We arrived in Beijing at about 2.45 pm. The flight here took about 6 hours. The business class seat and amenities were the same as the A380 I took to Hong Kong in January. The time passed quickly. I watched the remake of 72 tenants. It was in Cantonese and quite enjoyable. I started watching Leonardo Decaprio’s Shutter Island. Quite interesting, but didn’t have time to finish it. Maybe on the midnight flight back.
At the Beijing airport, the people arriving at the immigration counters seemed non-stop. But the queue I was in moved along quite quickly. After collecting our luggage, we took a cab to the hotel. Along the way, the traffic was smooth. They drive on the wrong side of the road. They all seemed to drive leisurely, at a constant speed, and seldom overtook each other. So unlike in Singapore.
We checked in. Beijing Central Garden Hotel is next to the Beijing Zoo. Listed as a 4-star hotel, but looked more like 3-star to me. Probably because the hotel is quite old. But it has free internet connection, but the speed is quite slow, compared to office and home.
We took a cab to a nearby mall. We had local noodles for dinner. Then walked around the mall, and the supermarket in the basement. There was so many restaurants selling hotpot, and they were all spicy. The supermarket carried so many different brands of yoghurt and yoghurt drinks, and lots and lots of dumplings, since the dumpling festival is just around the corner. The older Chinese looked quite distinctive. You could tell they were from China. But the youths – they looks no different from Singapore youths. Couldn’t tell the difference, until they opened their mouths to speak. We bought some yoghurt drinks and pastries and headed back to the hotel.
I didn’t sleep well last night. So, looking forward to a good sleep tonight, after clearing my office emails.
Oh, Beijing is hot. And I mean hot.
19 Jun 2010
I am now at the Beijing Capital International Airport, in the lounge, waiting for my boarding call. The lounge is really sparse, but the décor and ambience are nice. The wireless didn’t seem to work without registration, but the strange thing is I could use it to access my office email.
We went for a field trip this morning – visited a agriculture technology park which is open to the public. The lunch was sumptious as usual. I didn’t count how many dishes but they really filled us up. The weather was cool in the morning, but was hot in the afternoon. There was a chef who was demonstrating cutting noodles with a huge chopper. At one point, he did it blind-folded.
After the field trip, we went back to the hotel and rested until 4 plus. We paid for late check out (50% for up to 6 pm). We checked out, deposited our luggage at the concierge, and went to Wang Fu Jing Street to walk around. It kind of reminded me of Shinjuku in Tokyo, minus the cold weather. There were many people around, not foreign but local tourists. The shopping malls were grand as usual.
I didn’t buy anything, except two packs of the soy sticks that I saw in NTUC Fairprice @ S$1.70 per stick. Here, the price is RMB4.50 per stick (or about S$1). I bought the promotion pack – 4 sticks for RMB10.90, or about S$0.60 per stick.
We had lamb hotpot dinner. It was quite good – something different. The restaurant was quite packed.
So, another 8 hr 30 minutes more and I will be back in Singapore.
The last few days were spent at the meeting. Quite uneventful. Just some interesting facts to share.
The Chinese eat a lot, really a lot. The previous night’s official dinner had 12 dishes. Last night’s was more. I heard a lot of stories about Chinese hosts drinking with their guests – scary stories. But my hosts were ok. They didn’t force us to drink. They just went around to toast everyone, and we could drink either wine or other drinks.
The taxi drivers here are honest. They go by the meter and don’t charge a cent extra. The taxi driver who took us to the hotel from Wang Fu Jing just now was more than happy when we asked him if he could wait for us to bring us to the airport while we fetched our luggage.
The shopping malls here are very much like those in Singapore. I already mentioned that the Chinese youths look very much like Singapore youths, until they open their mouths to speak.
The escalators here are energy saving. I saw one escalator moving up very slowly, while another one was moving quite fast. Then I realized that an empty escalator would move slowly until someone stepped on it. Then it speeded up. Cool. Our equivalent is at the Changi Airport, which does not move at all until someone steps on it.
Oh yes, some parts of China were inundated with heavy rain the last few days. There was heavy flooding. Flights at Beijing airport were cancelled or delayed. Hope it doesn’t happen to me now.
Last night, after the official dinner, we went to Tiananmen Square with Madeiline from Australia. Grand and magnificent. So many Chinese visitors there. Unfortunately, the park was closed, but we did get close to the gate – the one with the Mao Tse Tung picture hanging on it.
Enjoy the pictures.
In the plane
Beijing airport
Beijing Central Garden Hotel
Around the hotel
Xijimen Jiamao
Soyjoy and yoghurt drink
Field trip
Tiananmen Square
Wangfujing Street
Lamb hotpot dinner
