Sleep went much
better this time around. I didn’t find myself getting up every few
hours to use the bathroom, and my arm finally stopped throbbing and
hurting after taking some ibuprofen. The redness and swelling had
tracked down to my forearm and was still sensitive to touch but no
longer burning.
We were up at 6:30
am again and after a shower and some packing, we had our suitcases
out by the door a few minutes before the 8 am luggage pull time.
Breakfast was in the Veranda one last time. I had dim sum again and
also tried the Japanese poached egg which was in a delicious broth of
some kind. We went back to the room and had a bit time to finish up
packing our carry on bags. Ralph had been very specific about things
that should be put in carry on and not in checked luggage:
batteries, chargers, umbrellas – these were all items that would be
confiscated if found in checked bags. I downloaded the pictures from
my iPhone, from Seth’s camera, and then spent a bit of time
updating my vacation blog.
We went downstairs a
bit before the 9:30 meeting time to “check out” and settle our
bill which was about $300 USD for the breakfast and lunch we had on
our first day. We were escorted to the bus again and on the way to
the airport, Ralph gave us a run down of how the flight to Beijing
would work. Daisy had gone ahead already to the airport with all of
our suitcases. We were also given an extra $100 HKD to spend in the
airport.
When we arrived at
the airport, we would have to get our own suitcases and check them in
because this was considered an international flight. Daisy gave us
some suggestions on how to check in and Seth made a bee-line for the
automated kiosk while I got our 2 suitcases. After we got our
boarding passes and dropped our suitcases off at the self check-in
desk, we headed over to the American Express Centurion lounge where,
in terminal 1, was located near gate 60. We had to take a train and
then found the elevator that went up to the 7th floor. We
spent about an hour in the lounge and had a few snacks then headed to
gate 30 where we boarded the flight that would take about 3 hours.
We weren’t able to get seats together on the flight but that was no
real big deal.
We had lunch on the
plane where the choice was between pork or beef. I had the pork with
bok choy. The beef had eggplant in it. The entree included rice, a
salad, and some fruit. It was pretty decent. I got caught up on my
vacation blog during the flight.
We arrived into the Beijing airport, met at the first bathroom we came to, used the facilities, and then headed to the passport checkpoint followed by customs which went very smoothly. Ralph and Daisy collected our passports to be used for checking into our hotel rooms. We then meet/boarded our bus and headed to the Duck de Chine Restaurant which already had food all laid out for us. The restaurant was pretty crowded and every time a duck was carved tableside, someone would ring a gong.
Towards the end of the meal was when the duck was carved table side into thin slices served alongside thin pancakes as well as sesame buns and the traditional condiments
Dessert was delicious and served alongside our pin of the day.
Following dinner, we re-boarded our bus and were taken to the Beijing Peninsula where our room keys and passports were waiting for us along with our luggage aleady in our rooms. This hotel, like the one in Hong Kong, was gorgeous and even roomier.
The day was spent traveling but we were still exhausted and went to bed immediately.
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