Beijing trip: Day 1 (27 October)

Hey folks, so this trip’s entries are going to be a bit different than my earlier trips as I am trying a couple of new approaches.

To start out, I am going to omit the entire process of travelling from Bengaluru to Beijing. For those of you who have been following along with me, you already know my routine and also know the general process for getting out of Bengaluru and my recommendations about the same. Furthermore, I am also not detailing any information about transfers; although, in this case I only went through Singapore, and it is so easy to find information about that airport that there is no real value in providing more narrative.

Separately, I am trying out a less detailed style, still trying to include what I think would actually be interesting or important information for fellow travellers, but not always giving the minute-by-minute explanations which some of you really appreciate, but others find unnecessarily tedious. So anyways, let’s get right to it.

After an almost entirely pleasant flight on Singapore Air SQ800, direct from Singapore, we touched down at 7:15 AM, but it was not until 7:41 AM that we were actually off the plane. I was pleased to see that there was easy to follow signage in both Chinese (which I could not read) and English. However, despite the signs, not everything was clear.

At 7:50 AM there were prominent instructions about needing to register one’s fingerprints at an impressive bank of machines. However, upon further investigation, it seemed very unclear as to whether or not this applied to people with actual printed visas in their passports, like me, or only for those taking advantage of China’s recently expanded visa on arrival system. At any rate, it evidently didn’t matter, since after trying four machines, none of which seemed to work, some sort of official just told all of us encountering the same problem to ignore the machines and proceed to the next step of the process, the arrival card machines.

The arrival card machines I encountered at 7:57 AM worked for me, but they clearly were not working for many other travellers. Presumably after a few minutes of watching this, another official told all of those nervous supplicants to simply ignore the second impressive phalanx of machines. Oddly enough, the extremely expensive looking machine only fills out part of the card, which seems to negate the purpose of having it automated, since I still had to fill out more than half of it by hand, but never question immigration procedures . . . Then at 8:03 AM I was on to the actual human operated immigration lines.

These seemed to go fairly quickly, and there was another required fingerprint collection station in front of each counter. There were no questions about where I was going, when I was leaving or why I was there, and by 8:31 AM I was through and on my way towards the train which would take me to the baggage claim area when I arrived at 8:45 AM. Like many airports, there was quite a bit of walking involved, but I didn’t find it to be tedious.

By 8:48 AM I had the bag and headed towards the exit, but I made a stop along the way which might not make sense for you. Despite the many claims about it now being so easy for foreigners to use China’s ubiquitous online payment systems, that had definitely not been my experience when I had been in Fujian province in December and January. However, part of that may be because I was attempting to use Costa Rican and Indian “international cards” so your mileage may vary. Still, as I would not have Huixian chaperoning me everywhere this time, I decided to take her advice and get $200 USD changed to 1281 Chinese Yen (CNY). I did not get the best exchange rate, but the “lost” $20 USD was worth the peace of mind enabled by having emergency backup cash.

Upon exiting at 9:00 AM, the fancy black sedan driver which Alex had arranged for me was waiting to collect me and by 9:05 AM we were on our way to Shunyi. The roads were very smooth and the ride pleasant. While it was “chilly” outside, it was clearly warmer than I had expected. Yes, there were some signs of Autumn along the way, but most of the trees were vibrant green.

Upon arrival to Melody, Alex and Robin’s home about thirty minutes later, they promptly got me settled in. Seeing that my coat was much too heavy, Melody lent me three sweatshirts which were just my size; they were intended to be for Robin, but he was not keen on them, so his loss was my gain, at least for a few days anyways. Then Alex helped me load up my WeChat wallet in exchange for a bunch of my Chinese cash; that way I would not have to worry about the international card connection to Alipay and WeChat not working. Then a bit later they took me out to a sort of fancy shopping area which they favor where we had a very nice late lunch at Sue Cuisine. Robin of course no doubt did not remember me at all since the last time I had seen him, I think he was maybe 4 years old; I think it had been 11 years since we last saw one another in person! Regardless, it was great catching up, and I was extremely thankful for Melody and Alex for hosting me for the week at their comfortable home.

Following a wonderful day of catching up and reflecting on old times, since Robin and Melody had to be at school early the next morning, we all turned in by 10:15 PM. I had no clear plan about what I would actually do the next day when I would set off on my own, but I was excited about the adventures (or as is often the case with me, misadventures) which were ahead. If you want the nitty gritty of getting around Beijing’s transport system as I attempt to see the sites, you will have to read along with me for day 2.

So, what do you think about the new style so far? Have I become too abbreviated, or should I cut things down even more? Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.