Big-Time Beijing

At KL airport the shrill wailing of an inordinate number of distressingly tired children, gave rise to thoughts of a pending horror flight to Beijing.

But reality thankfully did not match the prospect; both the parents and the tiny tots were sound asleep as we levelled out at 10k metres, and the ever reliable Air Asia X journey was as smooth as silk and a little after 1am came the big reveal.

Beijing!

We’d arrived and eager for the coming adventure. A new land. An awaiting culture and peoples and things we’ve heard and read of for ages. A courteous passage thru the universal airport arrivals procedures and out into the hurley-burley of the metropolis of 15 million folk. Selina our guide whisked us through the honking hubbub of the car park then the freeway to our CBD hotel.

Friday: Beijing; perfect smog one day; brilliant smog the next

But what the heck! This is not the south of France, not Scotland or Norway. This is a new land; older than time itself and you know what? Everything here is ‘made in China’

Our hotel room is on the 11th floor and I estimate there are two or 3,000 apartments within our immediate vicinity. Some modern, some older style, but with pleasant garden spaces below.

Correction: not everything is ‘made in China’ for at Costa Coffee the cups were made in the U.K. and the coffee in Brazil. And all served with the fond memories of Italy’s Lake Como in the background.

In China 600 people are killed each day by motor cars. Walking in Beijing we tended to use the underpasses to avoid the cars, but the footpaths are beset by bicycles and electric scooters. All good fun!

Confucius say… man who run behind car get exhausted.