IKEA

Yeah, we could not stay away. After two nights waking up with sore backs, we had to take action. Had an early one at work today, left at 6. Took a cab in rushhour to IKEA (Ji Tia). All good! Everyone know the shopping haven in blue and yellow. Straight up to the restaurant. Can you believe it...live jazz music!!! Nice! Had the meatball menu, 15 for me and 20 for Zach. Not the cheapest...but very nice. Nearly got lost trying to find the bedding section. We were on the hunt for a top mattress to soften up our sleep a bit. After a little bit of discussion and mostly sign language we got our piece of paper. Down to check out where they told us to pay. But where were our mattresses? In the warehouse...And where is the warehouse..."Fast Fast Fast!!!" Probably meant that it was close by. So we decided to do something that probably not many foreigners do. Take a cab to the warehouse to pick up our stuff. After all, we wanted a night of "soft"sleep. Showed the map for the driver. He nodded. A good sign. But it was easier said than done. He took us all the way to the outskirts of Beijing...dirt roads, dust & exhaust fumes and heavy traffic. And it was completely pitch black outside. This could have been the end. But our brave driver hanged in there and we finally found it!! No signs, nothing. A police officer pointed us in the right direction. Handed over the piece of paper to the warehouse supervisor. A person in somewhat supervisory position always wears a large woolen coat, russia style and some kind of a uniform hat. He got a boy to go and get our mattresses. Into the backseat with me and off we went back home. We left work at 6 and was back home at 9. But it was all worth it! Now we will have some good sleep. Zach needed a haircut so we tried out our local guy in the basement of the building. He got it a little bit shorter than he wanted. The wonders of language barriers. As you can see, every day is a new adventure. We are now fully into project work.. I picked 5 today and Zach another 2 to add to the 3 he already is working on. Very interesting stuff. A lot of responsibility and accountability. Tough time frames, but after all. The hotel is supposed to open in 76 days!!!