En Route to Beijing

Trip Start Apr 10, 2005

Trip End May 01, 2005

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Flag of China Beijing, China
Saturday, April 16, 2005

After packing up our bags, we headed downstairs to Ember (Hotel 1929's restaurant) and had breakfast. Our breakfast for the past few days consisted of croissants, toast, papaya, watermelon, apple slices, and your plate of eggs, 1 strip of bacon, beans, and overcooked potatoes (which Cam believed were last night's dinner). The had a few jams & spreads and Cam really loved this spread called "kaya". It is made from coconut milk, sugar, eggs and pandan leaves. We finished our breakfast and walked over to say goodbye to our waitress. She handed us a little gift bag and inside was a container of kaya. It was such a nice gesture. We took a picture of her but unfortunately, the flash wasn't on and all you can see was her standing up with both hands raised to a peace sign.

We flew back to Hong Kong en route to our second stop, Beijing. This is the only drawback flying with Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific

. We always have to fly back to Hong Kong, their hub. Today was pretty much a write-off, with a 3:15 hr flight to Hong Kong and a 3:00 hr flight to Beijing. The lunch and dinner was pretty good. Dessert was Cam's favorite - ICE CREAM (lunch was Movenpick ice cream, and dinner was HaagenDaz).
We arrived in Beijing around 8:00pm and after going through customs, visa, and the baggage claim, we were confronted with illegitimate taxi drivers. They followed us around the airport as we exchanged our money and tried to get information on how to get to our hotel. They were definitely invading our personal space, standing within a couple feet of us. It was very unnerving... trying to get them to leave us alone, while at the same time, watching our backpacks. We made our way outside and found the LEGITIMATE taxi line. Thank goodness!!! Can you believe that they even kept hassling us as we were standing in line?

We finally arrived at the Marco Polo Hotel at 10:15pm using the legitimate taxi and paid RMB100 (approximately $13 US). The other taxi drivers were going to charge us anywhere from RMB150-220. It was not a good first impression of Beijing.

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