HK Day 7/Beijing Day 1: Chasing the Heat

So we're in Beijing now!  It's a little bit difficult to blog partly because of the bad internet connection as well as the numerous blocked sites in China.  I tried to download proxy servers and hotspot before I left, but they unfortunately don't seem to work since I got here.  For now, I'll just blog first, and add photos later when I have time.

Yesterday was our last day in Hong Kong, so we went back to some areas to pick up some food we liked, and buy iPod cases etc.  We visited the Hong Kong Art museum, and again, more food xD.  It was sad to leave Hong Kong where everything was very familiar, from the language to the culture.  It was nice to have everything translated to English in case my bad Chinese couldn't hold up; it was also nice to have British TV since I love the UK.  I'll definitely miss the cheap food, and the even cheaper transportation in HK, they also have free wifi everywhere throughout the city which was perfect for an internet addict like me.  I think I could see myself being comfortable in HK if it wasn't for the blasted heat and the mosquitoes which love me.   Speaking of heat, when we left Hong Kong, the weather was getting a bit cooler, turns out Beijing just got hotter today and will be unusually hot until after we leave.  Chasing the heat indeed -.-

Today we sadly left our tiny hotel and took a flight to Beijing.  The plane was delayed so we spent some time in the HK airport which was awesome.  The airport is massive, and even had a dim sum restaurant amongst the various shopping centers and duty free stores (which is pointless anyways since Hong Kong doesn't have tax on their items).  I should also mention the check in was so efficient, it was not only fast, but their technology must be better than ours in Toronto because they didn't force me to take off my shoes or belt! The flight was pretty short, but it took forever to take off and get off the plane after we landed.  Surprisingly the food was very good on the plane, but it was hard to understand what was going on since the English translations I've gotten used to doesn't exist in China xD.  We went straight to our hotel which is the largest hotel I've ever been to.  Our "room" is a two bedroom suite with a kitchen, laundry room, two full sized bathrooms and a living room & dining room.  I'll have to post some pictures later, but believe me, it's HUGE. I think our suite is larger than our old house we had a couple of years ago in Toronto! Thankfully HBO is still aired here in China so I'm not going to be in complete withdrawal without my facebook or youtube.  My first impression of Beijing is it's very similar looking to Toronto - at least on the highway and downtown area.  Entering Hong Kong was a huge difference visually, but besides the chinese characters, everything looks pretty much the same here.  We'll be staying in this hotel for three days before we switch hotels and join up with a Canadian/US tour group which I'm a bit nervous about since I'm pretty sure it'll be hectic.  Hopefully I'll be able to get onto blogger a little later to add pictures :) 

HK Museum of Art

(Contemporary exhibit)

View from Ascott Beijing

-M