day 121: [北京 (Beijing)] = 0km

Beijing??

WTF just happened?

I got up at 6 in the morning, dropped my backpack off at the hotel front desk and took a cab to the airport:

What a tired morning.

What a quiet ride.

What a weird feeling to do these things that I hadn’t thought I’d be doing again for a while.

Like checking in:

or hanging around in waiting areas:

…or boarding airplanes:

A look out the window in 咸阳 (xianyang):

…and one and a half hours later, again in 北京 (Beijing):

This had taken me more than 3 months to walk, now 90 minutes to fly.

I felt like the joke was on me.

Nobody was waiting for me at the arrivals, because I was incognito - nobody knew I was coming:

The cab ride was a quiet rush through the pre-Olympic motor madness:

Then I got to where I had started from months ago (November 9th 2007):

碧兴源小区 (bixingyuan).

I took the elevator up to the 21st floor where I used to live:

The doors slowly slid open.

My neighbor and good friend 小黑 (xiaohei) was waiting for me in his apartment.

…

PS: I haven’t told you WHY I am back in Beijing?

Considering the fact that I can’t walk anywhere with my foot, I am going to do something that I should have done a while ago:

Apply for a new passport.

Soundtrack: Rise Against - “Life Less Frightening”

—total: 1594,3km