Chilly China

We arrived on Friday night to Beijing, we were excited and nervous to see the 'apartment' that we had rented prior to our arrival. We found this apartment through one of Ryan's colleagues that he met at the Law firm he worked at during his time in Beijing two years ago. However, we really didn't know what it looked like, where it was, or if we would like it. The taxi cab promptly dropped us off at an apartment, the doorman took our bags and then Ryan showed him the Chinese name of our apartment. . . he quickly frowned and shook his head "no". I thought, oh no, we've been dropped off at the wrong place, it's 9:00 at night and no one speaks English, how are we going to get to the right apartment? Well, the good news is that we were just around the corner so the doorman helped us with our bags and walked us to the correct apartment building. We thanked him and walked into the lobby. We got the key and found our way to the 10th floor and walked into our apartment. It's perfect, it has a small kitchen, a nice size living room and bedroom, a bathroom with great water pressure and hot water (after a couple of months of traveling we've learned to check these simple things!) and a washing machine!!! We were very surprised and excited. We were not in the apartment more than 10 minutes when the phone rang, sure enough it was Ryan's colleague, Jimmy, and his girlfriend, Cecelia who were downstairs. We welcomed them up to our apartment and enjoyed talking to them for a couple of hours. They filled us in on the 'happenings' of Beijing and all that we should do and see in China (Jimmy is a former tour guide and Cecelia works at the Pennisula Hotel). They were so helpful and welcoming that we went to bed with a great feeling that night.

The next day, we awoke to snow on the ground, in absolute shock, I said "Ry I think that's snow!", as I looked out the window. What a stark contrast from the heat and humidity of Bangkok! We bundled up with whatever long sleeves and long pants we could find, retired the flip flops we've been in for 2 months, and set out to explore. It didn't take long before we were in the next department store buying puffy long coats to keep warm.

Today we attempted to go to the Forbidden City but after about 10 minutes outside we were so cold we couldn't even walk. We found a noodle shop for lunch to warm up. We had to buy a few more things to keep us warm. . . gloves, scarves and hats should do the trick. Ryan's mandarin has come back to him remarkably well and he helps get us around. . . now if I could only learn a little then we will be in good shape! We are working on our travel plans for China as there is so much to see and do here. . . we'll keep you posted!