Thursday, July 8, 2010

We’re here in Beijing! The flights from SEA-LAX-CAN-PEK (Airport abbreviation quiz answers at the bottom*) were quite smooth and uneventful, which is exactly how you want things to flow when you are flying for 17hrs and laying over somewhere for another combined 6hrs.

After hitting the ground in Beijing we were greeted by a young lady (Peicey) holding a sign with our name. She led us to a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta and whisked us away to the heart of Beijing’s inner rings to our quaint courtyard accommodations in the Shijia hutong (neighborhood). We took a few hours to freshen up, fiddle around with the Internet connection and negotiate for more bottled water.

Walking the ¼ mile or so down the alleyway out of the courtyard takes us past a little slice of life for many Beijingers. We pass a school, a combined liquor / tobacco / luggage / kabob store that is about the size of an 8x10 mini-storage space, a bicycle repairman and some construction workers on break from the adjacent building demolition project. The courtyard is an oasis amidst the relative chaos outside its doors and further down the busy streets.

In the quest for finding dinner this evening, our first challenge was to cross the street successfully. Think success in terms of survival like in the game Frogger, but you only have one quarter -- that is when video games used to be a quarter -- but I digress. After successfully dodging cars, rickshaws and what I can best describe as a miniature speeding silver taco truck we perused the various dining establishments. Hot Pot sounded good…but really it was too hot to linger over steaming oil to cook our meal “fondue style” so we moved on. We made our way toward what was clearly becoming a more diverse part of the city with large malls, hotels and tourists. On the cusp of complete commercial sensory overload (where we will end up later) we did find a nice place to eat. Many street level restaurants have “greeters” waiting at the front door with a menu and a tag line to draw you in. We chatted with a greeter who presented us with a menu with pictures. A Winner! Down the stairs where a nice fellow named David directed us to a table. In perfect English David said, “if you have any questions about the food just ask me.” David chatted us up a bit. He was upset to learn that the Super Sonics are n/k/a the Oklahoma Thunder. David is a college professor of fine arts who hosts and teaches foreign exchange students who come to Beijing to learn silk painting and other Chinese painting techniques. After dinner he brought us to a back room in the restaurant that serves as temporary gallery to display his work and the work of other artists. There were many nice pieces that were for sale. We passed, as we were just not in the shopping mood. Our mission was food then sleep and we were halfway through.

“I see Dutch people.” Really, we seem to be finding them everywhere. Who would have thought that Michelle would travel al the way to Beijing to practice her Dutch? First, we sat next to a Dutch businessman on the airplane trip from CAN to PEK. His horizontal red, white and blue flag/soccer ball lapel pin was the tell. So, of course we talked about the World Cup. Then later, on the way out of the restaurant Michelle heard a cacophony of Dutch language coming from two tables of about a dozen people. As we walked by she chimed in with “hoe gaat it Kaaskopen” (that’s “cheese head” in Dutch). They looked-up from their chop suey and greeted her with an initial perplexed look. After just a moment of conversation and observing the three Chinese babies with them, it was clear they too were in China to adopt. The Dutch Consulate is in Beijing and they were on the last leg of their journey.