On the road again: to Moscow and Beijing

I must admit flying with AEROFLOT was a pleasant surprise! Smooth flights, good service and eatable food (vegetarian in my case, special request, mostly salads). Flew from Athens to Moscow and after a bit of waiting from Moscow to Beijing.

Flight to Beijing it happens I changed seat with a chinese girl so she can sit with her boyfriend, so I found myself sitting beside a Russian 30 years old guy who has a big bottle of whiskey with him, mixing with cola and drinking like water. Eventually after a bit he is so drunk and hilarious, asking me all kinds of funny questions as why I am not married, why I don't have kids (he had two already), why I don't drink alcohol, why I don't drink meat and stuff. Finally he got so wasted drunk that after trying to stretch his legs by putting them through the space between the seats resulting to giving the front guy a good kick almost on the face with his shoe-feet, fell asleep ON ME so I stood up my seat for a bit for him to get a better sleep and for me to check the beautiful sunrise through the windows having a chat with N., a sweet and cheerful stewardess who was really helpful to me with my veggie food and my blocked seat video screen :)

Beijing is really beautiful, been here just a couple of days now, going around and chilling. Tiananmen square is indeed the biggest and magnificent, Maos portrait is hanging on the gate of the Heavenly Palace and many chinese people get their photos with it.

All the tourists and crowd gather in the main pathway leading to the forbidden city, but paying just 2 yuan (25 cents of a euro) I went to the Workers Cultural Palace where I enjoyed solitude being only me and a few chinese, mostly newlywed couples who were for marriage photos, being so beautiful at their happiest moment of their life.

There was an arms demonstration for some reason and I felt in awe with the accuracy, discipline and focus of those involved!

Staying at the moment with a chinese girl who is moving out of Beijing next month to the west of China, in her neighborhood are no tourists at all and visiting the local underground market was an exhilarating experience with people trying to help me buy the vegetables and fruits I needed communicating only with smiles and sign language...