We had 4 hours here but didn't leave the airport. We enjoyed looking around as there were many stores and restaurants - one end looked like a 3 story shopping mall! We did get some currency changed into Hong Kong dollars so we could get Danni a drink (to take her allergy pills). We paid $12.00 Hong Kong dollars for a regular Coke. That would be about $1.50 in US dollars. We left Hong Kong at 12:20 PM Hong Kong time and arrived in Beijing at 3:15 PM Hong Kong time (2:15 AM Central time!). All the meals while flying were pretty good. We had supper and breakfast on our LA/Hong Kong flight and dinner on our HK/Beijing flight. We met Joe, our guide while we are in Beijing, and he escorted us to our hotel. It was about a 45 min. drive to the hotel and we saw a bit of the city. The traffic is amazing! People switch lanes or turn without a lot of regard to oncoming traffic. The pedestrians are also this way at the intersections! There were tons of pedestrians and bicyclists. They were in an area 5-6' wide at each the side of the road but would swing into the road without warning. We also saw a lot of school children in their uniforms bicycling home. Most of the younger children wear bright yellow caps. Joe said this is so they can be seen more easily.
We are staying at the Wang Fu Jing Grand Hotel here in Beijing. In China the water is not potable, so any water used for drinking, or even brushing your teeth, must be bottled water or boiled beforehand. Danni fell asleep as soon as we got into our hotel room, but Ryan and I explored a bit. We got some of our currency changed into yuan. Then we found a KFC and ordered supper. Since the cashier knew very little English, this was interesting. We ordered chicken sandwich meal deals by pointing and saying 2. We thought she was asking if we wanted "king size" it when actually she was asking if we wanted fries or salad!! So we ended up with corn salad, but it was still good. We ordered juice and got a mango type juice that was really good. Our meals cost 18.50 yuan each (about $2.34). We went to bed at 7:00 PM Beijing time (the same as Hong Kong time) which was 6:00 AM Central time.
Ryan woke up at 3:30 AM (2:30 PM Central time). Danni and I woke up about 1/2 hour later. From our hotel window we can see construction to the left. They seem to only work on construction of a night. When we woke up, they were working, but when it became daylight, they cleaned up and left. (Joe says there is a lot of construction in Beijing due to the Olympics coming.) To the right is an area where there people live. The roofs almost totally cover the area, with a few small areas between. It seems so strange to be able to look down into people's "yards" and watch them hanging out clothes and working. To the far right we can see a newer style apartment building, and beyond it, the roofs of several older style buildings with the pagoda style roofs. It seems a mingling of old and new!
We need to go down to our breakfast buffet and then meet Joe for our tour, so I will write more later. We are very busy here in Beijing so we will try to get some pictures up when we get to Fuzhou on Sunday. We should have more time then - or at least Ryan should.