.. As mentioned above I woke at 7 am after 4 hours sleep to thunderstorms and torrential rain. A quick look in the mirror told me it was time to get more sleep! But by 10 I was a tad more human so after a 1st breakfast of a chocolate bar I tackled the booking issue which Intrepid had resolved overnight after I emailed them (from the lobby, sadly no miracle had given my room wifi overnight - but bless Intrepid). So no problem but the fellow didn't seem empathetic that the payment asked of me was annoying - and told me to sort out the overpayment at checkout! When I asked about the nearest restaurant he simply pointed to around the corner. Thanks Basil!
Around the corner in the heavy rain (thank goodness for my great jacket with easy to use hood) I found the welcoming Alley Coffee House and Cafe. Cereal, fabulous fruit salad (not very Chinese I know) and coffee got me all set to go exploring. But while I was there I found and hopefully booked a whole day tour for tomorrow which would pick me up and totally fill my day. Turned out in the mean time that the company who I had the half day tour with (and missed) today, would transfer my booking but I decided that seeing more would suit me this time and that trying to juggle things and expecting speedy responses on a Saturday had turned out to be slightly problematic!
So giving credit where it is due, the hotel might be 0/10 for customer service but it is 10/10 for location. Around the corner from the cafe is the precinct with Jingshan Park, Imperial Palace Museum and Tiananmen Square. However it was Saturday and there were lots of others out with their umbrellas treading carefully to avoid the many puddles.
I wandered along and checked out the entrances to the iconic places that I knew I would spend time being shown tomorrow and watched the families doing what they do on a Saturday! By wandering further I found the National Art Gallery - an impressive building. While I was admitted for free after showing my passport, inside was somewhat mysterious as the galleries were closed and hoards old people were sitting around looking at their phones! So I walked up and down the stairs and still couldn't work out what was happening so I gave it a miss without seeing any art!
Then I wandered off down a semi-main road for a few Kms, turned up a main road then tried to match some of the street signs to my map. But that didn't work so I turned again thinking I was a long way from the hotel (northern hemisphere really does mess with my sense of direction- I had the same problem in Croatia and Italy last year). In the end when I was beginning to get anxious, I stopped a young lady who had good English - she found where we were on my map, which was totally not where I thought we were and not far from my hotel!!! Yay!
My short walk back fortunately led me past a nice looking restaurant which looked like a good spot for dinner. But first a coffee back at the coffee spot of this morning, check emails and after multiple attempts to post, finally work out that China does not allow me access to Facebook via the access I have been using! I also found a convenience store which doesn't offer very much but does sell beer and juice (and icecream)!
After a short rest I went to the previously spotted restaurant which offered Chinese and western menus, and enjoyed a meat and a vegetable dish + a beer before the short walk back and a blissful 8 hours sleep!
2025-02-10