THE ARRIVAL

Nǐ hǎo!

Welcome to my first post from CHINA!!! Exciting times right? Its late Friday afternoon here and I have been up since 630am yesterday (though I did get a couple of hours on the plane) so I apologise for any creative spelling or grammar on my part! I left Plymouth at 830 yesterday morning and got the coach to Heathrow with my two rather hefty bags (one flaunting a rather spectacular moustache label, thanks to some lovely teachers I know!). I was lucky enough to bump into a friend from my old secondary school on the coach to Heathrow, so conversations with him coupled with listening to Miranda Hart's autobiography resulted in a nice journey up country. I arrived at Terminal 1 and had to make the rather awkward journey from there to Terminal 5 with my two hefty bags but I made it! Check in was a pleasure because British Airways decided to bump me up to Business Class! I met up with my Aunt, Marion, and we grabbed a bite to eat before I headed through security.

I was lucky enough to have a fellow intern on the same flight as me called Sam. we met up on the other side of security and he somehow managed to drag me away from duty free (but not before I had tried all of the free samples of alcohol!). I boarded first (one of the perks of Business class apparently) and got to settle into my pod (yes I had a pod), complete with a glass of posh champagne! Needless to say Sam was green with envy as he walked past my pod towards cattle class but the joke was on me as I soon had an allergic reaction to the champagne I was flaunting... The flight wasn't too bad, the food was beautiful and tasted amazing and the seat could move to become a bed! The entertainment system was a bit of a disappointment (compared to Virgin Atlantic) but I managed to watch the end to 'Perks of being a wallflower' (I started it on the way back from Orlando at Christmas) and I also watched 'Seven Psychopaths' and 'Hope Springs'; I even got a few hours sleep!! Watching the sun come up was breath-takingly beautiful and the ground looked like someone had scrunched up a piece of paper to create the mountains.

Free Champers!

Loving the free Southern Comfort

Beijing Airport

Our arrival into Beijing was lovely, the sun was out but it remains very cold (-14 to -10 today!). Beijing reminded me a lot of Eastern Europe due to the sheer amount of apartment towers and the snow! It was weird seeing industrial chimneys surrounded by residential areas, it definitely wouldn't happen in the UK. Sam and I got ripped off my a taxi driver who refused to take us for anything less than 400 RMB (£40), I managed to get him to down from 600RMB though. Apparently my bags meant I had to pay extra... Anyway we made it to the Happy Dragon Hostel and met up with fellow interns Brad, Mark and Kathryn. Brad and Kathryn offered to show Sam and I around the local area, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and were lucky enough to be given a menu with pictures! We got some pork dumplings, sweet pickles, Beijing shredded beef, kung pow chicken and some really horrible soup! All for 100RMB (£10)! There were some interesting flavours and textures (including some wraps that were the same texture as marigold gloves and tasted like it too) but some of it was nice!

 After lunch we headed to the supermarket - Wu Mart... It was VERY busy and I had no idea what half the stuff on the shelves were but 2RMB beers (20p) were bought!

Once we had got back to the hostel, I had a bit of a panic because I couldn't connect to the internet, but thanks to Brad and his laptop I am now connected (as you can see). Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, I am just trying to stay awake until a decent time so I can reset my body clock!

See you later!

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wǒ jiào

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