyone. Steve’s Uncle Henry picked us and our luggage up in his, dare I say it, swanky Mercedes Benz.
It was probably less than 15 minutes between the warmth of the airport and getting in the car, but I totally felt the cold. It was my first time to feel -2 degrees at 6AM in Beijing. Comparing it to London weather now though, Beijing’s Winter is more dry than London-cold and I’d have to say I prefer “dry” cold than “wet” cold.
Now, because I’m definitely not fluent in Chinese, I totally didn’t realise that we were waiting for Steve’s grandma to get back in the car until he (belatedly) threw it over his shoulder at me from the front seat. Yes, translating becomes an afterthought to my fiancé when he’s in his home town, ha!
Meanwhile, I’m thinking, I have 11 hour travel-hair, travel-face, travel-breath, travel-everything, and this is the first – no, second. Technically, I met her when she came to OZ, but still! – first! Impression I’m giving your nan.
I guess it’s good that I’m not one of “those” girls then, because I only panicked for 5 seconds before getting over it. Ha!
So
we went to check in at the St. Regis which was the hotel that Steve’s Uncle put
us up in (thank you again, Uncle Henry!) and finally got to freshen up and chat
for a little until the shops opened.
They took us to Wangfujing (literal translation “Prince’s Mansion Well) which is one of the Chinese capital’s most famous shopping streets. I wish it hadn’t been the middle of winter because I was freezing and very glad that I thought to bring a coat. And gloves. And a beanie.
Steve on the other hand, was wearing thermals and all, but his grandma being a grandma also brought him a cute red sweater which she made him wear. And, yes, nobody says no to Grandma Fu, haha!
They took us to Wangfujing (literal translation “Prince’s Mansion Well) which is one of the Chinese capital’s most famous shopping streets. I wish it hadn’t been the middle of winter because I was freezing and very glad that I thought to bring a coat. And gloves. And a beanie.
Steve on the other hand, was wearing thermals and all, but his grandma being a grandma also brought him a cute red sweater which she made him wear. And, yes, nobody says no to Grandma Fu, haha!
Despite
the cold, I had the best time just walking through the food and snacks street
of Wongfujing! I didn’t try anything, and you’ll understand why when you see my
photo, but it was fascinating just staring at them anyway.
After
plenty of window shopping but no actual shopping, (no space in luggage), there
was no better place to go but to Haidilao
Restaurant for some mad hot pot. It was my first experience making my own
dipping sauce which was probably why I didn’t like mine at all and ate Steve’s mix
instead. It was a wonderful way to spend lunch especially after being in the
cold for most of the day.
When we were all full from all the meat and veggie varieties, instead of going back to the hotel to get some rest, Steve and I decided to YOLO the rest of the day and get dropped off at Beijing Zoo to see some pandas! (And other animals…but mostly I wanted to see pandas…And wolves!)
By
the time we finished, I’d seen a frozen lake, some very active wolves and
awesome elephants (that were indoors, thank goodness), I petted a zebra (with a
gloved hand) and watched a panda eat some bamboo.
If Steve wasn’t fluent in Chinese and vaguely
knew his way around, I don’t think we would’ve been able to take the bus all
the way to his Grandma’s house, which wasn’t near the CBD. When we got to her
apartment, I met his cute grandpa and we had yummy dumplings for dinner. And,
as cliché as it sounds, she showed me family photos!! Ha! (See below for teen
Steve).
Our
first day ended with a train ride back to the hotel and an awesome shower. No
Facebook before bed time because China totally blocks everything, ha! Thank
goodness for Instagram!
Lastly, here's us looking very Asian. Team Stella says no to pollution!
xoxo
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