Honeymoon: Arrival in Beijing

B and I arrived in Beijing safely yesterday afternoon, after a surprisingly short plane flight (it was only 10 hours! Yay!). Unfortunately getting to the hotel was a multi-hour time of suffering, because it took many hours to travel from the airport to its location. This wasn't because the distance is so great, but only because traffic in Beijing is incredibly bad. In fact, I think it's the worst traffic I've ever experienced (over a sustained period of time and when no accident was involved): I guess in a city of 15 million, congestion is inevitable.

The hotel is in a converted traditional house, which is designed around a series of courtyards, which are paved spaces overhung with trees, where one can sit and drink tea or beer. It's very charming and quite inexpensive (about $28/night for a private room and bathroom), but somewhat inconveniently located. Beijing is somewhat like LA in that it's very large and spread out, and it's difficult to travel around freely because the traffic is so bad (although at night this is not the case). Luckily, unlike LA, biking is very popular and bike lanes are available on all main streets: so B and I rented bicycles today and went to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is very impressive. It really is a city, covering acres and acres, with highways, side streets, stores (including a Starbucks where we got Frappucinos) and many, many buildings. Everything is extremely beautiful and carefully planned to fit together in a harmonious way. Many of the buildings and courtyards have fallen into disrepair since the emperors departed, but with the Olympics the Chinese government has started to restore them, and some are completely restored now. I took many pictures, but it's hard to capture the sheer scale of the place. It's enormous. We also passed by Tiananmen Square, but did not stay because it is very ugly: an immense concrete desert under the beating sun.

Beijing is very picturesque and enjoyable so far, despite terrible pollution and overcrowding. The food is great and history is everywhere.