Week 1: Arriving in Beijing

When I arrived at the airport I was greeted by one of the program managers Gogo. I felt horrible that the other intern who arrived the same day waited three hours for me. The drive from the airport was silent a mixture of taking in the surroundings, tiredness, and just plain old curiosity of what lay ahead of us.

Our informal dinner was quaint given that there were only four new interns this March. The other three new interns are awesome. From our first meeting to our informal dinner and late hangout, we shared our travelling experiences, talked about our home country. Conversation was certainly not lacking. I am looking forward to the next couple of days of CRCC program events and free time to do some sightseeing.

My first week in Beijing in the CRCC Asia program has been the best kind of whirlwind. The program events were definitely a good way to start exploring and learning about Beijing. After the welcome events, given that it was all our first time in Beijing, we decided to pack our weekend to the brim with sightseeing.

This week’s highlights

1. Transportation

It can be intimidating at first, it did help that CRCC program managers took us to the right stops and explained the subway about how to get to work and back.

After that, making our way around is seems pretty easy. The subway set up is structured so efficiently, that even if you do get lost its easy to find your way back.

2. Forbidden City

It would have been wise to do a bit more research about the Forbidden City to gain a better understand of just how vast it is. We arrived at 11am under the impression that we could do it under two hours. We did not leave until 4pm. There is so much to see and different directions to take to reach the end of the Forbidden City. It is magnificent.

If you’re travelling with a group (which you would be) it’s probably a good idea to exchange numbers, set up a group WeChat and ensure you actually have a working phone number. Two members of our group got lost and decided to wait outside the Forbidden City exit while the other half continued to search for them inside. It all worked out in the end though!

3. Getting lost is inevitable

Keeping up the trend for our group, we got lost again. Even with smart phones and access to Baidu and Google maps we still managed to spend a good chuck of our first night wondering from our apartment in search for the expat area, which we thought was walking distance. Three hours was spent walking along eerily silent business streets. It was however a good way to get to know each other and also good story came out of it that is still really funny.

4. Catching a taxi

Another valuable lesson learnt on our first night out includes learning just how hard it is to catch a taxi from 8pm and beyond. Every official taxi was either full or more importantly did not want to drive to our area. Be prepared to either leave before the last subway or haggle with black cab drivers.

5. Street Food

It goes without saying that trying what’s on offer by way of food carts lined up on the streets is something that you must do. Try not to fall to prey to eating scorpions; it is well known that they have it on offer specifically for tourists. It is not a Chinese delicacy. Regardless, two of us decided to try a scorpion.

We also had strawberries on a stick, but be warned the white stuff drizzled on the strawberries is not white chocolate but mayo. Some might like it but I didn’t really.

6. Shopping at the Markets

The Silk Market is a popular among tourists. We were excited about getting to do some bargaining. I was so excited I ended up buying things I didn’t even want or need, but it was so much fun.

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