Beijing Change!!

• Ashermj's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Beijing

Trip Start Feb 13, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 29, 2006 Next
Entry

  Beijing, China
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Sleepless again on the train, I got up at 6.30am. The train pulled in at 7. I felt quite an experienced commuter now in China. I wasn't about to get ripped off by the taxi driver either when he tried to charge me 60 Yuan. I knew exactly how much it cost, 22 Yuan which I told him, and also that it was illegal not to do it on the meter anyway. Leaving him behind we got another taxi, which cost 22 Yuan to the hotel. I was really tired now and hoping we could get a room straight away. We hadn't actually booked the accommodation, just turned up at the place we'd stayed at before. We filled out the appropriate form and were told the room had been reserved. We stood there waiting for the key, bags in hands. The receptionist smiled and got on with her work apparently oblivious to the fact we wanted to go to our room. We asked for the key, shocked at such a request she told us that we couldn't check in till 12. The prospect of waiting 4 hours for the room didn't sound very appealing, but we had no choice. We wasted an hour or so in MacDonalds eating a big breakfast, and then checked out the natural history museum next door. The museum was full of kids between 5 and 10. They were running around screaming, some of them coming up to us saying hello. I could barely keep my eyes open as we went round. It was still only just gone 10 when we came out. We headed back to the hotel anyway. I fell asleep in the seat for a while whilst doggy looking Chinese deals involving piles of cash and some stamped receipts went on around me. Lorraine had managed to sort out the room a bit early so I went to the room and collapsed. The only thing I wanted to do that day was to upload some photos. The CD containing my only copies were quite scratched and I was worried about losing them all. The Internet café in Beijing was not very good and the connection was very slow. I didn't get very far anyway. Whilst in Shanghai we had visited an Indian restaurant called Indian Kitchen, picking up a card we had read that there was one in Beijing so we thought we should try it out. The food was very nice, and the Restaurant had a more varied range of foods than in English Indian restaurants. The taxi driver on the way back was funny, he kept on speaking to us in Chinese whilst doing mimes of what he was saying. At one point he was trying to tell us he played badminton, at a place we passed. Acting out a game of badminton whilst driving he swerved on to the wrong side of the road, laughing as he did it. I had to directed him to the hotel as well I was quite pleased that I had managed to navigate Beijing.

Print this entry Share Beijing hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry