2x22 Hours in Beijing

I took Air China to go back home and to Korea. The absolute reason that I took this airlines was because it was cheap! Many says that it is not good, but hey, it is cheap, what can you expect? But I think it was not bad at all, not that good either. Maybe for most people who had taken this airlines to go back to Indonesia thought that the most disturbing thing among all is to transit in Beijing for hours. Not for me, I enjoyed it every second.

Also, many told me that I would not be able to go outside the airport. Even a native Chinese told me that with a really ensuring face. Before leaving Korea, I even did some research about this and some even said that we even need visa just for transit. Dang! are you freaking kidding me. I was getting panic. I finally contacted the airport immigration through Q&A page and the reply was satisfying. It said that I would not be needing any visa and I could go out from the airport, too. But still, I was not that 100% sure.

Que sera sera, whatever happens happens. I arrived at Beijing International Airport at around 8 PM local time. There was no people in immigration line, just us. Then when it was my turn to go to talk to the officer, he told me to wait on another line, the special one. I was kind of freaking out. I thought I would be sent back because I have no visa or because of any other issues. But, somebody else was lining at that counter but there was no officer. Not long time, one officer came and asked us to follow her. And guess what, a stay visa permit stamp on my passport!

Sour fruit with frozen caramel

I met with another friend from CouchSurfing. His name is Lee and he, even though not a local, is a Chinese. It was not difficult at all to locate public phone at the airport, it is like everywhere. By using this public phone, we can call to local cellphone and land line. I called him and we decided to meet at Guloudajie station. To go there, first I had to get out from the airport heading to the airport express train. Airport express train has 4 stops: Airport terminal 3, Airport terminal 1&2, Sanyuanqiao where we can transfer to line 10, and Dongzhimen where we can transfer to line 2 and 13. And do not worry, all the station name has alphabet name under it. By taking the airport express train that costed me RMB 25 = USD 4, I went to Dongzimen station to transfer to line 2 and then took subway (RMB 2 = USD 0.32/trip) to go to Guloudajie. I got out from the exit number 1 and he was not there!! I was so scared since I could not find any public phone. I kept waiting until I looked at some teenager gathered around and I accumulated my bravery to ask one of them for a phone to call Lee. Just when I was about to call him, he showed up, oh, you have no idea of that feeling. He came with another 2 people, one from Russia and one from Pakistan. Four of us went to some famous streets in Beijing. I do not quite recall the name of the street but it was pretty empty, maybe because it was at night. It was not that memorable, to say it bluntly.

Free-of-pork dumplings

 The next day was the hit. I and Lee woke up early in the morning to have breakfast before we go to our main destination today. I do not know if this is a regular breakfast for Chinese but it taste yummy. It was dumplings and some sort of bread with sauce, also a bowl of egg soup. The main destination for today is the famous one and only, Forbidden City. It was freaking cold, but really worth it. I forgot to mention that Beijing is really (I mean really really) huge, and so is The Forbidden City. To get inside we need to pay RMB 40 = USD 6.4 or if you are a (Chinese) student you can get in by paying half price. One thing I should mention is that the counter lady was really rude. She just threw the ticket to a small hole at the counter. I mean, she should have been more polite and it would not have hurt anyone. I do not know if it is related with their culture, but for me it was rude. I do not really know much about this place, though. All I know is that this place is really huge, just like a mini city.

Me in front of the entrance

I did not take a guide since Lee went to somewhere because he had something to do. Thus, I was alone. Even though I had no idea whatsoever about the place, somewhat I enjoyed looking and taking picture of the buildings and patterns on the wall. Actually I was a bit tired exploring this place since it is really huge. It was like no end for this place. Until I found the exit sign. I went out and, duh. I ended up at the back part of the Forbidden City. I was planning to go to Tiananmen Square which is really near from Forbidden City. But then, I had to walk around to reach to that place. It was super far and I was super tired. One thing I noticed is that I saw so many public toilet along the road. I wonder why is there so many toilet here in Beijing. Tiananmen Square is just a huge square with I think a pretty horrible history. At the gate of Tiananmen there is a picture of Mao Zedong, the first Chairman of China. Well, that concludes my first short trip in Beijing. Before heading back to the airport, I went to a souvenir store neat Tiananmen Square and everything was really cheap!

The second time I transit to Beijing I had no where to go. I stayed at the airport until I decided to contact Lee again, and guess what? He was also on the way to Beijing and we were meeting at the airport! What a lucky me. I met him in the evening, and with a really short time, we went to Olympic Park to see two pretty buildings. One is a bird-nest like building and another one looks like bubbles.

They are really pretty. I feel so grateful to have met Lee. He likes travelling and helping traveler. I learned a lot from him. But dang, I did not have a chance to go to the Great Wall, maybe later? anyone?

Me with Lee's parent =]

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