San Francisco International Airport to Beijing, China – 10/28/2016
Mike here again. Edie will be back soon, I promise. Her massage literally knocked her out. We got it all together and I can’t believe how lightly I packed. Nothing surprises me with Edie, but I got everything into essentially a carry on suitcase and a small backpack, with room to spare. Aaron took us to the airport.
Aaron kindly dropped us off at San Francisco International.Pretty woman waiting at SFO.
China Air was pretty wonderful. I paid for a bulkhead seat for knee room. They, at no charge, put Edie next to me. Very nice of them. The flight was long and miserable, made better by pretty good food, a clean cabin, wonderful attentive flight attendants, spotless restrooms that were frequently cleaned, and little personal screens with movies, shows, and games.
Despite being an afternoon flight, we chased the sun and were in daylight the entire way. Shades were mostly drawn and the little screens babysat us all. We sat in the center seats, right behind the bulkhead straight ahead. I had the left aisle and Pretty woman was right next to me.
Customs wasn’t bad and pretty quick, no pictures allowed. A wonderful tour guide with impeccable English and a great sense of humor met us and gathered all of us off the plane as we exited the terminal. The airport is huge and modern. The bus ride was about an hour and the hotel is a wonderful respite from the travel.
We landed right at sunset. I was shocked we used stairs onto the tarmac rather than a gantry to deplane.The baggage claim conveyor belt has wonderful images painted on it.Many baggage conveyor belts. We were at #38. They all have a big screen showing advertisements. Pictured was a Mercedes ad.In the huge commercial zone outside and attached to the airport.Lots of sky-bridges here.It is huge, crowded and very nice.The police wear a tiny flashing red and blue light attached to their right epaulets.We are departing the airport for our hotel.Hope I see this in daylight.
On the ride we got a little history and current facts. Bei means: north. Jing means: capitol. So Beijing means: Northern Capitol. Peking used to be the name. Pe means: peaceful. King means: city. So Beijing used to be called Peking or: Peaceful City. 30,000,000 plus people reside here in an area of about 400 square miles. Traffic is almost always thick.
Our bus dropping us off at the hotel. It is spotless, clean and comfortable inside.Some sweets at the hotel, we passed.An open restaurant in the hotel with a neat hanging art mobile.Pretty woman headed down the long hall.Mirrored, lighted triangles with a vase in between every room.Couch with coffee table and a very comfortable King bed.Looking from the bedroom, through the window with tub, sink and toilet on other side.Toilet enclosed in glass, floor to ceiling, with a vent in the top for the odors and steam from the shower..The waste baskets have a divider in the middle. One side is for recycle and the other for trash.View out our 9th floor window. Air pollution is a challenge here.Nice Toto sink and faucet in our bathroom.Motorized up and down wooden blinds for the window to the bedroom from the bathroom.The sink back splash went all the way to the ceiling and is also the accent tiles in the shower.Accent tile from bath room sink back splash.The overhead shower head, we quickly learned, is always cold for the first few seconds.
