Beijing Trip- Day 1

The excitement was quite evident. Finally our planned trip was happening as Chet and I got to the airport and surprisingly Charm and Jun were there already at Terminal 3, way earlier than us. And here we thought we were early. For a change, the Dagatdagatan peeps came in earlier than us. Perhaps this could be a trend in the making? LOL! :)

We came in at around 4pm, did the usual rote of checking in and had time to spare on our hands and so we lounged about at Bo's Coffee, had some java and the empanada we brought along to tide us in before our flight. As you can see in the pic, we were rather busy, not to mention forlorn that the other members of our Kurimaw tribe were unable to join us this time and thus we were not complete as hope; and therefore not as rowdy. 

Just like our Bangkok trip last year and our Malaysian trip two years back, our flight was again in the evening but unlike the two, this one took a little longer for us to get to our destination as we left Manila at around 9:30pm and reached Beijing a little over midnight the next day. Good thing there was no time difference in China, but the cold was something that was not only altogether different, but a shock to our system. A body system to be exact that has already been conditioned since birth to deal with warm, tropical weather. If you must know, the temperature when we arrived was a “pleasurable” 2 degrees Celsius! 


Chet's loud and hysterical reaction to the cold was most fun to listen to as we disembarked from the plane and made our way to the customs area. I was actually half expecting that they would have us come down the plane, the old fashioned way via stairs and not through the tube. Lucky for us, the tube was in place and the only preview to the huge drop in temperature was a side door left wide open to our left that blasted the cold wind right at our faces as we stepped out.

So the only way to deal with such biting cold was to goof around and start taking pictures, as in true Kurimaw fashion, we were all stoked and happy to have our troubles culminate with our arrival. Like other airports, not sure about ours though, cameras are prohibited near the customs area and so I wasn't able to take a shot of the row of desks that had an oval screen at the edge and equipped with a mini cam showing both the customs officer who the arriving passenger is and for the passengers themselves to reconfirm the data indicated in their respective passports. There was even a survey button to press indicating if one was satisfied with their service. Why can’t we have something like that here? Naturally, I couldn’t resist the temptation to utter a few words in Mandarin before keying in my  selection and going through and meeting up with the rest of the gang before heading out to the lobby to meet our “guide”, who happens to be named Daniel and bore the sign of the group, “Kurimaw”! YES!

Braving the cold and the slapping freezer-like wind of a breeze, we made it to the van before being brought to our meager hotel called, Redwall Hotel. It wasn’t the Ritz, that's for sure, but anything to have us sheltered from the cold was more than welcome. After settling in, we were both shivering and hungry and  wondered if there was a 24-hour convenience store nearby that we could go to. Being the only one who spoke Mandarin, rusty at that, I inquired about such a store only to mistakenly go to a noodle place beside the hotel. Assuming much, I asked for a menu while Chet, Charm and Jun sat patiently. It took only moments to find out that they were still closed and was neck deep in their start-of-the-day operations. This was just one of those instances wherein I wished I could have been conversive and fluent as the lady was muttering a litany of responses that I can only understand a bit and guess as, “we don’t sell retail” or “we’re not open yet”. Either way, it was evident that we were not going to get some grub then.

So we stepped out again only to find our true destination just a door away, and like any hungry pilgrim, it was our Mecca; our Promised land. Stepping into the store, we perused what we could eat that didn’t require much preparation. Sure, a cup of hot noodle would be good to beat out the cold, but it was too much trouble to heat up and eat right there and there. 

We settled with what struck our fancy then which consisted of some packed pastries and bread that had to be microwaved right there and then. Of course, I was up to bat once more and talked to the store owner. I swear, practice makes perfect in times like these. Soon we had our fill and went back to the hotel, dealt with the winds again briefly before finding ourselves nestled in our rooms and away from the cold weather.

Back in the hotel, we retired to our respective rooms only to find it equally cold. I didn’t think of turning on the aircon as we definitely didn’t need it. But Jun and Charm thought of turning on the heater and that proved to be a whole lot of difference for the two rooms as I found later in the morning when I knocked to get us all started officially on our second day in Beijing.


And amidst the cold and burrowing under the covers, we took our rest in preparation for the long day ahead in just a little while. But if this next photo is any indication, you know that its going to a fun-filled second day in a just a few hours....