1. Beijing and pre-tour meeting

After a minicab to the airport, we checked in at the first class desks (membership has its privileges).  After a few phone calls the check-in lady finally worked out what a 72 hour transit visa for China was and we were set (with an upgrade to first class, very nice too).  So off to the Concorde Room.  I must say that next time I will stick to the first class lounge.  The Concorde Room was tired, relied on very haphazard table service, the champagne was warm and not enough power points.  Sigh.  Such problems!

Once we got to the gate we were told the plane was “too hot” to board.  BA cost savings on the APU clearly.  Eventually we were allowed on and SS and I got straight into our pyjamas.  Strangely there was a service hatch exposed and open on the floor and next we found out one of the tyres needed changing, which means the brakes then need to be checked and so on and so on.  

To cut a long story short, we had loads of engineers traipsing through the cabin and down the hatch, and eventually the plane took off two hours late.
Flight was ordinary (they did not have my choice of food – again, first class on BA is overrated), and then we arrived into Beijing 90 mins late.  Luckily we got through customs OK once we found the correct 72 hour visa queue, our bags were out straight away, and our prebooked driver was waiting.  Off through the stunning heat and humidity to the Orchid Hotel.  

The location in the hutongs was brilliant, exactly what I wanted, and the staff were great.  But the room itself and the guesthouse in general was tired and grubby.  Mould in the shower, and slightly dirty floors.  No English TV channels (we watched a lot of that program where people try to traverse an obstacle course over water whilst being hit with inflatable hammers and swings).  So good and not so good.

We rested, took a local walk to see the Drum Tower and Bell Tower and hutongs, watching the people just playing cards and the use of bike cables to stop smart cars being stolen ;)
Then after another short rest, we headed out to dinner to meet the tour group.  We caught the metro as taxi’s are hard to get in Beijing (everyone uses their phone apps now to book them, so there are very few cruising around for non-locals), and then the restaurant was not that easy to find.  But we got there.  The group was split into two rooms and we had a nice bunch of people.  The food was great.  We paid the balance of the tour in cash, then headed back to the Orchid via metro again.  Both SS and I were very full and very tired.  We did a loop through the hutongs to take a look at the Great Leap Brewery but we were both too tired to be tempted.