The One With the Un-Chinese

I was at the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations 2007 Conference (HPAIR 2007) from 16-26 Aug. in Beijing recently. The conference was only from 17-20 August, but apparently, it would have been very un-chinese of me if I did not visit Beijing fully since I am going there anyway (under the auspices of my supervisor and my piggy bank's accounts). I took off on an SIA flight from Penang - Singapore, and was on a Beijing-bound plane a little after midnight, after meeting up with my new-found friend Roohi at Changi. We shared a cab to Grand Hyatt, where the conference will be held, and which will be our home for the next few days. The first language difficulty we had was in the cab - poor driver managed to tell us just in time that he needed 10 yuan for toll. Imagine trying to tell that to two sleep-deprived girls, neither of whom speak mandarin, and who does not know what a 10yuan note looks like...you get my point.

First impression of Beijing - it is a little blurred - literally - the skies were cloudy/hazy - official statement - it is due to the yellow dust storm from the desert far west. Roohi and I were very optimistic, and decided to conquer the Forbidden City less than 4 hours after getting off the plane. We did not know how FRIGGIN HUGE it was - guidebooks advise a whole day to appreciate it - we did it in three hours... We also almost kena conned on our way there by some young woman asking us to go to a "special art exhibition" which was interesting, if there was not ANOTHER girl telling us about HER art exhibition after we politely declined the first! After some detours, we managed to get to the Forbidden City safely...Here are some pictures that, and other stuff we did on Day 1, 16th of August.

See?? Its hazy!!! and... Lots and Lots of people...China is home to 1.3 billion of people afterall.

Compulsory picture of the front of the Forbidden City - correct me if I am wrong arr, this adventure started after a 5-hr plane ride... this is the entrance before the real entrance to the forbidden city - the one facing the main avenue of Chang An Avenue...

Another blurred view of the forbidden city...

China - the country filled with... stairs...

...and more stairs... nice ornate carvings though, which I guess one needs to distract oneself of the amount of stairs one has to climb!!

This hall is being restored - will be opened end of 2007. Yes, it is a good idea to visit Beijing this year before the Olympics in 2008, but bear in mind some of the landmarks will be undergoing restoration in preparation for '08.

Long story short, Roohi and I had a great time exploring the Forbidden City, we first went to EVERY temple/museum, but, it was HUGE, and all we wanted to do after two hours into this adventure was to get reach the exit of the city - we marched straight on - no more museums and Hall-of-Englightenment-etc for us, no sirree!! we took a cab to the hotel, although it was walking distance... the Forbidden City was... A CITY!!....my legs still can remember the pain of the walk... the good that came from this - now I don't complain of climbing the stairs up to my apartment...