Day 0 - We're off!

Etienne and I woke up at about 5am after 2 hours of sleep to go hang out for a while at the P.E.T Airport. Having some 4 or so awkward hours to spend before our flight took off, we indulged in two of the more important things in life: Tetris and Coffee.
On the plane from Newark to Beijing, we ended up watching Telladega Nights about 3 times and Pirates of the Caribean twice. There were also a few naps here and there. After about 15 hours of flying (and the requisite pictures-out-the-airplane-window), we finally arrived at Beijing where our 8(!) tour buses awaited us. Being our first time there, we took lots of random pictures including the airport, roads, trees, tourists. One cool thing, the plane flew UP from Newark through the north pole to get to Beijing. ICBM-Style.
The first thing I noticed about Beijing is the size and style of the buildings. Most of their buildings aren't tall, but they have huge footprints. Nothing dominates the skyline, instead they build buildings which have distinct looks and often try to blend traditional sensibilities with modern architecture.
From the airport we went right away to the Great Hall of the People (the National Assembly) for a special dinner, there were 700 Quebecers in Beijing from 2 different tour groups at the time. They felt it special enough to warrant a big-deal dinner. The National Assembly along with The Forbidden City border on Tiananmen Square. It really felt like "I'm in China" once I saw those 2 famous landmarks.
After trying to demonstrate the width of the pillers of the National Assembly, we entered and had dinner which was quite good, probably one of the bests of the trip. In particular I remember being served crayfish, sweet and sour deepfried fish (which would end up showing up over and over again at many restaurants), and fried chicken with a side of fries (very cute). Service was great with 1 server per table waiting on us hand and foot.
After eating, we went back to our hotel room at the Oriental Bay to rest up after a LONG day. The room was amazingly nice with red wood everywhere, a Flat panel tv, bath+shower, lots of extra space, and a closet which opened with a huge sliding door. Best of all was the can of World of Warcraft branded coke we found in the fridge! Unfortunately it was crazy hot and the window and AC weren't working. The girl who came to try to fix it was SO cute, but even mustering all of her cuteness she couldn't get the window to stay open. We ended up propping it open with a garbage can. I thought I'd be unable to sleep through the heat, but found myself waking up the next day on top of the sheets with all my clothes still on.
	Enroute - Beijing - Great Wall - Silk Street - Xi'an - Hangzhou Wuzhen - Suzhou - Shanghai - Wuhan - Maoping - Xiling Shennong - Wanxian - Chongqing - Guilin Guangzhou - Kowloon - Hong Kong - Good Bye	Next