Beijing - An Introduction

It was a fairly early morning departure from Juxian Ancient Village to the Guilin airport. We got through security in what must have been record time...only one person ahead of us. LuRue was "out of it" for most of the 3-hour flight while Montana sorted photos & videos. LuRue is still recovering from whatever has ailed her the past couple of days...not really sick, but not wanting to eat, either, and feeling very, very tired.

Our instructions for meeting the shuttle driver at the Beijing airport were to wait at the exit of baggage claim. After thirty minutes of waiting in vain, LuRue finally asked someone who sent her to the information desk. A couple of phone calls by a helpful young woman solved the situation. The driver had been waiting at Exit B, while we were waiting at Exit A. Thank goodness for cell phones and the fact that everyone is so connected these days.

After driving through the very modern city, we came to a district that began to look much older, the driver finally turning down a very narrow lane. After a block or so, a taxi came from the other direction--gridlock! Our shuttle driver and the taxi driver exchanged some very heated words, then our guy got out & with the help of some local people, moved some tables so that he could maneuver into the spot & let the taxi past. We are guessing that the taxi was going the wrong way on a one-way street. We turned into an alley so narrow that the driver had to reach out to pop in his side-view mirror to get through.

Suddenly we stopped at a simple doorway and a friendly guy was there to greet and welcome us inside. After the passport check, we were led through 3 courtyards to our room. Our room is like the 5th picture on this website, only reversed (See "Click to view more photos" in the upper left of the photo.) The room even has heat and hot water! The hotel uses geothermal heat pump technology.

http://my-hotels.in/hotel/cn/courtyard7.htm

After a bit of settling in, we asked a few directions at the desk & walked around a bit. Turns out our hotel is less than a block from a "street" of all kinds of shops. Montana said that it was like being at the fair. Hundreds of people were strolling along eating every imaginable food. Only foot traffic allowed except for an occasional bike or a very small vehicle/wagon making deliveries. The narrow street is several blocks long & fun to explore. We'll go back.

After looking at TripAdvisor and deciding on some activities we'd like to do (the desk people will help us make arrangements), we read more about our location. We are about a kilometer from Tiananmen Square & the Forbidden City. We're in a refurbished section of very old Beijing.

We ate dinner at the hotel dining room...being the only two customers. The restaurant has good reviews, so we decided that most people must eat much later than 5:30. LuRue's stomach is beginning to accept more food, starting with a ham sandwich tonight.

We will have 7 full days in Beijing. The weather forecast is for sunshine (and it is enough to cast a shadow) and mid-fifties, but we failed to see any blue skies. The conditions, though, did make for a dramatic red sun low in the sky an hour or two before sunset.

There is a lot to do here. We're glad we have several days to explore.