Beijing - 26 May 2013

Unexpected work trip to Beijing. Company booked me on a Malaysian Airlines flight from SG-KL-PK.

ticket, checked

First time doing this connecting/transit flight thingy. Luckily the bags got automatically routed over, so that's one hassle less.

too much time to kill at KL

Had to wait for 4 hours before the plane to Beijing takes off. So, walked around, sat around, drank coffee and had desserts.

sticky date pudding, with super sweet caramel sauce

Imagine my happiness when finally able to board the plane to Beijing. Yippee! The insides of the plane from SG to KL was a little worn out, but thankfully, the plane to Beijing was all well-maintained and comfy.

aisle seat

dinner of soy sauce chicken

That roll of bread was nice. With a generous blob of butter. Yums.

Arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport T3 20 minutes past midnight (on 27 May). But the wait for the baggage took quite a while. Probably half-hour. Then, had to take the free shuttle to T2 to meet my colleagues who arrived via AirAsia. Geez, the bus was rickety and the interval between services past midnight was 30 minutes. Took about 10 minutes bus ride before arriving at T2, only to find out that the taxi queue was still so long at 130am.

We were tired, cranky and had lots of bulky items with us since we're in Beijing for an exhibition. We stood around contemplating our next move when a young guy approached us.

Black market taxi vendor. "300 yuan for 1 car. And you guys need 2 cars. If you agree, leave with us now." He said. Was abit reluctant but didn't want to wait another hour for taxi so we followed him. Come to think of it now, that was quite reckless since we're in a foreign country and willingly followed the stranger.

Luckily, these guys were just out for a quick buck, so in the end, they managed to send us back to our hotel except for the car without GPS took a longer route.

Stayed at Holiday Inn Express Minzuyuan, which was just 2 mrt stops from the Bird Nest and Water Cube (Olympic venues).

had to be our own bellhop, since they do not provide the service

nice comfy bed but pillow too soft

bathroom

frosted glass for bathroom door (no lock)

bottled water, coffee/tea sachets and water kettle

Wifi is provided but the signal was very weak in the room. Need a deposit of ¥100 to loan a wifi adapter from the hotel receptionist.

The hotel was within a minute walk from Chinatown. Funny hor? Chinatown in China...

view from our window

first meal in Beijing, a 24-hours shop called "Porridge Noodles Story" or "粥面故事"

chinese pork burger or rou jia mo

The night was cool with about 16 or 18 degrees celcius. Had our supper and returned to hotel to rest for we needed to be up by 8am the next day to check out the exhibition venue.