Day 1: Arrival in Beijing, China

This is where we are!!

(North China)

Seems weird to not have Canadian money but the Chinese Yuan Renminbi is pretty cool!

Also as you may know the official language isn't English, (who woulda thunk...) it's Mandarin and Wu! We all have our translation books out and ready to be used.

The super awesome new addition to our passports! Our tourist visa!

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After a gruelling 11 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean, we finally made it to Beijing!! We decided that since we were going to be jetlagged from the crazy time change that we would just take it easy on our first day.
Our first stop from the airport was our hotel, Beijing Hotel.
First impression of the hotel: it's beautiful and we were greeted with a nice hot cup of green tea which we all thoroughly enjoyed!
The Beijing Hotel is a five star hotel located by one of Beijing's major shopping areas. It is also only a few steps away from the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Hall of the People and the Grand National Theater. (See map below)

After settling into our Standard Room, we decided to head down to the dining rooms to get some food. There are many different cuisine options including Japanese, Western and Cantonese. We decided to try the Cantonese food just to get ourselves right into the culture of China.

After eating dinner and relaxing a bit more, we decided to take a quick dip in the indoor pool to end the night. We are so excited to be in China for the next 2 weeks! It's going to be a great adventure!!