After surviving our trip to Suzhou, John and I decided we were ready for a bigger challenge. According to weather reports, Beijing is supposed to be stunning this weekend– high 70’s and low 80’s. So earlier this week, we started researching our travel options: plane, train, and bus. Now is peak travel season (we are nearing the national Labor Day holiday which occurs May 1-7), despite the frequency of sandstorms in the capital. Travel fares are much higher than usual. The prices were 930, 500, and 250 yuan, respectively for the three modes of travel. Several of our books indicated that the bus (sleeper) was the same duration as the train (14 hours), thanks to the completion a few years back fo the Shanghai-Beijing Expressway. So we’re gonna do the trip on the super-cheap and cram the essentials into a three-day trip.

Most natives I’ve spoken to say we’re crazy. I guess white-collar natives aren’t fans of the bus. Oh well, we’ll try it out and then figure out how we’re gonna return to SH. That’s right, living on the edge. Winging the itinerary left and right. Well we’re not totally roughing it. We’ll be staying at a two-star hotel… we draw the line at having a private bathroom. But we will forego the laptops for the whole trip. Yes, a true killer for computer addicts like us but I suppose the break will be good for us. I just hope I have all the information I need on my palm pilot. 🙂

Had my fourth SABIC class tonight. I love teaching business writing. Still a ton of work but so much fun. I’m starting now to plan recruiting more work, because my current projects end in June. I’ll try distributing some Move the Brain brochures next week. Wish me luck!