Day 13: Flight to Beijing

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016

I had an opportunity to go to China in 1987 with my Oma, but turned it down. "Red China" had just opened up to tourism, and I'd heard that there were very few hotels, restaurants, or people who could speak English. I just couldn't see myself guiding my 82-year-old grandma around such a large and intimidating country, without being able to read signs or talk to people.

So she joined a tour group for three weeks, led by an older man who had grown up in China with his missionary parents. His family had been kicked out after the communist takeover in 1949. Fluent in Chinese, he was eager to see how Christianity had survived the communist suppression. That was the perfect tour for my grandma because she was always interested in world religions.

Although Oma loved the tour, especially the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Army, I remember her telling me the most frustrating thing for the group was trying to get an American breakfast. I guess they'd never heard the expression, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." These elderly Americans explained that they wanted eggs and toast. What they got was eggs floating in soup, eggs half raw, eggs on bread, bread in the egg soup, hard-boiled eggs, and who knows what else. But they never gave up trying...and they never got an American breakfast in China.

Guangzhou Airport. Super impressive. 55 million passengers a year are serviced by this airport, which was previously called Canton and where Cantonese cooking and language come from.

My flights on China Southern Air were smooth sailing. I had to go through customs when changing planes in Guangzhou, the third largest city in China after Beijing and Shanghai. I was shocked to see so many high-rise buildings as the plane was descending. Not just financial buildings, but residential skyscrapers. 8.5 million people. Hardly a village.

Luckily, I had booked a hostel for my week in Beijing, so I knew exactly where to go. The Beijing airport has great public transportation that's easy and cheap. First an Airport Express train, then the clean, modern subway, right to Dongsi station, a few blocks from Alley International Youth Hostel. I had picked it over another popular hostel because of the rooftop patio and the big communal space downstairs. For me, the biggest advantage of staying in a hostel is meeting other travelers. I started making friends the very first night.

Dongsi is the perfect neighborhood and location. Notice the lit-up "HOSTEL" sign after the flags. 

Alley Youth Hostel, but you don't have to be a youth to stay there. In fact, there was a Canadian guy and a Ukrainian woman, both about my age.




Many Chinese young people stay a month or more at the hostel while searching for a room to rent in Beijing. For the foreigners we had Canadian, Russian, Indian, Japanese, German, Ukrainian, and Dutch, but it changes all the time.


This guy Hash was one of my favorites. He helped me install an app so I could access Google, Facebook, Gmail, etc., despite the Chinese block.