Beijing Day 1

Wasted money on the softsleeper because I totally couldn't fall asleep... 13 hours of trembling carriages and we landed in Beijing at 7 in the morning. Groggily we took the Line 2 to Guloumen and got lost trying to find our hotel in a hutong. Had an awesome breakfast with some red porridge, baozi and youtiao, then found a nice cafe near the Gulou called Excuse Cafe.

Headed to the Zhonglou on a whim, then back at the hotel where I slept the afternoon away while Rui headed to the Olympic Stadium to take some touristy pictures. My first dinner in Beijing consisted of a fish burger at KFC, thanks to Rui's adventurous personality. Then we spent the evening at Lao She Cha Guan, where we paid 320 to sit through 100 painful minutes of tourist trap. Tacky lights, crummy looking projector, the presence of Americans, it was the perfect storm.

Went to Wangfujing after, but we were too late, the place closed at 10pm. Were accosted by shady looking women to go check out their ktvs and discos though. Very, VERY shady. Of course since I'm here blogging about it now we didn't accept their invitations. Was telling Rui how if I could turn back time I'd definitely go check out the place, see how they cheat people. I'm always fascinated by their ingenuity.

Houhai was another tourist trap. We were trailed by a couple of pickpockets before we turned around and stared them off. Went into Lotus Blue, which wasn't a big deal. And now we're back, utterly convinced Beijing is more touristy than Shanghai. The girls are hotter though, and surprisingly, the Beijingers dress very well too!