Asia is madness.

The sights, the sounds, the coordinated chaos. The smells of exhaust, delicious street food, and a hint of sewage. The “I can’t believe he just did that!” driving. I love this place.

Navigating the Beijing airport was a pleasant surprise. There were no questions asked, no gloved bag dumpings, no suspicous looks, no guys with AK47s…. In fact, I never even saw as much as 1 armed guard. I have concluded that it is much easier to come into Beijing than Atlanta in America…seeing that today made me wonder who the military state really is now?

I managed to figure out the buses coming out of the airport and took the 2 hour ride in heavy Beijing traffic to an area near the Qianmen square. I was feeling quite pleased with myself for only spending $3 to get into the city rather than taking an expensive taxi. I flagged down a rickshaw (a human powered tuk-tuk bicycle) and he said that he knew my hostel. I know he overcharged me, $2, but seeing that this was my first street ride in heavy traffic, I needed the excitment to wake up. Beijing is nowhere near as bad as Bangkok, pollution or traffic included, but it was still a hairy ride as we took to back alleys, sidewalks, and whatever it took to avoid the gridlock.

Things were proceeding well until a loud “POP” brought me back to my senses. I looked down, and the chain on my rusty carriage was dragging the street. This rickshaw had given its last ride. I chose this one out of a hundred possible drivers…what luck. The driver pointed me in the right direction, and off I went on foot again.

After leaving the cool 60F’s of northern England, this place is hot! Not to mention the 15KG on my back. I footed it for over an hour until sweat was cutting brown lines down my forehead. I was about to walk out into traffic to just end the misery, but before I could, I heard a perfect English “hello”. Unlike Thailand, that seems to be a rarity here. It turned out to be a university student named Jing Jing that was studying English. She knew my hostel and agreed to walk with me in exchange for English practice – a good deal for me!

Jing taught me a few words in Chinese and got me to the Leo hostel, where I paid a killer $28 for 1 night. When I come to a place like Asia, I try to book the first night in a private room so that I can unwind, do some maintenance, and have a soft landing. The hostel dorms begin tomorrow….which cost about $6 a night here. I fell into my matress, which was the equivalent of falling onto concrete, and did not wake up for 4 hours.

As I was drifting off in my musky room, I could hear the sounds of China out my window. Strange smells were coming in off the street, some nice and some not. There is literally a new world waiting for me outside – I cannot wait for tomorrow! I am home.