Beginning Beijing
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
1
115
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Beijing,
China
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Beijing, China
Our flight from Shanghai to Beijing cost 580RMB for each of us. Actually the airfare was only 450 yuan and the rest was for taxes, and fees. Still this was cheaper than the soft sleeper on the train. We purchased our tickets from C-trip by phone. The tickets were delivered to our hotel clerk while we were out walking the Bund. You can reach C-trip.com on line and check on the prices, but you can't buy tickets on line unless you have a Chinese credit card. One of the things you must factor in to the cost of air tickets is the expense of getting to and from the airport. The airports are usually are well outside of town. It cost us 86 yuan (RMB) for a taxi from Kays' house to the Shanghai airport and 200 yuan to get from the Beijing airport to our hotel. The party at Kay's was very nice. There were about 10-12 couples there. The women were all Chinese from various parts of the country, dressed and looking like movie stars; the men were mostly non-nationals from all over the world working in China
15-01
. One man was from Guatemala which we thought remarkable. Other than Kay and Arvid there was only one other man originally from USA. His name is Mat and he's been in China for 18 years, he's now living with his Chinese wife, Sue, in Dalian up near the North Korean border. All of the men seemed to have been here for at least 8 years and so could speak the language. The women spoke little or no English, but were very charming. So it was a very nice party and we learned a lot more about the affluent of the new China.Here in Beijing we are staying at the Home Inn on Liangshidian Jie, in Central Beijing. Home Inn is a corporate chain in China and they have acquired something like 135 properties throughout China. Our room for two with modern bathroom cost 219 yuan per night. This includes free in-room internet access. The building doesn't have much character, meaning it is not funky and old, but the street outside makes up for that; narrow broken pavement with muddy potholes that keep you watching where you're stepping and street hawkers and shop venders trying to attract your attention. It is funky but the longer we're here the more we appreciate "our street." We are only a few blocks south of Tiananmen Square and from here we can walk to most of the sites we want to see in the city. We have time to walk over to the square this afternoon.
