I had booked the 7:15am high speed train from Hangzhou to Beijing before I left just to avoid any misunderstandings at the train station. It took approximately 6 hour and 20 minutes to go just under 1500 kilometers. It would have taken a good 5 hours if it didn't make about eight stops along the way as it was averaging speeds of about 306km/h, almost 200 mph for those not familiar with the metric system.
Hopped on the subway for 6 stops one in Beijing and walked another ten minutes through narrow Hutong (small traditional villages being 'mostly' preserved in Beijing's city center) until I found my hostel: the Chinese Box Courtyard. It consisted of two open courtyards with multiple rooms surrounding them...pretty neat. I unpacked my things and headed off to check out the Olympic Park from when Beijing hosted the 2008 games. The birds nest, water cube, all pretty impressive, but no underutilized as the city tries to find use of the two sports arenas.
I got back to the hostel around 7ish just in time for a homecooked Chinese family dinner! The hostel is run by what appears to be parts of an extended family, and they laid out a spread of 6 different dishes to try. Chicken, chinesr cabbage and mushrooms, sweet potato fritters, a scrambed egg and tomato dish, carrots, etc. Everything was delicious and I got to meet (briefly) some of the other people staying in hostel. A group of Brazialians headed off to North Korea (!?), and Belgian couple, and a solo traveler from Italy. We all sat around for a while after the meal discussing anything and everything before calling it a night.
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