A Big First Day In Beijing

I arrived at my hostel yesterday at 5 after an easy journey through the subways. A nice British/Korean kid helped me navigate the system from the airport but I was surprisingly competent given the time change and new surroundings.

I arrived at Xisi station with no big landmark around me. I was a little nervous following the directions to the hostel because it was obvious that no one in the area spoke English and I had to walk down a hutong alley. It was well worth it. Chinese Box Hostel is a great oasis in a nutty city. It's a totally different Beijing than the one I saw 8 years ago. This hostel is amongst regular Chinese housing in a quiet and normal neighborhood out of the way of the tourist sites. I love it!

I was worried about being lonely during this trip but immediately after I arrived I struck up a conversation with a Swede. I ended up walking through the local hutong market with his family, perusing the unidentifiable meats and stinky pickled vegetables. They came back to the hostel for dinner but I kept walking alone. Hungry, I stopped in a bakery and tried a dried pork bun with a lemon buttery paste. I asked for directions to Houhai (a bar and restaurant area) using my hands and pretended like I understood the Chinese response. The woman wrote down directions (in Chinese) and I drew 2 pictures: one of a bus and one of a person walking. She pointed at the bus. :) Then, kindly, she had me follow her to the station on the street and it was easy from there.

I watched Beijing life from the #13, snacking on some dried pork. There were no foreigners in site. The bus driver let me know when to get off and I was a little worried because I didn't see any landmarks (it's super hazy here) but after walking about 100 feet I was betwen Houhai and Beihai park. I took stroll through the gigantic park which I hadn't seen before. There was some hilarious aerobics going on and the people that looked insane were actually practicing Tai Chi.

Walking out of the north gate of the park I could see the lights of Houhai. There are hundreds of restaurants and bars around this lake. I kept on walking because I couldn't choose a place to eat! After walking around the whole lake I finally sat down at this place where I ordered the stuff that looked most palatable. Crap, I hate Chinese food. I forgot. No, I didn't forget, I had just hoped for the best.

I took the 13 back to the hostel and the people staying there were finishing their "family dinner" and planning their next move. I immediately met about 7 other people traveling alone and they convinced me to ditch my plans of turning in early. We all went out and danced our butts off at a super fancy club called "MIX." The place was swanky with some serious security. Well, kind of serious. A Chinese bouncer is the size of a normal white man. They aren't so intimidating. Best part- Chinese people singing Ke$ha.

I got back at 3am, read a little bit to relax and try to beat the jet lag and fell sound asleep. End of Day 1. Today it's raining- we'll see what happens.