Day 3

Lunch - Went to try this traditional Beijing restaurant nearby

i) 爆肚 (no idea what this is until now)

ii) 炸酱面

Which was not bad at all, but totally different from what we have in Malaysia!

Dinner - 卤煮拉面 + 豆腐 + 肉

which was very very good!!!

Day 2

I am most proud of Day 2!

I managed to get myself a local mobile service and a bank account HOORAY!!

I'm grateful the people in this hotel are nice and friendly to me and have been very helpful. When I couldn't find the local supermarket they even offered to bring me there, how cool is that!

I only had one meal today, at a Shanghai restaurant.

Tried the delicious 拍黄瓜 (cucumber) as recommended by Johnny and 大排拉面 (noodles with ribs) as recommended by the girl taking my order.

p/s : I am now much much better crossing the road ruthlessly. If you ever wait for the light and for the cars to stop, you are not going anywhere xD

Day 1

I must say I wasn't excited at all, partly I was still thinking about the opportunity costs (intern with PWC KL or Bursa or any other companies and have a good life) and I was dead tired from days of packing. The only anticipation that day was to try the much talked about Airbus A380.

Shock #1 : They spoke mandarin on an Emirates flight, how impressive is that. Yes, the air steward/stewardess spoke mandarin and all the safety instructions etc were in Arabian followed by English and Mandarin. I don't they have even spoken Bahasa Malaysia on flights to Malaysia xD

Now I am fine with this until the part where one of the air stewardess needed my help to close the stowage area. She asked for my help in Mandarin. Now I have no problem with mandarin nor do I have difficulties conversing in Mandarin, but it gave me a shock and a negative feeling about Emirates.

Shock #2 : There was a massive Chinese crowd and as expected most of them (I mean 98% of them) rushed to get onboard, to get off the plane and for everything else. It was a cultural shock to me when quite a few of them stood up right after the plane landed, and the senior cabin crew had to make them SIT!

Now here comes the joke of the day. On my connecting flight EK306 from Dubai to Beijing, the guy beside me took ages to realise the seat beside mine was his. Well soon after taking off, we had a meal. I don't know about the rest, but my practice is to wait for the attendants to come clear everything. But the guy beside me was BRILLIANT! He spent 5 minutes finishing his food, and folded away his tray. Now what did he go with the tray of food and cutleries? Well, he left all of those on the walkway, right outside the toilet!!!!!!! and his fellow mates followed. I must say I probably started taking plane when I was 5 or younger, and this is my FIRST TIME seeing such a thing! It's just disturbing!

65 days in Beijing

It was almost 4pm at LHR - London Heathrow airport, I was due to go pass security check and board my flight EK030 bound to depart at 5pm. It was such a complicated even for someone who has travelled alone, left home for university and boarding school at the age of 16+. I guess I was challenged deep inside, much more than those posted by OBS, much much more than those kayaking or solo camping. Never before in my life I have to survive with no friends, fb, youtube, internet, local knowledge, mobile services etc.

A good proof that this whole experience has posted a bigger challenge to me than OBS did - it gave me teary eyes. I decided that I am going to revive my blog and put my experience into words.