China 2019 Day 6, 11th May Beijing

OK, so we may have pushing it a bit as we both woke at 9am this morning after a rather solid sleep. As we weren't meeting Alec and Helen until around 11am this was a good thing. After the necessary ablutions and arranging the laundry collection, it was off to find some brekky. Arrived downstairs at 10.10 and were informed that breakfast closed at 10; no words just two fingers in a cross and a shake of the head. The only "issue" with the hotel is not many staff speak English, and yes OUR fault not theirs, but ALL so friendly and helpful once we get over the language barrier.
Alec told us to try a "jianbing" from a street stall if we wanted something different, we didn’t have to go far as there was a “hole in the wall” shop opposite that sold ‘jianbing’; basically a thin flour egg mix cooked on a round hot plate and then filled with lettuce, onion, something brown and spring onion etc. Then a waffle placed on top, rolled, cut in half and presented in a bag (see photos). We then went down to the park we had walked through in the dark the previous evening and sat down to eat brekky with some juice. Excellent !! It was then a case of a little walking and people watching until we returned to the hotel around 11am. The park was so vibrant with people dancing, exercising, reading, playing musical instruments and just enjoying life. There was even a huge ‘sandpit pit’ ( read dirt) for the children and they all had plastic spades, digging and having fun.

Alec and Helen arrived about 11.30 and were taking us to an Art region called 798 which was a area of disused industrial spaces and buildings that now housed art galleries etc. It was about a 30 minute bus ride there but the weather was warm and fine so a nice day. We wandered around the various galleries and spaces for hours and had some lunch at Lakers79 ( An American style food place) where I had a burger. We continued to wander around looking at the various galleries and exhibitions on show and even though we didn’t see half of them it was still nearly 5pm when Alec ordered a Didi (Uber in China) to take us back to the hotel. All in all a really enjoyable day doing something out of the blue.

We had a little rest before meeting Alec and Helen again and this time it was onto the subway and into a more central “tourist” area with a large shopping centre where we went to a Korean place for dinner. Great food, conversation and a beer before we all wandered back to our respective places for rest and recuperation. Alec and Helen where busy the next day so we were going to venture to the Lama Temple and vicinity and then meet for dinner in the evening. A great day, now for a sleep and hope the forecast rain stays away tomorrow.

China 2019 Day 5, 10th May. Singapore to Beijing

Damn that alarm at 4.30am this morning. Actually it was the noisy idiots next door at 3am which was worse and as most know when you have to be up in around an hour you just don’t get back to sleep. Got ready and all packed before heading downstairs to checkout and grab a cab to the airport. Mercure Singapore Bugis was a great spot to stay, small room, but great location, modern, very clean and reasonably priced.

Barely took 20 minutes to the airport through the rain (another storm during the night) with the check in and customs process very efficient. It was then up to the Singapore Airlines lounge (loving that Virgin Gold 😉 ) for a quiet wait and some breakfast.

Would have liked to see 'Jewel" but need at least 5 hours apparently so not this time.

Plane (A380) was on time, almost and it was bye Singapore and on the way to Beijing. We were in economy but on the upper deck which meant two seats next to a window by ourselves, lovely.

You’ll see some colourful sign photos at the end of this blog and these are all from the MRT subways. A great humorous social media campaign to get people to just think of others and be considerate, wonder if it work in Australia, I doubt it. Loved that each character had their own name, loved Glenda 😉.

It was an uneventful 6 hour flight and I got to finish the movie I started on the previous flight and also update my blog.
After landing at Beijing airport ( the terminal has the most amazing curved timber ceilings) it was a pretty simple process through immigration and customs and then as per usual, waited for our bags which always seem to be the last ones, but at least they arrived. We then found the Airport Express subway and bought our tickets before trying to decipher the map. This was so small ( and we still had no wifi) that I had to take a photo of it with my phone and then enlarge it so we could read the stations!! and no it was NOT my old eyes. All good, on our way and then change to line 10 after 2 stops. First problem, need another ticket. Oh well find the ticket machine as no one spoke English but thank god you could choose the English language on the machine once we found the correct machine (there were 3 different types and all obviously in Chinese.) Then a leisurely ride to our destination stop and a short 10 minute walk to the Beijing Guiz Hou Hotel Mansion. A great choice, lovely big room and would definitely recommend to anyone visiting. Only worry I had was the Chinese gas masks in each room for guests in case of fire, gas attack?? Also it is not 100m from where Alec is living so a definite plus. As he didn't finish work till 7pm we had a walk around, bought some supplies,had  a coffee and then a little relax and a beer before he and his girlfriend Helen arrived to take us to dinner.
We then set off to a Chinese hot pot restaurant for dinner which entailed a 30 minute walk through a park with no lights ( Beijing one of the safest cities in the world I'm told) and had a lovely catch up evening. Eventually we returned back to the hotel quite late and retired to a well earned rest.
Even with the flight another 20,000 step day. ;-)

China 2019 Day 4 9th May Singapore

Day 4 started with a quick MRT trip to Clarke Quay for a bit of breakfast and a look around. Not a lot open (most places not opening till 10-11 each day) but found a little café/coffee shop and had a good coffee and some sustenance for the day ahead. We then found a boat for a ride on the waterway and look around. It was getting very hot and humid quickly, so not so good to be out and about, but what the heck it was good way to view the area from a different vantage point. We got off at Marina Sands as I wanted to go up to the Skydeck. Jane didn’t so she went for a walk around while I went to the top. Great views of the harbor and city and Gardens by the Bay. It was time for an iced coffee and we then decided to have a look at the Art Science Museum which currently had the Alice in Wonderland exhibition on ( I think this was the same one in Melbourne a while ago as it was presented by ACMI ). This was an excellent display and history of Alice including the various incarnations into film over the century; well worth it.

It was still VERY hot and god damn humid (now 1.30pm) so we had a quick bite of lunch in air conditioning before setting forth on the MRT for the Indian quarter. BAD IDEA !!!! We basically got off one end and walked to the MRT at the other end taking only a couple of photos and didn’t visit the Indian Heritage centre as Jane was over it. Suffice to say onto the MRT and back to the hotel to rest and recuperate for a couple of hours. What I did see of this quarter was such a contrast to the other two areas ( Malay & Chinese quarters) and reminded me of my Indian experience; dirty and falling down; I’ll say no more.

After the couple of hours rest we popped downstairs for a happy hour glass of wine before heading outside to have a wander around. By now much cooler, but still humid. Saw some inspiring examples of colonial architecture and really enjoyed these few hours before finding a great Spanish/Tapas restaurant called The Winery where we had spicy squid, ham croquettes and an egg and jamone hot pan prepared on the table with a beer of course. Jane had found a little whisky bar nearby so we settled there for flight of drams and a whiskey sour; excellent conclusion to the day.

It was then off to the MRT station to get a refund on the tickets deposit but of course we had to travel one station and then back to find an open office. Still a bit of fun though and it was then back to the hotel to pack and bed, ready for a 4.30am wake up.