Beijing welcomes you

Touch down in China!!!

We have arrived!!!

After a calm and pleasant flight, with a few minor turbulence, we landed in Beijing at 5:01 a.m. local time (or 10:01 p.m. CET).

We have covered thousands of kilometers at an altitude of nearly 10,700 meters and a speed of up to 940 km/h.

We were served two hot meals, with a choice between two menus each time. The first time it was between beef and pork, and later between beef and chicken. Each meal came with salad and dessert. We enjoyed all the meals, although I was surprised by the spiciness of the second beef dish. It was definitely not mainstream.

We passed the time between meals by watching various movies (Three Billboards..., King Arthur, Taxi5) and tracking the route.

Unfortunately, we couldn't sleep, not even with the film classics played by Richard Kleidermann. ;-)

We had to return the blankets provided, which I regret because they were magical blankets. These blankets were very thin and lightweight, they looked knitted and kept us incredibly warm. They were probably our first taste of the 'Magic of China'...

The temperature in Beijing was just below 0 degrees Celsius upon landing.

In the airport building, we did what people usually do in such buildings: waited in line!

First, we had to give our fingerprints, all digitally and self-service.

Then we had to fill out an Arrival Card. They are just lying around, but you need to know that you have to fill them out, otherwise you will be stuck at the passport control. The well-organized Chinese, however, have set up plenty of counters with these cards everywhere. Still, filling them out was a challenge. The place of issue had to be written down, and that is only in Chinese characters on the visa... Luckily, the friendly airport staff can read and write the characters!

At the customs control, our fingerprints were once again checked, just in case they had changed while waiting in line ;-)

We continued - still without our luggage!!! - using conveyor belts and the 'automatic People mover' or train. We drove for about 5 minutes to terminal 3C.

It was then that I realized why we had to wait in line for so long... they needed the time to transport the luggage to the distant baggage carousels. Here, we didn't have to wait in line or wait at all, the suitcases were already there. It was already 7:45 a.m. by then.

Right at the exit after the baggage control, our tour guide Jing Wang was waiting for us. Since the rest of our travel group is coming on a different flight, she asked us to wait in a cafe. We could also exchange money with her and got 720 yuan for 100 euros, along with an explanation of how to detect counterfeit money.

We decided to go to Maan Coffee. The ambiance reminded me a bit of a construction site. I'm not sure if that was intentional, usual, or if they were actually renovating. But the cappuccino tasted very good. It cost 58 yuan. Unfortunately, the restaurant or the airport hall wasn't really well heated, and it quickly became uncomfortable.

At 8:30 a.m., we boarded the bus to the hotel!