If my memory serves, the last time I visited China was in 2007. Since then, I have only heard tales from other people about their trips to China. So I was quite excited when I set my feet again on the soil of Beijing the past Saturday after 5 years, even though my trip was meant to be short - in on Saturday and out on Tuesday afternoon.
My last trip to Japan was even earlier, in 2006, so I was equally looking forward to my brief stay in Tokyo - in on Tuesday night and out on late Wed. afternoon.
Most of my times in these two cities were taken up by business meetings. However, given how long it had been since my last visit to the two cities, I managed to check out a few things.
And here I am delighted to share with you my glimpse of the two cities. These are not extraordinary sights, but I think that the ordinary is very often what captures the real life of the people there.
By the time I checked into my hotel within the third embassy district (Chaoyang District), it was already close to 7pm on Saturday. In my dazed state of getting into the city from the Airport, I was not very impressed with the neighborhood of my hotel, to be honest - it did not quite have that metropolitan vibe..The good thing was that I was offered a free upgrade to the club level room which was essentially a one-bedroom suite.
It felt a little better the next day morning. I had a light breakfast at the Club Lounge. Nothing fancy but to my taste. Really enjoyed the congee...
and the view from the table was not all that bad...
More than one people had commented how lucky I was, since the weather was terrific the short few days I was there. Apparently there was a huge dust storm just a couple of days prior to my arrival. The simple uttering of the phrase "dust storm" brought back images of people wrapping their heads completely inside scarves against the infamous dust storm way way back when I was in college.
Aside from a lunch and a dinner meeting, I had some spare time to myself on Sunday. So in the morning off I went to the Lufthansa Shopping Center (燕沙購物商場), which is right by the 亮馬橋站 and not far from my hotel. Here is the view from the parking lot of the shopping center.
It was here that I made the coolest discovery of my trip - the digital kiosk, as shown below. 
It's like a giant iPad, and you can use it to locate all kinds of information. I touched "Public Transportation", and below was what popped up on the screen.
Another very fun feature is the "拍拍樂“ that would allow you to take a picture of yourself and email it. I gave it a try :-)..
I will make more detailed comments on the shopping experience in a separate entry. It's incredible in a shocking way.
I decided to explore the subway system in the afternoon. It was very convenient and incredibly cheap.RMB 2 Yuan gets you everywhere as long as you don't get out of the station. In the course of the afternoon, I took Line 10, Line 1, and Line 4, and that got me from my hotel to 王府井，西單 and my beloved alma mater, Beijing University and back to my hotel..
First time taking the subway, heading from my hotel to 王府井.
It would take a transfer to Line 1 to get me to the 王府井 station.
I will detail my glimpse of 王府井 and 西單 in Part II of this journal. In addition, my visit to Beijing University will be written up as a special edition.
Thank you, and I hope you have enjoyed my writing and pictures.
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