I walk up to the customs counter with butterflies in my stomach. I am hoping to get a 72 hour transit pass for Beijing because getting a visa was going to be too much of a headache. There is this chance I will be stuck in the airport until Wednesday. Thankfully after some research to confirm my identity, making sure my embarkation card is filled out to her liking, and confirm that there is indeed a flight leaving within 72 hours with me on it I am given the stamp of approval and allowed to pass into the city that is Beijing.

Rain crashes does creating puddles in minutes while people scurry for cover. My first day in Beijing started off with me waking from a really good night sleep. The hostel I stayed at was very quiet and I was so tired that I only woke for a couple seconds to the sounds of people coming in before falling back into a deep sleep.  After having a quiet breakfast in my room I headed out around 730am. I first went to Tianmen Square but had to come back to the hostel for my rain coat because the heavens had opened up and there was no stopping it. After retrieving my jacket I explored Tianmen Square in detail. I saw the Railway Museum, National Museum of China, and the National Theater. After some more meandering around it was off to get some lunch and have a bit of down time at the hostel. I then made my way over to the other side of the highway to explore a bit there. About in a hour into it though I had to beeline it back to the hostel as it had begun to pour even harder than in the morning and my coat was becoming soaked through as well as my pants and shoes. Making it back to the hostel I changed out of my wet clothes so they could dry and curled up in bed for a bit to read before heading out to get some dinner. For dinner I went to a local restaurant around the corner from the hostel and had the noodle with beef bowl which was delicious. I am having to work on my chop stick mastery while I am here as places do not provide forks even to the little Canadian girl. By this time I was starting to get it when it came to noodles. Then I went for a walk along the streets/markets surrounding the hostel to see what was up. I then went to the local 7-eleven to grab something for breakfast the next morning before making my way back to the hostel for the night. Being up and going by 7am in the morning had led to a very long and busy day and I was ready for bed.

The sun shines in the morning and there are pieces of blue sky to be seen which brings forth pieces of landscape to be seen from afar that yesterday I didn’t even know existed.  My second day Beijing started with me waking from an even better night’s sleep than the night before. I must have been even more tired than the night before because I did not hear a single person come in or out of the hostel room. After dressing I headed to the brother hostel to the one I was staying at to see if I could get access to wifi there. I had no luck getting it at my own. No such luck though so dropped my computer off back at the hostel and headed out for the day. I started off by going to Baihai and Jingshaw parks and was amazed to see buildings that the day before I could see at all. Then I came back to the hostel for a bit before heading out to get some lunch. After lunch I headed out to do some subway hopping to check out some points of interest that could not be reached efficiently by walking. I went to the CCTV Tower, Summer Palace, and the Beijing Olympic Park. Ending with the Beijing Olympic Park was a perfect way to end my stay in Beijing. The 2008 Beijing Olympics were a huge point in Canadian Show Jumping History so it was really special to be there and see it. I then went back to the hostel to change shoes and put some more layers on before going to the same restaurant but this time to have pork/veggie dumplings. They…were…AMAZING!!!! The order gave me 20 small dumplings but I could have eaten double that easily.  Then I went for a walk and had an ice cream before heading back to the hostel for the night.

The short 72 hours in Beijing, China did not give me enough time to see everything but it did give me enough time to do one thing and that was to fall for the city of Beijing and the country of China. This is going to be a city I come back to in the future. The vibe of the city is great and there is just so much to see and experience. One question remains though…who is coming with me?!

Dream, Believe, Imagine, Achieve,

Meredith