Devon Winrick

December 12th Beijing to Zhuozhou (涿州), and then to Baoding.

On December 12th our plan was to go to Baoding to meet more of the family as well as visit one in a hospital. First we would take a train to Zhuozhou.

Here's a couple videos on the way to the train station, where you can get a glimpse at Beijing traffic.

Once at the train station we split up to get breakfast at the train station - one of the few times I got McDonalds in China. By the way, the BigMac tastes the same.

In line to board the train it's hard not to notice this board of the somewhat seductively looking Chinese girl.

The sign reminds employees to treat customers with care and to deeply want to help people, work hard, and love your job.

Nothing particularly unique about the inside of the train, but first class was comfortable as expected.

This particular train is a maglev train. I had never ridden on one before, in or outside China, so we played around with balancing a coin on the window sill at 300km/h.

Eventually our parents would pick us up from the train station. On the way to find food I noticed this three wheeled truck. These three-wheeled vehicles in various shapes and sizes are all over China. It's hard to visit any city without spotting one.

Once in Baoding we checked into our hotel. Most of the hotels we stayed in in China were cheaper ones (< $40 day), but they were acceptable.

A place to sleep in Baoding.

After moving our luggage into the Hotel we wanted to head out to find lunch.

However the parking lot had other ideas.

Luckily this scenario is fairly common and several people left their phone numbers on the dash; soon we were on our way. The place that my father-in-law wanted to take us was closed and we ended at what was a new experience for me.

You can see that you sit low to the floor, and the food is cooked in front of you in a big pot.

Also, notice the channels in the floor. At first I thought it used to be a factory, but evidently it's built this way for the restaurant.

Here's a close up of one of the tables.

Hungry for some grasshoppers?

The stew was very good, and sitting close to each other low to the floor was a fun experience.

Lamb cooked in the big pot at our table.

While checking into our hotel I noticed a Toyota Crown.

The reason we went to Baoding was to see our father's side of the family. I found them all to be very nice, but I didn't take any family pictures. What is noteworthy however is their house, which was really nice and recently built on account of the family helping each other out.

The few pictures I did take of the house involve both the roof and the bathroom. Odd combinations but you'll understand why I found them interesting.

On the roof they have their own water heating system.

In the bathroom, well, the wallpaper is so fancy it's perfume.

We begged the family for some time to go see the local market and they obliged. The market had mostly food, cloths, and some street food for sale. It wasn't too big, taking only a few minutes to walk end-to-end.

Sometimes when visiting a foreign country you see all kinds of funny translations on t-shirts. For example:

"Want to Study, Play King Glory"

Skipping ahead some, that night we had dinner with the family, including my step-father's side. Like many of our family dinners and lunches it was seafood.

It turned out that the restaurant was ridiculously priced, however our father went through with paying for dinner anyway. There was much complaining to the staff about the prices. :)

One ridiculously priced restaurant.

This concludes December 12th.