Our flight took off at 9:30PM and I expected it to be sleep zone the whole way, but I was sorely mistaken. They left the lights on bright and served a full meal two hours in. We didn’t let Millie have the iPad (too much drama to take it away again) so she would sleep. Even though it took a while, she did great and did eventually sleep. We had to entertain ourselves old school style which was more work for us, but kinda fun.

She was still passed out when we landed at 3AM our time / 5AM Beijing time.

Nick carried her through the airport while I wheeled all the bags. Another win for packing light; between the two of us we can carry all our belongings and a sleeping child. Getting through passport control was shockingly easy and orderly. We figured out how to get a ride share (didi) and got to our hotel by 6:30. First observation of China: things seem to just work.

Millie was still so tired that she walked into a full length mirror thinking it was a hallway. This led to a giggle fit that only extreme tiredness can fuel. I set an alarm for 11AM and we all got into bed and passed out until then.

When we woke up we needed food and coffee. I haven’t quite figured out how to use the Dianping app to find the best places, so we just walked to the nearby mall to see what was there. We were overwhelmed by choice, all of which seemed busy and good.

We tried these little candied apples on a stick after watching the movie Farewell My Concubine last week in preparation for China. My takeaway from that movie is: everything is terrible and depressing except this treat. It was good.

We then got coffees, eggs on rice, and some sort of spicy noodle bowl for me. Millie got her ice cream for ice cream Friday.

We sat on a bench and an older man with his granddaughter started speaking to us. Obviously we couldn’t understand a thing so Nick pulled out his translate app and had him dictate a question. His first was “can you understand when I speak Chinese to you?” Which we said a clear “no!” and all shared a laugh. Then he said something that translated as “there are ghosts in America” I assume it was incorrect but it was confusing and funny.

Once we were full and caffeinated we headed out to see how packed the forbidden city would be. We had heard horror stories of the crowds and planned to wake up early one morning to get there at opening time. To our surprise it seemed completely fine. We walked right into the city, first to the gardens and then up to the buildings.

The weather was a perfect mid-70s. It felt like we were the only ones exploring around in the gardens. We got to the palace and had a little bit of confusion getting in but figured it out. Millie was kind of bored but went along with the walking from courtyard to courtyard while Nick constantly disappeared to read signs. This area was much busier but nothing unmanageable.

I loved how many women were wearing traditional dress. I haven’t looked up yet why this is, but it seemed like it was purely for photoshoot reasons. There were line ups of girls taking photos of each other. Regardless, they looked great and Millie and I loved seeing the variation and detail in their outfits.

Millie saw some young kids doing peace signs and adopted it as her go-to pose immediately.

She had a couple of people come up to her asking for a photo, or asking for their kid to pose with her. I know this is a thing here because people aren’t used to seeing cute little blonde kids. She said no each time which I respected but still felt kind of awkward about. Everyone was respectful and didn’t try to force it.

Mostly she was just interested in taking breaks to draw. I didn’t mind this and it gave Nick a chance to run around and see everything while I people-watched. He still wants to see more and is debating a solo return.

We walked from here to a Peking duck place that a coworker recommended (hi Sally!). It looked great but had a line down the block, and we were too tired to wait. So we walked onwards towards the hotel and stopped at a little izakaya-style place.

We had various grilled meats and vegetables. Millie almost lost it when she touched her whole shoe and we didn’t let her eat before washing her hands. But somehow we all recovered before hitting the meltdown-point-of-no-return and we filled up before heading back to the hotel.

It was a great first day in China. I had been worried about the language barrier and difference compared to home, but everything feels very manageable. People have been relaxed and kind everywhere we’ve gone, and technology is the wind beneath our wings.