East Asia 2011: Second day in Beijing

After a long healling sleep and a generous breakfast, it was time for
the sightseeing of the day. The plan for today was to start visiting
the Olympics complex and then come back early to the hotel for the
conference registration.
The Olympics complex can be easily reached by the underground, which
like the ones in Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia, is ultramodern, with
clear indications and unbelievably clean compared to their
counterparts in Europe.
As everything in China, size is important, and when you build a new
area of the city to host some world event like the Olympic Games, the
imortant of size becomes capital. The main avenue of the complex runs
for several km, and it aligns perfectly with the axis formed by the
Forbidden City and Tiananmen Sq.
After the Olimpics complex, and on the way back to the city center,
there was also a stop for lunch in a Asian style fast food place
(noodle soup and gyoza) by the Puppet Theatre and later on a relaxed
coffee in come cafe lost in a neighbourhood of typical 'hutong'
buildings.
On the same street, closer to the city center, the influence of the
customers of one of the main youth hostels could be clearly seen, as
the traditional houses and few shops sudenly transformed in design
clothing, articraft and souvenir shops and internet cafes and pubs
(Nanfuoguxian). Passing by that hostel, we decided to already book a
trip to the Great Wall for the day after the conference finished.
After that, it was time to get back to the hotel, try to sort out some
travel logistics for after the conference and get a light fruit supper
before going to bed. Funny thing about those logistics was that it
seems that in China there's not such a concept as a Travel Agency (of
course, why should they need it?), but it took me some trying and
asking in various places and to several people to realise. The only
way to sort out some travel tickets seems to be either to get them
yourself (by visiting the railway statin, airport, etc. or of course
using the internet), or if you are lodging in a hotel, get someone of
the hotel to do it for you.

East Asia 2011: Photo Beijing day 2

Beijing subway. Olympic area. Hutong. Coffee break.

East Asia 2011: Photo Beijing day 1

Forbidden City; Tian'man Sq; Park of Temple of Heaven; lunch.

East Asia 2011: Arrival to Beijing and first day

***NOTE: For those whom I had given a different mobile number where to
SMS me if needed, please note that it does not work in China,
therefore, if you need to contact me, please use email.***

After a long flight with Aeroflot, finally one arrives to Beijing.
First welcome ceremony in China is, of course, the immigration
control. The first greeting of the guy there, surely wanting to make a
joke to break the ice, was that I didn't look like the picture in my
passport, and asking if it was really me.
Apart from that, not much of a problem with immigration, and more on
the contrary, I was surprised by the interest of the Chinese
authorities to improve the quality of the service. As you are almost
done with the immigration procedure, you are asked to 'vote' on the
quality of the attention you have received on a special keypad (of
course I voted 'very good service', because I would not like to be
responsible for the guy at immigration receiving an electric shock or
something like that if I voted the opposite).
Once I had recovered my luggage, I was fortunate to meet again the
girl who was sitting beside me on the plane and her friend, and they
offered to share their taxi to the city with me. During the trip,
various subjects were covered, ranging from urban development, passing
by weather, and work interests, and even metallurgical aspects of 9/11
and the usefulness of carbon nanotubes to build an space elevator.
Once in my hotel, and being that my room was not ready yet (too
early), I left my luggage in a friend's room and we took off to start
discovering a few of the secrets of the capital. Our wanderings took
us by the outer wall of the Forbidden City,then Tian'anmen Sq. and
then to the high street beyond. It was surprising to see a newly built
commercial street built in traditional style, but lodging
international brands like Starbucks or Zara... it reminded me of it
being some sort of Disney World neighborhood (Qianmen St.). On the
other hand, just by taking any of the side streets, in a few minutes
you would find yourself in a very traditional street, with old shops
and small eateries.
From there we walked all the way to the Temple of Heaven park and
temple complex. On he way, we had the chance to explore a local
market. Beijing is a city with many parks, huge and small, always very
well kept. some surprising things for me were the way to water the
plants and even the trees (by spraying them with water, instead if
soaking the ground where they stand), and that in some quiet spots of
the park, speakers where installed, concealed as old lamps, providing
relaxing music to match the greenery and relaxing atmosphere.
After all that walking (just let me remind you that by that time I had
not really slept in over 40h) we finally went back to the commercial
area we had found before to get some real traditional food. Let's just
say that ordering unknown dishes in a foreign country of which you
don't understand the language it's always risky, but that let's say we
managed to have a 66% rate of success. ;-)
From there, it was just another gentle stroll to the hotel, with
various stops on the way to get some supplies, and meeting a few more
people participating in the conference. Finally, it was time to have a
long shower, and get to bed.

East Asia 2011: Stop-over at Sheremtyvo Airport

First stop on the way: Moskow. The plane that has brought us here was
something out of other ages. Nowhere where the small luxuries of Asian
or Middle Eastern airlines. Well, may be the people in the First class
did have some complimentary paper slippers, earplugs and a better
menu, but still,you already get that and better on Economy Class in
Singapore Airlines, or Gulf Air.
Not even we had a good choice of entertainment options, not even the
old style "one film fits all" of old times and coach trips. The plane
didn't have any entertainment, no film,no game console, not even a
music channel where to fit your headphones. Actually, the only luxury
was a bit more space than i a Ryanair flight. And a meal of course,
but don't get me started on the food...
I'll talk about the terminal later,now i have to leave to the boarding call.
PS: The next leg of the trip was not so disastreous: the plane qas a
21st century model, with proper entertainment center, but the food was
stilll appaling.

East Asia 2011: Fully packed and ready to go!!

 

Everything is ready. My luggage is packed and the travel plan is set. There're only farewell whishes to exchange with friends and family and it will be time for the next big Asian adventure.