Blurry Eyed in Beijing

Electric scooters quietly whizzed by us all day as we made our way around hazy Beijing. We couldn’t tell if the grey day was due entirely to smog or if there was, indeed, cloud cover and no sun.

Our hostel is in a very good location; right near a walking street, and there are plenty of places to eat and explore.

It’s hard for me to write because I seem to be falling asleep as I type. For most of the day, I felt fine and energized but by midday, Scott and I were both feeling the pain. We’re blaming the time change and not enough sleep. In the morning, we had felt fine enough to make the long walk to the main train station and back to the hostel. Despite the loss of energy midday, it didn’t stop us from visiting the Temple of Heaven Park and the Duanghamen Night food market and partake in a lot of walking.

Since I am falling asleep at the keyboard, I will mention quickly that we bought the first train leg of this Trans-Siberian trip – from Beijing to Datong, an over six-hour journey in hard seats. Tickets for two hard seats cost Y98. It was pretty painless going to the main Beijing train station and talking to the English speaking seller at window 18. We’ll leave here 10 June.

Scott's looking at an electric scooter that also doubles as a bike if needed.

A perfect meal.

Some of the offerings at the Donghuamen Night Market, a terrible tourist trap. Above is candied fruit, which we didn't try but wish I had. We didn't try the starfish or the snake, but the we ate the meat and stir-fried veggies wrapped in a thin pancake.

The area we stayed around by night.