Day 4: Beijing (Tues; 1 Apr)

We both woke up early (3 AM for me) so apparently, we're not on China time yet...

The buffet breakfast was open a 6 AM, we were the first people there (at 6 AM...).  We had the layout down so we each went to our respective favorites.  We weren't in a hurry to finish breakfast as we weren't in a hurry to get out there walking after our 8 mile jaunt yesterday - so we hung out in the suite (which was quite comfortable btw) until 11 AM then walked to a nearby McDonald's to see if it was the same in China as it is at home.  The answer:  Not too different but, we had a hard time ordering using the screen enter system (in Chinese) and the counter clerk didn't speak English.  Finally, someone from the back (a manager maybe?) took pity on us and knew enough English to allow her to order for us. Donna paid via Ally Pay (Chinese version of Pay Pal, I think) as she did for dinner the night before. That method of payment seems to work well, especially since I have my phone turned off (hence, no access to apps) so only Donna can pay for essentially everything - win/win - I don't really want to know what anything costs (no matter what it is or where we are I'll think it's too expensive, unless, off course it's an airplane, motorcycle, bicycle or parts thereof).  For those of you who don't know, Donna is the budget master, if she buys it we can afford it. This allows me to buy things (via CC, etc.) until she reels me in....  Anyway, back to McD's - we both had fish fillet sandwiches with french fries, virtually identical to that in the US.

We returned to the hotel and had coffee in the 17th floor lounge then checked out at 2 PM.  We used Didi (I think I'm correct this time...)  to go to the other hotel in Beijing where we'd meet the rest of the people on Tour 1*, which entails the second portion of our trip.

*Note: I've essentially broken our entire trip down into 4 parts:

1. Fly to, stay in and explore Beijing on our own;
2. Tour 1 - the tourist exploration of China via tour bus;
3. Tour 2 - the genealogy exploration via tour bus and of Donna's grandparent's villages with student researchers; and
4. Singapore on our own, where we spent 3 days essentially on our way home.
   

The Didi ride was, again, an eye-opener.  The trip only took 20 minutes but looking at my journal I've described it as, once again, insane.  This, directly from my journal

 ... trip took 20 minutes, traffic insane.  Not so much stopped/slow but just a semblance of traffic rules, the usual number (high) of rude/aggressive car drivers, many scooters who follow no apparent rules (other than don't hit or get hit...) and ride at excessive speed everywhere...

The route to the hotel appeared simple enough until the end where the navigation app (not Google maps, which is not allowed in China) took us through parking lots, etc. to get to the hotel entrance.  I don't know how you'd do it the old fashion way (i.e. with a paper map) and I'm more than just glad I didn't have to do it.  

I'm not sure how I feel about these drivers as they seem to be a bit like Jeckyll and Hyde in that, like most, probably all, Chinese nationals I interfaced with, when talking to them person they are very polite and seem quite personable.  But, in a crowded (room, airplane, train, sidewalk) or congested (highway, freeway) situation watch out, they are inconsiderate bordering rude.  I've never been elbowed, pushed, etc. more (or even close to) any place in the world.  It has to be due to the extreme population density.  Beijing, for example, has 20 million people compared to LA's 4 million.  And while the population density (people per square mile) of Beijing is reported as about one third of that of LA, they can't possibly use all the land attributed to Beijing for people - walking in LA seems a lot easier than walking in Beijing because there are less people.  Or, it's just me...

We checked in to the Gehau New Century Hotel and were in our room by about 3 PM.  The check-in was a bit chaotic, as it was at our first hotel with language and passport confusion but we got through it.  (For the rest of the trip until we got to Singapore, our tour guide, Stony, checked us in to every hotel, which made it much, much easier...).  Our room was on the 5th floor where we relaxed until about 5:30 PM then headed out to walk to dinner.  Donna was aware that we would be eating a lot of Chinese food for the next couple of weeks and took pity on me by suggesting we look for a pizza place she had seen.  We went out looking for it but no joy, so we settled for KFC. It must have been quite humorous for the other (Chinese) customers as we tried to order to the non-English speaking counter person by pointing to our legs and thighs then to the trays of fried chicken behind the counter.  We also asked for (mimicked for) what we thought would be mashed potatoes (you try mimicking that one...).  We ended up with drumsticks, thighs, and french fries - and called it a win.  Just like McD's, the KFC food was just like that in the USA.  (The next morning we had a kind-of American breakfast buffet, as we would at all of the hotels for the duration, but lunch and dinner (except for 2 occasions) would be exclusively Chinese banquets for the next 18 days. Donna was prescient...).

 

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and ran into the tour organizer, Henry, and his wife, Clarita, (from Arizona) and our Chinese tour leader, Stony, who were walking to dinner.  We got to the hotel then at 7:30 gathered for a tour group introduction where we met the rest of the T1 group, mostly from NorCal.  We would be spending an inordinate amount of time with these folks (29 of us total...) on the tour bus, in hotels and at every meal over the next few days.  The next 2 hours was spent mostly reviewing the Chinese app WeChat (which I took to be the Chinese equivalent to Facebook, but, as I don't use FB anyway, this is just a guess on my part - perhaps Donna will chime in here and correct me...) which was the way the tour leader could communicate with the group and also find lost group members (which would happen more than once in the next couple of weeks...). As with all disparate groups, at least in my experience, there's always one (or, if you're unlucky, more than one) person who just gets on your nerves - this group was no exception.  Just sayin'... I admit that I was probably that person to one or more other folks on the bus.  Just sayin' again...  The meeting wrapped up about 9:30 and it was lights out for us by 10 PM for another restful, normal night's sleep (not...).  Not much in the way of pictures today...

 

McD's - pretty much the same as in the states, the still deep fry the pies though :-)

The Gehau New Century Hotel, we were on the 5th floor...

... our room ...

... and our view.  Nothing special but we weren't in the room much.

 

 

A preview of the next 8 days...

Be sure to check Donna's comments/corrections, although I've added her as an author/admin we can't seem to figure out how to let her directly edit the drafts (I can hear my kids now - old people, sheesh...)