East Asia 2011: Arrival to Beijing and first day

***NOTE: For those whom I had given a different mobile number where to
SMS me if needed, please note that it does not work in China,
therefore, if you need to contact me, please use email.***

After a long flight with Aeroflot, finally one arrives to Beijing.
First welcome ceremony in China is, of course, the immigration
control. The first greeting of the guy there, surely wanting to make a
joke to break the ice, was that I didn't look like the picture in my
passport, and asking if it was really me.
Apart from that, not much of a problem with immigration, and more on
the contrary, I was surprised by the interest of the Chinese
authorities to improve the quality of the service. As you are almost
done with the immigration procedure, you are asked to 'vote' on the
quality of the attention you have received on a special keypad (of
course I voted 'very good service', because I would not like to be
responsible for the guy at immigration receiving an electric shock or
something like that if I voted the opposite).
Once I had recovered my luggage, I was fortunate to meet again the
girl who was sitting beside me on the plane and her friend, and they
offered to share their taxi to the city with me. During the trip,
various subjects were covered, ranging from urban development, passing
by weather, and work interests, and even metallurgical aspects of 9/11
and the usefulness of carbon nanotubes to build an space elevator.
Once in my hotel, and being that my room was not ready yet (too
early), I left my luggage in a friend's room and we took off to start
discovering a few of the secrets of the capital. Our wanderings took
us by the outer wall of the Forbidden City,then Tian'anmen Sq. and
then to the high street beyond. It was surprising to see a newly built
commercial street built in traditional style, but lodging
international brands like Starbucks or Zara... it reminded me of it
being some sort of Disney World neighborhood (Qianmen St.). On the
other hand, just by taking any of the side streets, in a few minutes
you would find yourself in a very traditional street, with old shops
and small eateries.
From there we walked all the way to the Temple of Heaven park and
temple complex. On he way, we had the chance to explore a local
market. Beijing is a city with many parks, huge and small, always very
well kept. some surprising things for me were the way to water the
plants and even the trees (by spraying them with water, instead if
soaking the ground where they stand), and that in some quiet spots of
the park, speakers where installed, concealed as old lamps, providing
relaxing music to match the greenery and relaxing atmosphere.
After all that walking (just let me remind you that by that time I had
not really slept in over 40h) we finally went back to the commercial
area we had found before to get some real traditional food. Let's just
say that ordering unknown dishes in a foreign country of which you
don't understand the language it's always risky, but that let's say we
managed to have a 66% rate of success. ;-)
From there, it was just another gentle stroll to the hotel, with
various stops on the way to get some supplies, and meeting a few more
people participating in the conference. Finally, it was time to have a
long shower, and get to bed.