How our trip started (and almost ended) in Beijing

FIRST ASIAN EXPERIENCE

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When we bought plane tickets to Thailand, the best deal was with Air China with an 8-hour layover in Beijing. We decided to use the time doing something better than wandering around the airport and headed to the city. There was a plan – fast and furious through immigration, even faster to the city centre to see the Tiananmen Square and maybe even the Forbidden city, if there is still some time left. But honestly, that sounded too good to be true.

Our Air China flight was fairly comfortable, even though I would enjoy it more if I had shorter legs. The flight started of with the announcement that the aircraft is a public space and therefore subject to the laws of the People´s Republic of China and the compliance with them will be monitored throughout the whole flight by audio and video recordings. Ok, we are bringing the Big Brother into the mix. The service was OK, there was fish for breakfast (weird, but good) and a nice film selection in the monitors. Just be careful not to switch your monitor into Chinese, because getting it back to English is a pain (“Maybe this random picture means language? Or maybe this one?”).

The monitors in Air China airplanes were just so Chinese.

Immigration officers are the real deal

The plane landed in Beijing very early in the morning so the chances of going quickly through immigration were very high. The first task was to find the right counter to ask for a short-term visa. Some countries have special visa policies with China, and Czech Republic is one of them. If Czech citizens only have a short layover, we can ask for one-entry short-term visa upon arrival, which allows us to enter the city for up to 144 hours (depending on the airport). But sometimes, the visa can be denied to those who only have short layovers under 12 hours.

We followed the signs pointing it the right directions. We walked, walked and walked… until we reached the end of the arrival hall and reached the toilet. OK, we probably missed something. So we followed the signs back, we walked and walked, we passed the regular immigration counters, until we reached the other end of the hall. Again.

Alright, let´s ask somebody. The lady in a yellow vest with the letter “i” on it, suggesting she is part of the airport staff, doesn´t understand English. Neither does her colleague. Meanwhile another plane landed and the hall became more crowded. Thanks to the small crowd which created in front of THE counter, we finally found it. Looks like the Chinese don´t really want to let you into the city, because they hide the counters very well. In the line you have to fill out a form with all the details of your visit (name, destination, passport number, mother´s maiden name, shoe size and favourite ice-cream flavour) and then it is up to the immigration officer and his stamp. He looked at us, frowned, pressed some keys on his keyboard and I guess he liked us, because we got the visa and moved to another line, this time for regular immigration. Hour and a half after we landed we finally set foot on Chinese territory.

And off we went to the city. Me, holding a map and a detailed description of the journey, and my better half, holding my hand not to lose me in the Airport train express and underground.

I mean, this must be our stop. Right?... RIGHT?!

Finally here!

Tiananmen square. It looked so different from what I was expecting based on the pictures I had seen. In the middle of the square there is a wide road and the whole place is behind fences, so people can´t just walk around undetected. There are literally dozens of cameras overlooking every move you make. The way from underground is also surrounded by fences and it leads you to the square entrance, where every Chinese scans some kind of ID card and continues to security check. Obviously we don´t have Chinese ID card, but our passports were enough for the soldier who guarded the entrance. He checked the visa page and let us continue. At the security check we had our bags scanned and the staff started taking things out of it without asking or informing us about it. They were curious about my travel cosmetics ("What is this?" "It is a small shampoo." "And what is this?" "This is perfume."). But I convinced them I mean no harm to the country with my tiny bottles of lotion and we passed through the control.

Let´s try this again, shall we? Finally here! Tiananmen Square.

After taking pictures of the famous red gate with Mao´s photo on in, we continued towards the Forbidden city. By that time, it was obvious we don´t have enough time to go inside, so we just wandered around the area, taking in the atmosphere and watching people. There was a nice walk along the water canals and again dozens and dozens of cameras everywhere. A few hours before our flight we started to make our way back to the airport. That´s when the trouble started.

Trouble No. 1: Can´t find the exit

The gate we used to go in is one-way only. We circled around the yard twice but found to sign which would lead us to the exit. We asked the staff, but even though the boys didn´t understand a word we were saying, they had some useful phrases written in their phones and gave us the directions. Straight forward and after 200 meters go right.

Trouble No. 2: Two hundred meters and nothing

Still no exit. Just some gate to gardens, but I don´t thing it is public. There is a police man who understands the word EXIT. He points to the right, along the water canal. There is sign, but…

Trouble No. 3: … it says the exit is 2 km away

I start to feel a little distress. This will require very fast pace. But it is still manageable. We continue along the water canal, along the Forbidden City walls and exactly in the opposite direction than the underground stop we need. The detour is 4 km in total and time is running out.

Trouble No. 4: Passport control

At the underground entrance. Why? Why not! I guess it´s important for the authorities to know where the people are going. Like it´s not enough to be followed by the cameras. And to make it more fun, there is a big group of Chinese people creating an unpleasant crowd at the entrance. And they move… so… slowly… Desperate times call for desperate measure, so I use my elbows to break through the crowd and cut the line.

Big Brother watches you. Always.

Trouble No. 5: The ticket machine only takes 10 yuan banknotes, nothing bigger

And we have what? 20 yuan banknotes. There is no way to change the money, the ticket counter is closed and the machines don´t accept credit or debit cards. We run around like crazy for a while trying to solve this, and my panic mode is fully activated by now. Lucky for us, one Chinese gentleman is willing to help and uses an app on his phone to buy the tickets for us. I want to give him money in return, but he refuses. We got the tickets, we sit in the right underground train and nothing can stop us now (haha).

Trouble No. 6: Where is the Airport Express?

That is the questions nobody can answer in China. Because nobody understands you. And you don´t understand them. After we got of the train we were tempted by the sigh saying “EXIT” (and can you blame us?) and accidentally walked out of the underground area. After we made it through the tourniquets we started to wonder, how to reach the Airport Express train. There is some staff, three or four people, but none of them speaks any English. The only point to a map on the wall and we begin to understand – we can either buy a new ticket for 3 yuan to get inside the tourniquets again, or we can go out on the surface and find entrance E.

Trouble No. 7: The ticket machine only takes 10 yuan banknotes, nothing bigger

And we still have only 20 juan banknotes. The counter is closed, again. The staff in colourful vests is no help. So we choose plan B and look for entrance E.

Trouble No. 8: Entrance E is located in another universe

Because no matter how hard we look for it, it is nowhere to be found. As far as we can see there are only roads and pavements. We asked a young Chinese woman who understood our troubles, but her Google maps told us that the only way to reach Airport Express is to go through the underground (which means buying the ticket).

Trouble No. 9: Time is definitely running out

I am experiencing mild panic attacks. What now? Getting a taxi? How? And would we have enough money? Can someone change our banknotes? Of course not, nobody understands. Or they don´t want to understands. Our questions like “do you speak English?” or “Can you help me, please?” are met with ignorance and eye contact avoidance. It is hard to breathe. It is clear that if we don´t solve this in the next 20 minutes, the chances of catching our plane a closing to zero. We try one more time our luck with the staff. English didn´t work, but hand gestures are not any better.

Saved at last: A lady comes to the counter. She looks nice. She has a nice uniform. She doesn´t speak English, but understands our problem. She points to the ticket machine. We show her our 20 yuan banknote. She nods her head, takes our banknote and change it into coins. She puts 6 yuan into the machine, presses some buttons and gives us two underground tickets which take us through the tourniquet and towards the Airport Express. The train leaves only every 20 or 30 minutes but I guess we run out of bad luck for the day, because the train leaves as soon as we get inside.

Eventually we made it to the airport, 1,5 hour before the departure. Although the airport is big and there is a LOT of security checks, the journey from Airport Express station to the gates doesn´t take so long and we even had some minutes to spare, catch our breath and eat a fruit salad. It had dragon fruit in it!!!!

Just a short flight (when I say short, I mean 5 hours) and the vacation could start! We were looking forward to 14 incredible day in the paradise.

 

Next part of our adventure - Bangkok: Asian city of angels

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