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| Beijing Olympic Hotel January 2010 |
I am writing this little story whilst sitting in the Summer heat in Brisbane Australia, but the story itself takes place in the Winter Cold of China.
On January 14th 2010, I commenced my trip back to Australia. The temperature at that time was varying between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees. It was for this Aussie, despite living in China for 7 years, truly cold.
Although in Baotou, the buildings come equipped with central heating - a simply marvelous invention - once you hit the cold outside air your system goes into shock.
Everyday when I went to work, the first thing that happened was that my eyes would run rivers of tears. Half the time I couldn't even feel them.
The other thing that happens is that your nose begins to run. But not to worry, in 2 minutes flat the snot freezes up and you are OK until you enter warmer air. But this story is not about nose snot!
Having air traveled between Baotou and Shanghai on occasions, I pretty much knew that it would be fruitless to buy a ticket direct from Baotou to Brisbane. This because the planes in Baotou are always many hours late, and of course, they did not disappoint me on January 14th. My 11.45 am flight left at 1pm.
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| Broadband - Tea and coffee making facikities and TV. |
Knowing that this would happen, I had bought my international ticket from Beijing, and chanced travelling to Beijing the day before. That also meant that I would need accommodation on the 14th. After checking the Internet, I came across the Beijing Aulympic - Olympic - Hotel, located very close to the airport. The fees were very very very low and that suited me fine. I did not expect however, that the hotel would be as nice as it was.
When I booked the room I asked for a driver to meet me at the airport, and he did. That sounds simple but it really wasn't. Firstly, I had no idea where to find the bus, and despite the fact that someone at the hotel could speak English, it was still difficult to get directions with regard to the meeting the bus. I ended up doing that in Chinese.
After a few phone calls, I found myself waiting on the 4th level of the airport in a pick up area (not that sort of pick up), and finally my phone rang and as I tried to answer it, the driver introduced himself. The phone call was from him just to make sure I was the right foreigner.
The drive to the hotel was short, but noting how we got there reminded me of a guest comment on the hotel website warning that taxi drivers can't find the place. No wonder!
The name of the hotel on the brochure is 'Beijing Aulympic Airportel', but in every other place it was just Beijing Olympic Hotel.
Except for the Chinese breakfast which I still won't eat, every other facility and amenity that you could wish for was available. The room was spacious, airy, clean and above all, warm. In fact, just as I do in Baotou, I slept with the window open to cool the room down. Central heating delivers just one temperature in all rooms, and I prefer a cooler sleep, even in winter.
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| Plenty of space |
The first thing I did upon entering the room was hit the Internet and post articles for Magic City Morning Star News. After that I checked emails. Later in the evening, having read that google had removed their censoring of politically incorrect content in China, I decided to try it out. Yep! I typed in Tiananmen square massacre photos and had everything I could wish to read, available at the click of a button. (Next morning I couldn't access the Internet at all! mmmm?)
I prefer local food to hotel food, and so for both dinner and breakfast I went out into the streets and found a local dive.
For dinner, I ordered Qingjiao Rousi, and ended up with a different dish. Eh! you get that. None of us spoke proper Mandarin (they came from Sichuan) and I knew that they had difficulty understanding my pronunciation. No worries! It was a great dish.
I even had a floor show. The Twenty year old boy who served me ended up in a fight with the drunk cook, and I thought for awhile that it was going to be a full on punch up.
Everyone was embarrassed to have allowed the foreigner see the event - but hey! - I have seen worse in China. Fist fights usually occur between members of the 'Gentle' sex. This was the 2nd time in 7 years I have seen males fighting. I have lost track of the number of 'fairer sex' fights. Gotta watch those Chinese women!
On the 15th, I took the bus back to the airport and boarded a flight to Hong Kong. The journey took about three and a half hours, and by the time I arrived, I was just about broiled.
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| Spacious twin share |
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| Lots on offer. Cafe, restaurant, gift shop |
I proceeded to the Washroom where I stripped off my long underwear, a T-shirt, 2 pairs of thermal underwear tops, and a sweater, and swapped my boots for regular shoes.
Just as well I had taken an extra empty carry bag to stuff my underwear into. I couldn't have sat on the next plane wearing all that clothing for the next 9 hours.
Well that is all I want to write at the moment.
I hope that you have enjoyed this snippet from my life, and hope those of you having a stopover in Beijing now have some information at your fingertips in regard to where to stay.
The Beijing Aulympic Airportel room cost me just 199 rmb for the evening.
Their English version website is http://www.azgyjd.com/introduce_en-us.php
Address: No. 36 Xiao Tian Zhu Road, Shunyi District Beijing, 100621
Fax: 86-010-64548082
Telephone 86-010-58271122
Until Next time!
Best Wishes.
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| Reception area |
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| Spacious modern Bathroom |
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| Looking toward a little balcony room |
R.P. BenDedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www kingscalendar com), and is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he is currently teaching Conversational English in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China
Stories from China at Magic City
"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.
