Home or Camping in the Middle of a Big City

Have you ever done some camping in the middle of a very large city? You should try it, it is fun!!! I woke up today with a nice morning light filtering between buildings and shinning down below. We live in Central Park, in Beijing.  

We are high above the ground, in an empty cube. Our shipment arrived in China a day after us, now the question is to know when it will be delivered. Papers, bureaucracy and customs are all involved. It leaves us with a vague idea of a delivery date. So in the meantime we are camping. 

We live with a mattress (and sheets and really thin pillows), a baby bed (schlepped our first trip), a high chair and a comfy chair with its foot stool, a kid table and two kids size chairs (all from Eedjee-ah), a few toys, one pot and one pan, a couple plastic plates and cups. And our 6 suitcases. We also have 4 TVs! They came with the place. There are two miniature TV inserted in cupboards, one for the kitchen, one in our washroom. And to Paul's request, we have 2 giant ones.

De home in beijing

De home in beijing

De home in beijing

Our place is great and big, probably about 250 sq m (or 2500 sq ft). We have 3 bedrooms and a den (eventually will become a TV room). You get the hint? Come and visit us! There is plenty of room!!! We live on the 18th floor, a lucky number for the Chinese. But today while taking the elevator, I realized that there are no 2nd, no 4th, no 13th neither 14th floor. It is probably all due to superstitions - both Asian and Western - so in fact we live on the 14th floor. Don't worry, I am not going to believe it is bad luck as I am not Chinese!

De home in beijing

Just like everywhere else in China, we are surrounded by several others. The towers are arranged in circles, and in middle there are gardens. A larger park has been created over a street, and will unit another set of towers that are currently under construction.

De home in beijing

De home in beijing

De home in beijing

In fact, our complex size is at the scale of the city: composed of 25 buildings, it makes only one city bloc!

De home in beijing

In other words, it is easy to get fooled by a map if you see that we are only 6 blocs from Tienanmen. In fact, one bloc can take 20 minutes to walk, and Tienanmen is not really near by. Once again, I am amazed by how L A R G E Beijing is.