Beijing

I flew from Yangon to Beijing on the same Malaysian Air flight that had gone missing a year before. I arrived in Beijing late at night, and my first meal in China was McDonald’s for breakfast the next morning. I spent a few days in Beijing and was able to see many of the main sights. Beijing is a fairly metropolitan city, but I had a few people come up to me to speak in English. Two asked me if I wanted to get tea, and I had been warned that when people ask to get tea, they take you to a friend’s cafe and charge a lot of money and then make you pay for it. So I had to say no to the tea offerings.

Beijing has so much history built into the city. It spans from ancient times to modern day, and it all has an air of true Chinese culture and politics to it. Parts of the streets near Tiananmen Square are blocked off, so it’s a maze to get around and the streets are squished full with people. Throughout the city, you can really feel the military’s presence and see them around Tiananmen Square.

There are also a lot of food markets and street food. A lot of the food options are interesting to look at. I tried some octopus on a stick, but didn’t venture to trying any of the bugs. I also loved eating buns from street stands!