Day 296 - Morons (that's us this time)

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The final sight we wanted to see before leaving Beijing today was the bird nest stadium that will host the opening and closing ceremonies, and plenty more besides, of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. So deciding to change our plans at the last minute, we had discussed at length how we could see the nest in the most time- and cost effective way. We checked out of the hostel and flagged a taxi down, showing him a piece of paper asking him to take us to the site, and we found ourselves having a great view at the fantastic stadium (Ed's new favourite). We decided, thankfully, not to get out and have a look around as we reckoned we would not see much more up close than what we had already seen from the taxi. So we handed a 2nd piece of paper to ask to take us to the airport and we made our way there.

After a loo stop and finding a seat in a café, to let the hoards of people make there way through the Customs check, we suddenly realise that our flight is leaving in 55 minutes and not the 3+hours we had thought. So we race through and it takes us 35 minutes to go from the café to the plane. We then sit on the plane for about 90 minutes waiting for a time slot to take off. Anyway we were again thanking our lucky stars that we were sat on the plane and not trying to buy a new flight ticket to Seoul, South Korea.

We arrived at Incheon airport which incidentally was recently voted the world's number 1 airport in quality control and passenger satisfaction, just in front of Hong Kong. Heathrow and Moscow were well down the bottom of the list and having been to all 4 of these airports in the last couple of weeks we wholeheartedly agree with the voters.

Anyway after arriving about 2 hours before we should have done we waited for Sally (yep, Gemma’s mum) and driver, who was picking us up at the airport. Gren (Gemma's dad) was over in Korea for business and managed to arrange it for when we were making a visit.

Once checked into our amazing apartment suite - and it really is a suite, with almost an east and west wing, it is so large - we catch up on news over a fantastic Italian meal which Gren and Sally had visited once a few nights before. You would never have guessed it: the reception they got from the chef/owner was as though they had known one another for about 10 years. But back to the food no menu was used and we just had what the chef wanted to cook for us, fresh pasta covered with truffle oil and black angus beef that you could just eat on its own. It was a fantastic meal, and then we drove up the hill for a nightcap up at the Hyatt Hotel which boasts great views of Seoul below it.

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