Made In China: 北京 Edition Vol. 1

It's been almost a month since I landed at Beijing Capital International Airport. I remember being on the plane as I left Seoul, thinking how unprepared I was for this trip.  I  had little money (even for Chinese standards), a few articles of  clean clothing,  no real plans with the (exception of  few tourist sites)  and most importantly had not booked a single hotel or hostel.  Then all of a sudden my plane touched down and I was in Beijing.  At that moment, and for the next 8 days, I planned to put my faith in the road, for it had rarely let me down before.

The ancient  Chinese philosopher  Lao Tzu said  "A good traveler has no fixed plans and no intent on arriving." NowLao Tzu might have been a central advocate for Taoism  in the  6th century B.C.  but I'd like to think that even he would have been impressed with my flexibility, receptiveness  and spontaneity. Add to the fact that my Chinese vocabulary bank consist of about 5 or 6 words / expressions. ("hello", "thank you", "beer", "I don't know" and "Happy New Year") and you have all the right elements for a truly  unpredictable trip.  

Tim and I in Guangzhou, China

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my first trip to China was amazing. It was a trip that will not be able to rival or compare to any of my other travel adventures. It was also a trip with a good friend of mine, Mr. Tim Mathews. Tim lives in Guangzhou, where I had my first taste of China.  On our trip we had our fair share of adventure & adversity.   Together we got though it pretty easily. We had fun experiencing all the weird awesomeness that China had to offer. Looking back I realize it probably wouldn't have been as fun or as memorable without him.

This  trip however, was different.  Beijing marked my first solo journey as a traveler. The idea of  being alone in China without a  hotel or  plan (and little money) , felt much more raw and primitive then the watered down alternative of having a travel buddy and hanging at the beach. Don't get me wrong I love traveling with friends, but there comes a time when you need experience things on your own. After all it was my good friend Tim who once told me "we're all in this together...by ourselves."