Trip to the People’s Republic of China

Day 02
Beijing

Airport and Expressway

The Beijing airport was huge and brand new—no doubt in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. It was quite beautiful, with polished marble floors of a mottled pink and gray. It seemed deserted except for our flight. Perhaps because we were with a tour group, the custom officials let us through without looking at our bags.

Back-lit-glass billboards, advertising the 2008 Olympics, ringed the airport. All featured very large likenesses of Arnold Schwarzenegger against a white background. The tour guide explained that Schwarzenegger symbolizes strength.

Our bus drove to the hotel down an almost empty expressway. The lack of traffic surprised me, since it was 6 p.m. on a Saturday night in a city of 12 million people. Spans of decorative lights were strung overhead, giving the effect of a Christmas light display. Some strands were in the form of dangling icicles, others little golden peaks or bridges. Neon rainbows (or perhaps Olympic arches) were a repeated theme. The building tops had red-outlined pagodas or white abstract roofs.

The Hotel New Otani

Our first hotel was the Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong. We would stay there for the first four nights of our trip. The hotel lobby was gorgeous. The lady’s room off the lobby was an Art Deco jewel of black marble and light maple walls—like a Beidermeier cabinet. The hiring policy seemed similar to Disneyland: only young and pretty need apply.

We were given just one key per room. The key turned on electricity to the room when inserted in a slot beside the door. This was a problem, because roommates had to keep track of each other. I could not go out with the key in hand if Pat wanted to have lights in the room.

After the lobby, our room was disappointing. It was nicely decorated, but stuffy and warm, with the smell of stale tobacco smoke and stains on the light beige carpet. My travel clock, which had a built-in thermometer, showed a temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit. After having the fan on full blast all night, the temperature only dropped to 77 degrees. This made sleep difficult. We found out that the other rooms had the same problem. The air conditioning was not turned on because the hotel had not expected warm weather. The hotel finally fixed the cooling system on our last day in Beijing.

On the positive side, the hotel provided full amenities, including a built-in hair dryer, toothbrushes and toothpaste, combs, cotton swabs, cotton robes, slippers, and bedside chocolates. The maid overdid herself, throwing away my toothbrush when it was inadvertently left on the sink counter one morning. She supplied a new pair of slippers every night, so that I had a pile of them by the end of our stay in Beijing.

We could stow our water bottles in the refrigerator, next to the minibar stock of beverages, or have a cup of tea from the permanently plugged-in hot water dispenser. We especially appreciated that the water from the tap was posted as drinkable. We bravely drank the tap water and refilled our water bottles. The next morning, our guide warned us against drinking the tap water, because its safety depended on hotel employees maintaining the filtration equipment. He said he wouldn’t touch the stuff. However, we never got sick.

The front desk offered a currency exchange counter and a concierge desk. The second floor contained a health club with Japanese bath, indoor swimming pool, exercise machines, and massage. For breakfast, we could choose between the American and Chinese restaurants on the first floor. Both restaurants offered views of an Oriental garden courtyard where a class practiced Tai Chi directly in front of the large plate-glass windows each morning. A Japanese restaurant was located on the second floor.