Day 1 CBR TO Beijing

Friday, August 11, 2017
31 Meldrum St, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Cc Day 1.. Canberra to Beijing - start of the Trans Siberian Adventure 
Slept like a log after a satisfying day and very satisfying evening. Poor Skyla though she knows something is up and she spent the night well and truly snuggled up to me. I hate leaving her and Knox and hope they get plenty of sun filled day with sprawled out on the grass so they don't notice that I am missing too much. 
A straight forward morning routine and all packed up and ready for the taxi which came on time at 8.20. A very engaging taxi driver blitzed the lights along Hindmarsh Drive and I was checked in and drinking coffee in Qantas club in no time at all. Flight left on time and landed 10 mins early. Straight through immigration and customs without waiting, and onto the waiting bubbly in the lounge!
Emails checked, FB updated and chocolate for the flight purchased, I was set to go. As planned the seat next to me was empty and I settled down to a movie marathon. First movie Hidden Figures about the role of number genius black women advancing the US space race was wonderful.
Having opted for gluten free my meal arrived early but was done before the wine arrived. But that was fine and I took a musical Meatloaf break between movies to start my blogging before swapping to the window seat and selecting movie 2 with 9 hours 14 mins to go!
Movie 2 was King Arthur - a remake of the old classic. Fortunately the outcome of good triumphs over evil was achieved thanks to timely magic and lots of dead bad guys! I went straight into movie 3 The Circle - a look at the impact of technology intruding into personal space and taking away privacy and individual rights. A bit scary but on top of what my taxi driver and I talked about that we are part way there with Visa and Master cards knowing everything about us! Then with 5 hours 3 minutes to go (just over half way!)  I settled into some music for a bit before hitting movie 4, Going in Style, with Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. Worth a watch!
After that and a short musical interlude I hit movie 5, Rules Dont Apply a curious story about a hopeful actress, Howard Hughes and one of his drivers. A bit interesting but odd!
The final part of the flight went ok.  Before landing I slept / dozed for about an hour and despite flights being held up due to bad weather, we landed on time, getting off was straight forward then an hours wait in the immigration queue (why do immigration in many countries not get staffing right - they know who is coming after all!), my bag was quick and the sign with my name held by my airport pick up people was huge so it was easy from there, into the car and 30 mins later, the last bit through very narrow wind streets, was easy.
However, it was so late now (after 12 Beijing time) that I had already decided that booking a tour for first thing in the morning had been foolish and it wouldn't happen. Turns out the torrential downpours and thunder in the morning (besides sleeping 4 hours to 8 am) confirmed I made the right decision! The weather was so bad flights were cancelled and the city disrupted!
By then I was feeling well and truly ready for bed but the hotel did not make that easy, the hotel man was more than very unwelcoming - grumpy even - he couldn't find my booking details and seemed very suspicious of my Intrepid voucher even though the company uses the hotel for their tours. An the fact that I was there for 4 nights before my first night with the tour was confusing for him. After much paperwork shuffling he agreed to check me in as long as I paid for a nights accommodation! 
Then up to my room keen to email Intrepid so they could fix up my booking issue, but despite the wifi working in the lobby, it didn't in my room! So back to Mr Grumpy armed with my now found hotel booking / payment receipt to ask about the wifi. Of course he wasn't helpful... something about the wifi signal coming from above the lobby so it wasn't available in all rooms (groan) and he didn't care about the receipt - giving me the impression that I was making it up!
So up to my room, unpacked and into the hard bed half an hour later and off to sleep! Note though that the bed was rock hard with sharp lumpy bits. Thar next night I did use one of the spare quilts as as a mattress topper and it wasn't so bad.
The hotel service however continued to be Fawlty Towers like ... the tour desk person was so unhelpful I booked one for tomorrow 9online and when I asked another about posting a letter I think she thought I was asking her to take it for me to Australia. And the web-advertised top restaurant does not exist! Am starting to wonder about if they do laundry....đŸ˜‰

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2025-02-11

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