Firstly, we’ve just found out that you can’t use Google in China, so I can’t post this in the usual way. But if you can see it, then the cunning plan (courtesy of Dom) has worked.
Our bodies are in Auckland, 5 hours behind, this time yesterday we were in Sydney, 3 hours behind, and now we’re in Beijing (with wifi but minus Google) on real time. So time is a bit strange. Fortunately, we both slept pretty well on the plane, which was just as well as we arrived at 4.45 am. It’s rather nice to be allowed off the plane and through security first, even better that your luggage comes off first as well, and then terrific to me met by a nice lady in a posh Mercedes to whisk us off to our hotel. It is easy to get used to luxury.
The photo below is the street where our hotel is. A little bit inauspicious, to put it mildly.
Then we see the entrance. Note the name of the hotel.
It tries to be as authentically Chinese as it can – here’s a small panorama of the room.
And a quick wander round the courtyard.
And you can spot from Eileen’s coat that it’s a bit chilly – quite a bit below freezing. Breakfast and a day of heavy sightseeing to come.