Days 1 and 2: 27th -28th March 2018

In Shanghai

 An early start this morning to pick up our coach to Heathrow. Thank heaven for our very kind neighbour David, who volunteered to be our taxi driver to Newcastle. Although there was a huge tail back on the M6 due to yet another accident on this notorious stretch of motorway everyone arrived in time. We therefore set off on time picking up our fellow passengers in Trentham, Stone and Stafford making up our party for China of 39. We had one stop on our way down. Here we were advised by David our tour leader from regent travel in Stone, to fill up on traditional English food as we were warned that after two weeks of rice and noodles we would be pining for burgers and chips. I’m not sure I would agree with that but Mike and I did enjoy tucking into a hot bacon roll - with brown sauce of course.

The Great Wall of China

Our journey down to Heathrow was so uneventful that we arrived a full four hours before our flight. Still plenty of time to start relaxing, reading our books and enjoying everything that terminal 5 can offer which is not much. However we have guaranteed that some of our fellow travellers will want to get to know us as we volunteered to carry on the wine boxes for our pre dinner drinks. (Chinese wine is not up to our standards or so we have been informed although we plan to test this for ourselves.) We have been advised that one of the better red Chinese wines is called the ‘Great Wall’ so Mike and I will look out for that.

So far so good - our flight was called on time and we boarded the plane and settled down for our 9.5 hour flight to Beijing.  Plenty of time to watch some films; both of us watched 'The shape of water' and 'Paddington 2'.   Two films that were poles apart in so many ways and yet both very enjoyable. Mike also watched Justice League.  Mike finds it diffciult to sleep on planes so continually watches the screen whilst I do try and get some rest although actually sleep is hard to come by.

  

Getting out of the airport took quite a while and then we were hit by the smog that Beijing is infamous for.  It is early in the season to get such a climate but this week is unseasonably hot and there has been a sand storm creating the conditions we experienced today.  However we have been promised blue skies for tomorrow. First impressions of Beijing - a very busy city, lots of traffic and people.

And so we arrive at our hotel in Beijing nearly 24 hours after getting up in England.

Sculpture in Tiannamen Square

At the hotel the whole group went to their rooms and got about three hours sleep before we met for a pre supper drink in our tour manager’s room. David had bought some duty free wine and we all gathered in his bedroom – yes all 39 of us, before we went to the restaurant for supper.  Previous to this Mike and I had also had a further explore of the hotel and had located the swimming pool.  There was a sign there that allowed me to pull Mike's leg and make us both laugh.  The entrance contained a notice warning that children under 10 years and those over 60 should be accompanied by a family member.  I must be getting older as 60 seems ludicrously early to impose such advice.

For supper we shared food at tables of 10- all being of a ‘lazy susan’ set up. Dish after dish then came from the kitchen and was shared amongst us all washed down with plentiful amounts of beer. We had a spicy noodle dish, beef and chicken dishes, two different dumpling dishes, cabbage and pork, an aubergine dish plus salad, green beans and broccoli dishes plus the obligatory egg fired rice.  It was quite a banquet that was drawn out a little as we all got used to using chopsticks.  The main issue for me is how to cut up large pieces of meat with a chop stick.

The Forbidden City from Tiannamen Square

A few of us went out to stretch our legs outside the hotel and then came back for a coffee before departing for the night. Mike and I had intended to upload our blog each day but had forgotten that China have complete ban on all things related to google so no messenger, whats app etc etc. Already we have realised how much we use google in our daily lives eg for checking facts and keeping in touch. I am not sure how I will cope with not keeping an eye on my work emails but I am sure it will be good for me.   Tomorrow we have a busy day as we are visiting Tiannamen Square, The Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven as our main attractions. So we are both hoping for a good nights sleep to get rid of any jet lag and good weather for our trip.

We are therefore going to have to upload our blog when we get back but still intend to make daily posts - just a fortnight behind time.