I meet Mum and Dad at the airport express station; thankfully a train arrives as I'm going through the turnstiles so it's straight onto the train we go.
Getting through security and customs is nice and easy. We are flying China Air (don't ask!) which means we need to take a bus to the satellite terminal - a new place for me.
We depart a little later than planned then it's a long taxi to take off. It's like being in a sauna! So far everyone has been well behaved, long may that continue.
On arrival into Beijing there are no lines at immigration, awesome so we are straight through for the bags. Unfortunately our luck ends as we end up waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally our bags arrive and we can leave the terminal. On exiting the cold hits us, wow such a difference to hot and humid Hong Kong! It's an interesting experience getting a taxi; it seems like all the taxi spots need to be filled before any passengers can get in. Then it's a rush! I had thankfully asked the hotel desk to write in Mandarin the name of our hotel while Dad was getting money out - fingers crossed its right! We jump into a taxi, I verbally tell the driver where we want to go, he has NO idea so I show him the piece paper then we are off. This will be interesting! I decide to call the hotel as well to be doubly sure we are going to the right place.
Friday, October 10 my alarm goes far too early especially since I had only got into bed at 1.30am. Mum, Dad and I have breakfast downstairs then I leave them to head to work. It's a beautiful crisp blue sky day, a shame I need to be indoors.
My taxi driver is clear where he needs to go (thanks to the friendly concierge) and within seconds we are off into the Beijing traffic. I had been a little more prepared for this trip and had a map so had a vague idea of where we had to go.
I get a great view of outside of the Forbidden City; hopefully on the way home the view is clear for Tiananmen Square. 30 minutes after leaving the hotel I arrive at the MS office, not too bad!
The team take me out to lunch; it’s a local place across from the office. Peking duck is ordered along with a few other dishes. All actually very tasty.
I leave work at 5pm with Sindy who helps me get a taxi – very, very early for me but if I leave at 6pm it could take me an hour and a half to get back, no thank you very much!!
We are just near T-square when I hear in English "what country are you from?"; I'm a little puzzled as my driver doesn't speak English, then I realise he has put that question into his phone and translated in. Got to love technology! If only I could remember how to say New Zealand in mandarin...I think we get to a place that he understands.
Thankfully traffic is flowing, long may that continue. At least now I have an idea the hotel is about 15 minutes away.
I meet Mum and Dad at the hotel, they have photographic evidence of leaving during the day :) and it sounds like they have had a great day. Even taking the subway, something I haven’t done before in Beijing.
I'd been recommended a place for dinner, M Capital, so it's back into a taxi we go. Traffic is a lot heavier now (6.40pm). I had forgotten to download the restaurant on my phone but thankfully have the address in Chinese. The taxi driver drops us at the start of the pedestrian street, now the fun begins. The wind is cold! I'm so not use to this. We wander down the pedestrian street, definitely lots to look at. I stop and ask a "policeman" for directions - he just smiles and points. At least we are walking in the right direction….well I hope we are.
After a few failed attempts to find the restaurant I call them, they kindly decide to send someone to collect us. Perfect! Much easier than us trying to find it.
Dinner is delicious! The views are great, and would be even better if we were sitting outside but it's just far too cold!!!
Mum decides to use the bathroom, now normally I wouldn't make mention of this however on this occasion I shall. As she comes back to the table saying she has had a shock, Dad and I look at each other thinking what has happened. We are told she walks out of the WC stall to discover a man about to use the urinal and leaves immediately! It was only then she realized she turned right instead of left. The M is for male, not the name of the restaurant......honesty! We all erupt into laughter!!!
We have the restaurant book a taxi for us, thankfully it's waiting for us literally directly outside the restaurant. Result! I didn't fancy having to walk back the same way we came.
I mentioned to Mum and Dad I wanted us to visit a Hutong. Now I don't know much about them at all so said they are sort of like the slums in India. Dad said do we have to get out of the car; Mum asked if there will be food. So I guess I'm going to see them by myself!
Saturday (10 October) morning I'm up far too early! We are off to the Great Wall today and have a car coming at 8am. Hopefully this means we miss a lot of the traffic.
We meet for breakfast at 7.15am; I'm surprised how busy the restaurant is already. Clearly everyone else has the same idea as us to get out of the traffic before everyone else.
Our driver is late to collect us due to traffic, but no worries we can stay warm inside.
It's a one and a half hour drive to Juyongguan (Juyong Pass); traffic to start with was heavy then the further from the city we got the lighter it become.
Our friendly driver went and brought the tickets for us, after a bathroom stop (not the worse one I've been too but not pleasant either) he walked us to the entrance. We're now on our own to explore the Great Wall. WOO HOO!
We walk up a number of super steep steps, its slow going as the steps aren’t for the vertically challenged! Not sure how the rest of the other tourists are managing…
We are asked numerous times to have photos with the locals - all very entertaining given the massive language barrier! Both Mum and Dad were asked separately to have photos taken; but typically it was us all with 4-5 people. Lots of laughs! I asked a lady to take a photo of us and she thought I was asking her to get in the photo with Mum and Dad.....she then had Dad take a photo of her and me together. Ok that wasn't what I was asking but hey ho. In the end we got there.
Another amazing experience of being on the Great Wall!
We drive back into Beijing, to the Summer Palace. This is somewhere I hadn’t visited before and always wanted too. In 1998 UNESCO included it on its World Heritage List. The Summer Palace is a huge place with lakes, gardens and palaces. We definitely weren’t the only ones here! We enjoy wandering around taking it all in.
Our driver drops us off at the hotel around 3pm, and promptly asks for a tip. I hate this part of travel.
After a late lunch Mum and I walk down to the Silk Market – ooh dear God please not a repeat of Saigon market…..
It’s great to be out walking in the blue sky (yes blue sky!) after being in the car for so long.
Thankfully it’s a lot more civilized here; Mum tells me it was a lot worse yesterday with every shop assistant standing at the door of their shop to get them inside. Thankfully it’s not like that today!
We head across the road to a Korean place for dinner – we had walked by it a few times already so decided to give it a try. Opening the menu brought back my memories of the amazing food I ate in Seoul a few months ago. The food doesn’t disappoint! The only not so positive (and this is for all restaurants we’ve been too in Asia so far) is that they bring out all of the food as/when it’s ready even though I had ordered our drinks and an appetizer earlier it didn’t quite go to plan. Ooh well.
Back at the hotel we enjoy a drink in the bar and some people watching!
Sunday, October 11 after a wee sleep in (bliss!) we meet and head out for breakfast. The place we thought we would go didn't start serving food for another half an hour, no thank you very much! Across the road we went.
We took the subway to Wangfujing and wandered around, looking into a few shops until we came to the food street. An interesting array of things to buy to eat from live scorpion's on a stick, to dumplings, to stinky tofu, to fruit sticks dipped into some kind of toffee and everything in-between! No purchases from us.
We continue down the pedestrian street, enjoying the sun and total blue sky, stopping at a few shops along with way before its time to reserve out steps and take the subway back towards to the hotel. This time stopping at the Silk Market for Dad to look at golf balls. The ladies were out in force today with trying to entice us into their shops. No thank you!
Time now to head for a coffee before we check out and make our way to the hotel.
For some reason check-out takes sooo much longer than I expected; who knows what they are doing! Finally we get the final bill and within seconds are in a taxi to the airport. In typical Jordan fashion we leave early but given its Sunday mid-afternoon I'm expecting traffic to be quite busy. Alas this is not the case; we arrive at the airport in less time that it had taken when we arrived on Thursday night.
We’ve had a great weekend in Beijing – for Mum and Dad it was a lot better than they expected which is awesome! Not sure they are ready to book another trip quite yet but we’ll see…..Hong Kong here we come!
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