Beijing - day #2

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Friday, September 2, 2005.

This trip is a packaged tour offered by Viking Cruise Lines and is to start on Saturday when most of the passengers will arrive. Since most of the people arriving will come in at various times of the day there are no activities scheduled for this day. We decided to book our own air arrangements and arrive a day early. Since our arrival was late in the evening we simply booked a room at the Sino-Swiss Airport Hotel. They offer a shuttle making things easier for us.

By the time we cleared Immigration and Customs and got to the hotel it was around 10 p.m. and that was a perfect time to jump into bed and get adjusted to the new time zone that is exactly 12 hours different from what we are used to.

In the morning we will find our way into Beijing and register at our assigned hotel for the tour.

Next: Downtown Beijing!

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Comments

[cmthomas]

Bldgs A, B & C
All three buildings are connected as one but have separate outside entrnces so you don't have to walk from Bldg. A every time if your room is in Bldg. C as was ours. Bldg. A is the main reception, restaurant and convention center. I presume that there are rooms upstairs but I did not look. Bldg. B has a large meeting room right off of the downstairs lobby and Bldg. C has some small shops off of the lobby. It was not a burdensome walk to get from Bldg. C to the restaurants in Bldg. A. I have no idea what the other guest rooms looked like but ours was large, comfortable and well equipped.

[Al]

Which direction
Any thoughts as to whether it is better to travel from Beijing to Shangai or the other way around?

[cmthomas]

Reply to Al
That would be a difficult question for me to answer since my experience is only in one direction...however, if I was to repeat the trip I think I would do it in the same direction - Beijing to Shanghai. I found Shanghai to feel somewhat less crowded and more of a "vacation city" than Beijing. Also, Shanghai came after the relaxing trip on the river that renewed our vigor after lots of touring. We stayed over an extra two days and found that Shanghai was an easy place in which to get around and probably had more to do for an independant tourist. The differences are not that dramatic so I would think that either direction would not disappoint.