1st. day in Beijing

I arrived in Bejing just after 3 PM today. The immigration clearance got done pretty fast. Even KLIA can't beat the speed. What I had in mind before was a pretty strict security and immigration policy. But, it wasn't like that at all. My horror came soon after when I stepped into the arrival hall. Hundreds of people were waiting in there and I had to slowly walk from one end of the row to the other looking for the hotel concierge who was supposed to be there to fetch me. It didn't take me long to locate him since he was standing at the far end holding my name together with other guys from other hotels. Man, I was treated like a VIP. The 20 minutes ride to the hotel costed RMB 300 (which is roughly about RM150). What a waste of money. I would never have taken it had it been at my own expense. The limo was of course very luxurious.

The road from the airport to the hotel was quite nicely built with sufficient signboards in both Mandarin and English. I reached Hotel Kun Lun at almost 4. Straight after I got my AMEX swiped for deposit, I was taken to my room which is located on the 19th floor facing the city. The concierge boy was bit reluctant to leave after placing my luggage ot the stand. I knew he was waiting for tips but I just couldn't be bothered. He left after realising he was not getting any. Felt a bit bad though, but, hey too bad, I just arrived and I had no small change. Some other time mate.

Wow! China chicks parading in swimmming suit on tele.

OK now let's continue ...

After hanging my clothes in the wardrobe and arranging my toileteries, I left to do a bit of exploration of the surrounding area. It's always a good idea to immediately get some inital feel of the place .. oppps the chicks are back. I think it's some sort of beauty pageant.

So, with a simple map supplied by a colleague in KL, I took a walk to a nearby shopping mall called Lufthansa Shopping Mall. Initially I was a bit wary of the people around me. Having been to India, I would think I should be a bit careful. After a while I realised it is much safer here. You don't see as many homeless people on the street as you would in Mumbai and Delhi and plus the area is much cleaner as well. The first thing that stroke me while walking to the mall was the quality of China girls. .. oh oh .. back to the tele. It is indeed a beauty pagent. They just announced the new Miss China. Wow! She's a real meal!.

As it is well known, bicycle is a common means of transport among the Chinese in the city. You pretty much see them everywhere you go. Check out this chick.


If you have read The Wild Swans, you will realise that China has taken a gigantic step into becoming what it is now. The traces of the social rule that forbidded its citizen from practising even the most basic human rights described in the novel can no longer be seen. May be I need to see more of the country and know more of its people to make such a conclusion, but whatever it is, it's nice to see such a transformation is taking place.

The mall turned out to be nearer than I thought. It was huge and of a posh sort. I spent some time there checking out the prices of some eletrical goods. Not much different from Malaysia. Oh ya, even the sales girls are lovely and over here they don't follow you around like in KL. So, you can do your shopping in peace.

I shot off to Beijing Hard Rock Cafe soon after. A short walk from the mall. What a deserted place. And with homeless people (who I suspect are Mongolians) hanging out outside it's nothing like any other Hard Rock Cafes I've been to before. The merchandise prices are not bad. A cap is priced at RMB100 which is about RM48 (half of the price of a Paris Planet Hollywood cap) and the cheapest T-Shirt is sold at RM120. Apart from the hotel, this is probably the only other restaurant that I have seen so far that provides English menu. I was tempted to have my dinner there and then, but thinking of the two pieces of chicken I brought all the why from KLIA, I decided not to and this is what I finally had for my dinner: