Tokyo to Beijing

Flight doesn’t leave until 6pm … so there’s still more time to explore. Breakfast this morning was at a local coffee shop doing a flourishing trade … and no, wonder the prices were very reasonable. Not sure what to order, but the Morning Set C seemed very popular, so we plumped for that. A toasted triangular sandwich with ham, cheese, tomato, egg, spinach … very tasty.

We used up the remaining Hop-on bus ticket and arrived at Tokyo Station … knocking off a whole half an hour from the journey back to the airport and allowing us to wander through the Imperial Palace grounds with its acres of statuesque cloud pines, and a lovely downtown park.

With suitcases safely retrieved from lockers at Terminal One we hopped aboard the shuttle to Terminal 3 … quite a difference from the International Narita Terminal … almost like an unloved 3 cousin. Large, uninviting, generic spaces where people are deposited until called. One saving grace though – an advert for a white chocolate and coffee soft ice cream cone! Every bit as decadent as it sounds.

Unfortunately Spring Japan Air is not a patch on Zip Air. Developed as a conglomerate between JAL and China, it somehow seems to fall short. The seats were far less comfy… disinterested flight attendants … and abnormally blue cabin lights that gave passengers a distinctly Zombie look. But hey, it’s a budget line, and it got us there on time and in one piece <grin> While standing in the check-in baggage line up, an older fellow asked where we were from … turns out he has a Visa for visiting Canada next month. Then he asked Glen how old he was … (I think he was hoping to be older) however Glen beat him by a good year <grin>. People are definitely more direct here.

Arrival and immigration in Beijing went remarkably smoothly … no bags went walkabout and we weren’t even asked what goods we intended to bring into the country. Now to to tackle the express train ticket machines. The smartly uniformed attendant watched our feeble attempts for a while, then took pity and with a few simple clicks had tickets in our hands. The train was fast, clean and well announced in both Chinese and English, disgorging us at the appropriate station.

Now for the hotel. As we stood pondering which exit would be best, a friendly voice asked if we needed any help … a businessman by appearance … he took us to the correct exit and pointed us in the right direction for our hotel which was only about 500 meters down the street. Where we had been expecting a busy main road, we were confronted by a wide, dark street with just a few cars and virtually no-one walking. No hotel hove into view, so once again we stood deliberating. Eventually a young man happened by and although he didn’t know the hotel he soon figured out where it was (just off the main road) … and in fact as he lived on the same street, he kindly walked us there. We’ve encountered nothing but helpful people … our room is spacious and comfortable … what a great start to our time in China.