Orient Journey Episode I

Whoa, been ages since my last posting. Ok there are so much things to catch up, or to tell hehehe.. First, now I'm in Beijing, China. A capital with about 17 million people (if I'm not mistaken). Two weeks after I left Perth, I was busy took the round trip between Jakarta and my hometown. Met up with some friends, catching up things with them, and as usual, having fun with them. Not much tho, and nothing out of ordinary.

Then, the trip to Beijing was definately one of the worst I've ever been. Our flight left around midnite from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport. An hour and half flight to Singapore. This part was the disaster for me. For some unknown reasons, my ears were hurt during the flight. Either the cabin pressure was f_cked up or we were really in high altitude. The thing is, I've been flying from Jakarta - Perth and vice versa for sooooo many times, but I never experience any incident. Oh my flight from Jakarta to Singapore was with Garuda Airlines.

Second, to top my uncomfortable trip, the plane was shaking so badly. It shook worse than Collin Farrel's bed (just don't ask me where I got the idea lol). It was like riding one of those cheap ride in a cheesy theme park. Anyway, visiting Changi Airport is kinda a pay-off for me eventhough I couldn't do or go anywhere. We only had about 40 minutes transit. Not much difference since I visited it in 2002 tho, but I always like Changi Airport. Maybe because it's very comfortable and reasonably big so you can roaming around freely.

Well, the flight from Singapore to Beijing was okay. No incident, and my ears were gradually healed up. That is so strange. I mean, considering the flight time from Jakarta to Singapore (1 hour 20 minutes), how come it could hurt my ears so bad? While the flight from Singapore to Beijing (about 5 or 6 hours) didn't cause anything to my ears.

So now I'm in Beijing, roughly in North-west direction from Tian An Men Square. About an hour driving from there or perhaps 5 hours walking hehehe.. Oh don't get me wrong, Beijing is really a BIG city. It is as big as half of Belgium (I'm serious). Never trust the map where you think it's okay to walk just three or four blocks away. It could take you about two hours. (I know it for sure because some of my friends did the same mistake) =P

There are a lot to tell about Beijing tho. First, its f_cked up traffic. Second, how insanely cheap to buy meals or shopping in here. Third, the spitting (oh yea baby, they spit like there is no tomorrow). Fourth, the spitting again. Fifth, still the spitting. And sixth, the random weather.

My apartment is pretty close to our uni (where we are tortured everyday from 0800 to 1600), only about 15 mins walk or 10 mins by bike. As a matter of fact, I can see the campus gate using binocular from our apartment windows. We live in 23rd floor, so the view is a bit neat from here hehehe...

So, what about the traffic here? Well, they actually have done some pretty good jobs here. Dividing lanes for cars and for bikes. For cars, the lanes are consisting of 4 or 5 lanes, and for bikes we have 2 lanes. However, for some unknown reasons (gosh, I think this is gonna be my fave line for the next three weeks hehehe) the drivers and road users here don't obey the traffic lights. About 6 out of 10 drivers here don't give a crap for whatsoever reasons about traffic lights. When it is red, you would see cars stopping, but some will keep driving passing thru the lights. It's like there is no rules for them. The pedestrians are also crazy in here. For some unknown reasons (you can start counting how many times I've been using this line tho hehehe) they don't like to walk on the pedestrian path. Because the bicycle lane is next to the pedestrian path, some or dare I say most of the pedestrians always walk on the bicycle lane. So they create 'little' discomfort for the other road users.

And since I ride bike to go to campus everyday, this habit has been driving me insane. But I like to ride bike in here, at least it gives me chance to keep practice my swearing abilities and my vocabulary up to the standard level lol. Usually I start calling names (mostly in English or Indonesian), from brain-dead motherf_ckers, stupid ars_holes, numb nuts, stupid d_ckheads, etc, etc. I know it is bad, but struggling on the street of Beijing, everyone could go nuts so fast. The thing is that they ride their bike without looking straight. Either looking down at the ground in front of them, or staring around at sign boards, people, advertisement board, trees, etc. I find it is very disturbing as I always be careful as I could on the road, but these numb nuts don't give a sh_t about it. But I'm sure if they hit me (which is because their own fault) they will blame it on me.

They cross without looking around first. They just cross the road like they cross their dining hall. I've seen so many times pedestrians that almost got hit by cab or bike. Oh well, I think I gotta end it here first. Almost midnite and I need my beauty sleep lol. I can't read my own blog tho, as the government here is banning www.blogger.com. I can login but I cannot read any blog in www.blogger.com

So I gotta ask my friends to check my blog for me. Anyway, thanks for reading. I will post again soon. I still have to tell about the shopping and the food here, the weather and more about my experience in Beijing.

"Do you know that places only yield up their secrets, their most profound mysteries, to those who are just passing through?"
Salman Rushdie