Hello Beijing (Ni hao Beijing)

I learned a few basic words in Mandarin before our trip to China. A week isn't much time to do a crash course in a foriegn language, but I think I should get an A for effort :-P

The two most important words....

• Ni hao (knee how) = Hello
• xièxiè (she she) = thank you

Our first day in Beijing was a day of catching up on sleep...and then a little exploring. Coming from Denmark (population about 5 million) with our little town in southern jutland (population 7000), Beijing (population 17 million, YES 17 million) was a little overwhelming and a bit of sensory overload!

Within my first 8 hours in Beijing, I was told to STOP, not once, not twice, but 3 times by an armed guard AND he wanted to inspect my passport and visa. Great. I was looking for the Ri tan park and got a bit confused, even with my map. Gee whiz, give a girl a break!

I found a quaint little shop that did foot massages and pedicures. The advertisement was in English, so I assumed they spoke English. Alex, I'll take Bad assumptions for 100 dollars (Jeopardy reference). The only English I heard was, 'Where you from?' and 'Oh, U.S.A. yeah Obama.' Just under 2 hours of pampering was a crazy 25 USD!!!

Tomorrow is a big day of sightseeing in Beijing. More to come.