Yep, that’s the Nest. This is where the (Beijing) Olympics 2008 is supposed to be held  but until now it’s still under construction. I wonder if they could finish it before then. Unfortunately, no tourists are allowed to enter the vicinity yet so we can’t take a peep inside the building but from the outside, it looks like the building is completely done; I guess it’s just the surrounding area they have to beautify—put some green grass and some trees perhaps.

As promised, some pictures from our trip in Beijing last weekend are finally posted but unfortunately, I didn’t post them here. They’re in my other blog. If you want to see the pictures, you may click here.

The Forbidden City

The White Pagoda

The Nest

The Bell Tower

A Park

A View from The Bell Tower

I cannot remember how many times I’ve been in Beijing but this is by far the worst weather condition I’ve seen there. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was relatively warm for Spring but boy, it was so smoggy! As you can see in the pictures, the air is much polluted. Everything which is 10 meters away is hazy.

This picture is taken from a short distance.

In the meantime, I will bore you with some things like the comment given to me in one of my posts about Getting Married to a Filipina. You may go check it out and leave your thoughts. There’s also a very interesting comment in my post, Sol Latino in Changchun which you might want to read and react as well.

I am thrilled that my blog is being read by some people who are actually interested what I write and in what I say about their situation. Cool. :)

If I were to choose which city I like best in China, I would choose Beijing. Okay, I’ve only seen Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Nanjing, Dalian, Harbiin, and other small cities on the Northeastern part of China but I have made up my mind. Beijing is the best city in China but I wouldn’t want to be there during the Olympics. Why? For the very simple fact that it would be very crowded. It would be more difficult to get taxis. It would be impossible to take good photos of places since there will be tourist in every corner and in every direction. Hotels, restaurants, tours, theatres and etc would be much much more expensive.

*Shrug. What am I talking about? We wont be here by then anyway.

Becuase we are unlucky to get hard sleeper tickets instead of soft sleeper tickets, I’ll bring my own sheets so we have something to use in the train. That’s additional weight in my baggage but I would like it more to use our own sheets than what is available in the train. Don’t ask me why.

If Marcus won’t bring his laptop then I will bring mine even if it is 10 times heavier than his laptop. I won’t mind the weight. Better to carry a heavy load to go to Beijing and back than not being able to visit my blogs for days.

By tomorrow, we will be there.

It should be nice.

Unfortunately, soft sleeper tickets are sold out so I don’t have any choice but to take the best from what was left and that would be top bunk hard sleeper tickets. I told the awful news to my travelling companions but they said that though they are not eager to sleep on 3-storey bunk beds in an open cabin with strangers, they think they can do it. So we’ll proceed with our tickets. Rescheduling or upgrading to plane tickets is not an option.

The European men assured us that it would be ok and that they are ok with it but I can bet my sexy ass that they will frown and complain more than Anne and I. When I learned that there are no more soft sleeper tickets available, I called them first to confirm if they want to go with hard sleeper tickets because I know that they won’t be comfortable sleeping in the same room with strangers. (I would like to add a lot of adjectives before the word stranger but I might be offending the most populous race so I won’t)

Well, good luck to us. When I am out of this country, I’ll probably say more but right now, I’ll stay quiet.

It is not like I am going on a big trip anywhere but I will stay quiet in a while. I will busy myself with some other things than blogging like my German Lesson and our bi-monthly visit to Beijing. Yep, we are going to Beijing again but this time, we are going with our hooked up but are now certified couple friends and activity buddies, Daniel and Anne.

Since Marcus, Daniel, and Anne have real jobs and are busy, the task to arrange the trip was awarded to me (thank you). We’ll probably spend three days there which is good. It should be enough time to visit Starbucks and the Foreign Languages Bookstore. Going to the great wall doesn’t appeal to me anymore since I’ve been there twice. Anne is excited to see the wall because it’s her first time to go to Beijing. I am not going there again so maybe we’ll split up for one day so they can go to the wall and Marcus and I can do something like shopping. Haha.

Marcus is having his birthday in a few months and starting today, I am trying to get some ideas about what special things I could do for him on his day. Also, I am already thinking what gift I could give him. Anne said it’s way too early. I say hey, I wasn’t me who gave a surprised congratulation party for my partner who didn’t get the promotion yet.

It’s funny how it was.

A few days ago, Anne organized a surprised party for Daniel. The party is supposed to express our heart-warming congratulations for Daniel’s promotion but then last Saturday, we were the ones surprised by Daniel when he said that he didn’t sign any contract yet and though his boss already gave him the thumb up, they are still negotiating on a few things and if these things weren’t settled for both parties, Daniel might as well forget about the promotion. Haha. Anyway, we still had a blast last Saturday. A few close friends of Anne and I came and we partied and used the karaoke I got from my parents in law. It was fun.

I still have not fixed my problem with Smorty. I will wait until the next payday, If I wont be paid by them I will email them again. For now I will stop using writing for Smorty until all things get cleared up.

On to the pictures.

I’ll start with my most artistic shot for this entire trip.

a little bit glimpse to Chinese Fashion

and to Chinese hair and Make Up

In the train with my crazy traveling companions. That’s Marcus and two of his colleagues.

Guys doing the shopping at the Silk Market

Dinner at our Favorite Resto –the Steak Factory

This is what I got for diner. Yum Yum Yum!

A visit to the only tourist place we have not seen in Beijing. The Egg.

Marcus refers to this car as his “baby” and he is very proud of it. Why? Because he was a part of this project when he was in Germany. The finest project he was a part of so far or so he claims. I remember when there was a Car Exhibition in Changchun we attended it because he was hoping to see his “baby” again. He was not disappointed. We saw a black Audi R8 there and I remember hearing him talk for hours about this car. It was then my first time to see Audi R8 in person and I have to say that though I know nothing about cars, it is very impressive looking.

When we went to Beijing last weekend, we visited the Audi Forum. We went there already last October but Marcus cannot go to Beijing without ever dropping by at the Audi Forum so we went there anyhow. He and his colleagues who were travelling with us were talking about the details of it for hours while they take pictures of the car. They are such car geeks!

I am too lazy to travel but everything is booked and prepared already to there’s no turning back now. The only thing I am looking forward to is the fact that it is warmer in Beijing than here. A few days there should be good.

Pictures will be posted when I get back.