Beijing...oh Beijing.

Going into China's capital I had the preconceived notion that, "Oh Beijing will be soooo much like Hong Kong because *flick hair* like they're like both big cities in China." Umm no.

Sometimes I wonder about myself. DUH BECKY being under British rule for 90+ years changes a LOT of things. For starters, they drive on the right side of the road, have religious freedom, and the food is much spicier (yes!).

But I also noticed other little things that were much different then Hong Kong like seeing trash on the ground or (gasp!) homeless people sleeping in the subway station. What is this?! Can it be, a normal mega-metropolitan city?! (Ok you won't get these notions till you've lived in Utopia (aka Hong Kong) where you find no trash on the ground and it's a rare site to see homeless people anywhere.

Arrival:
My flight landed in Beijing about 3pm and after getting my very last travel passport stamp for this semesters study abroad experience (sad face), checked out my bags, and headed for the doors, I suddenly heard out of no where, "Becky!" God?! "Becky!" I look around and then see Alex and Heidi waiting for me. LOL Their flight arrived at 10ish and the 'took one for the team' and waited on me so I wouldn't get lost. Thank goodness they did because Heidi, a Mandarin speaker, was able to get us around the city with ease. We caught bus #2 and had a map of our hostel that was "Just a six minute walk from The Tien. Square". Riiiight The 6 minutes turned into an hour hunt.

First night:
Ok there are some things you just shouldn't do traveling on your own. One of them is staying in a dorm room in a hostel by yourself. Usually it's a safe and fun bet to save money. As Michelle Carrier says, "The shadier the hostel the better the stories."
Anyways, so I think I'm staying in a 8 person dorm room with bunk beds. I was shocked to walk into a room with three beds and two of them taken up by men (28+ year olds). It gets better. "So how did you two meet?" "The internet." "Well what brought you to Asia?" "The beautiful girls."
ugh. WHY??? I thought I saw the last of you creepy Western men.
Dear Asia,
I promise we do have solid men somewhere.
But mom don't worry because if I really didn't feel safe I would have spent the extra $4 bucks to get a double room by myself.

Other random things: I wish I spoke the language. It's much harder to get around and (obviously) communicate with locals. Also, people weren't kidding about the spitting problem. yuck. Construction is everywhere and they're pumped for the Olympics.