Beijing, as China’s seat of government is a big city, similar to our Washington, DC; but there are big differences. For example it is over 2,000 years old and much more heavily populated. Some may have known it as Peking. It is the world’s third most populous city and located in northern China.
I took this picture above from the 18th floor of our hotel around 6 am. Traffic is light, but that will change. We are staying at the Sofitel Wanda Beijing, a beautiful hotel.
This was the view from our room. These are high end homes in the middle of the city. I never saw any lights in that neighborhood at night, nor did I see cars moving about in the daytime. China had a Great Recession in 2007 just like we did.
Last night we arrived after a thirteen hour flight from Toronto. We flew directly north to the North Pole and then south to Beijing over Hudson Bay, the Arctic Ocean and Russia. We flew directly over the North Pole.
Our host Odyssey Unlimited met us at the airport and took us to our downtown hotel. On the way a torrential thunderstorm greeted us with an amazing lightning show. It reminded both of us of the winds in Hurricane Hermine, which we had just experienced back home before we left for China.
Speaking of Hurricane Hermine our power was finally restored just after we left home. Our daughter and her family are living in our house, because they do not have power and because of the damages done there. It could be weeks before they get power.
WallyWorld is everywhere, but I was glad to find it. Walmart was in walking distance of our hotel.
I”ll post again this afternoon. I just wanted to let you know that I’m here
Glad you made it safely!! 🙂 so could you see the northern lights or is that only a certain time of year?
I think only in the winter. No we didn’t see them. By the way we did the Great Wall today. Pictures to follow.
Beautiful hotel but way too crowded for my taste!
Yes, the city was crowded, but the hotels weren’t really. The only day our hotel was crowded was when there was a conference of young locals.