We arrived in Beijing in September 7th. Our friend Karin came to the airport to save us from the difficulties we would have with the language barrier.
Karin and Wei live in the Hutongs, the suburb built in the 1200’s by Genghis Khan for his troops and not all taxi drivers are comfortable driving through it.
We had our first glimpse of the Hutongs and a taste of the “neighbourhood watch” Chinese style. In every corner, a uniformed person discretely watches every move.
As soon as I came out of the house he approached me and in a friendly way started asking me what I was doing there. We were not registered yet as temporary residents to the area. Next move was to go to the local police station and register.
It was a very simple process conducted by a nice lady. Karin had to give a short version of Angola History because our passports state that we were born in Silva Porto and Nova Lisboa, cities that are now called Kuito and Huambo and therefore she could not find them in the Net.
We came home after that and sat catching up with the news until Wei arrived from work. We then enjoyed a drink, delicious dinner prepared by Karin and talked the night away.
