25.01.09 In China

The flight to Beijing was ok, a little bumpy few times but other than just fine. I was even able to sleep most of the flight. At the airport everything went well and I didn't have any trouble at the customs and I found Yanfeng easily. We took the shuttle bus and went to a proper chinese restaurant to eat, the only problem was that I ate a big breakfast in the plane because I didn't know when I would eat the next time. Anyways, we had some Beijing duck, fish, duck soup and tofu, and they were all great.

With a very full stomach, we went to see the Tian'anmen Square for a little bit until we had to go to the train at three. The train left from the West railway station (there are four railway stations in Beijing, East, West, North and South) which was a huge building. The train was almost full of passengers but I was told that on Friday, so two days earlier, the trains were very full and the railway station full of people going back home for the Spring Festival. The train trip took three hours as we went around and through the mountains and the scenery was absolutely great.

When we arrived to Zhangjiakou, we were picked up from the station and went to Yanfeng's grandparent's house, where there were his parents and his grandparent's from his mother's side. As we drove through the city, I could see a lot of Chinese New Year's decorations, lots of red and lanterns and blinking lights. Soon after we arrived, we had a big dinner (I was still full from the lunch) and at eight the Spring Festival Gala started from the TV. The gala lasted until midnight when we went outside to blast all the fireworks.

I heard fireworks already in Beijing and they lasted all day. At midnight however the noise was unbelievable, it sounded like the war would have broken and the air was filled with smoke. The fireworks were amazing. There were small things that just made a lot of noise and smoke, torches that would shoot out sparks and "normal" fireworks that shoot stuff up in the sky and blow up. I even saw a bonfire across the street. The finnish safety officials would have probably died of shock, because the normal way to light up fireworks was with a cigarette...