It was a long but very good first day!

After a pleasantly uneventful flight colleagues and I arrived in Beijing, got transferred to the hotel and checked into a room that will be my ‘home’ for the next few weeks. Apart from a bit too much carpet and curtains a great place right in the middle of Dongcheng Central which is also where the Forbidden City is located.

After a wonderful typical Chinese meal/lunch where food is shared and everybody just helps themselves right off the plate we went for a walk through a nearby Hutong.

Hutongs are alleyways that cross-cross the centre of the city and that present unique Beijing street life in all its cheerful glory – ranging from the lovely smell of freshly made dumplings to the not so nice smell of public restrooms as not all houses have private bathrooms. Hutongs are home for many locals who live and do their business there. Some of them are more than 800 years old. Walking through the Hutong felt almost surreal to me…

In the evening we enjoyed another phenomenal Chinese meal and went for a quick drink unfortunately in one of the expat places. Finding a local ‘hang-out’ is very high up on the agenda…..