My first Tiananmen Square flag-raising ceremony

The last time I woke up this early in the morning, it was the day my little nugget was born.

I have to admit, it wasn't easy getting out of bed, especially when it was -5°C outside.

We left our hotel at 5am sharp and thanks to the non-existing road traffic, our shuttle bus quickly arrived at the city centre well before 6am. Then, we slowly marched towards Tiananmen Square as a group. The actual time for the flag-raising ceremony varies daily as they try to keep it consistent with the local sunrise time. Today, the ceremonial time was projected at 6:59am.

After spending some time for both group and individual photos, the blue morning sky emerges. It was time for everyone to get set behind the fences and quietly waited for the guards to come out with the flag.

At this point, the national anthem began to sound signaling the start to the flag-raising ceremony.

Everyone was standing solemnly while the flag was being raised. This was quite an experience.

Soon after the ceremony, my colleagues gathered together to return to the shuttle bus for the next journey, The Great Wall but for me who's battling my back issues, I had another journey to embark on. An unknown journey with the destination(s) yet to be determined.

At 7:05am, I decided to take a slow and deliberate walk to Wangfujing (王府井), a place I knew fairly well from my previous trips to Beijing.

Not surprisingly, nothing was open this early except for a McDonald's next to Hilton Beijing Wangfujing, a hotel Jelloman and I stayed at during our last trip to Beijing back in 2013.

It was time for me to sit down and plan out my itinerary for the remainder of the day.

Here's my breakfast this morning. Scrambled eggs, ham and hash brown all wrapped under a Chinese pancake and I washed it down with a cup of steaming hot soy milk. You gotta love the local twist. 

I decided to take a walk down memory lane after breakfast. First up, it was a walking tour of Chaoyang district in Beijing (北京市朝阳区). I remembered losing a ton of leg hair here some 20 years ago when I was still with a certain US-based system integrator. Wow, that brought back memories.

This was when another journey suddenly popped up in my mind (a culinary journey) and I immediately brought out my phone for a couple of quick calls. Stay tuned.