Blue Skies, Blue Lips, Bagless and Quick Lessons in Bargaining

After the longer stopover in Singapore we finally landed in Beijing at 10.30pm last night (Sunday night), hoping that we would rendezvous with our checked-in luggage either on the Singapore Airlines luggage carousel or the Qantas flight that came in from Honkers 20min before. We were not surprised though to find our 3 missing bags on neither, so after a 40min talk with the Beijing Airport luggage office we were on our way into the city still bagless but with 2,200 Yuan as compensation for the screw-up. Along with this were changed plans to head to the clothes shops this morning to get a clean pair of pants and a shirt to change into.


Amy’s work colleague met us at the airport with driver and 20min later we were at the temporary accommodation just up from the Australian Embassy. The digs are very modern if somewhat quirky in its inclusions (no coffee mugs, but plenty of beer steins). Maddy is loving having her own ensuite, and while not large the apartment is very warm and offers great views of the skyline and the street below (we are on the 6th floor). It was quick to bed for Amy and Maddy while Reece stayed up for the washing to finish so we could have some clean and dry clothes for the first day of orientation.

Reece enjoying a Beerstein-a-chino with Maddy in the apartment

Those who talk of restless first nights in a new place forgot to tell my body, as I think I had the best night’s sleep of my life. It was a quinella then to wake up to clear blue skies over Beijing with the sun shining down. The true weather was quickly exposed though as we opened the windows to take some photos (-9 to 0° today, but the wind made it feel colder). Still, it was very refreshing after so long on a plane and the wind does wonders in clearing the smog. It was amazing to see how many people were riding around on bikes with children on the back of their bike, at a time when the wind was cutting through anything of mine not rated to sub-arctic temperatures (special kudos to the guy with the Chinese gameboard strapped to his bike pannier rack – Chinese Checkers anyone?)

Blue sky over Beijing. Hopefully not a rare sighting.

Today was always going to be a busy day, so when our guide came by and picked us up we headed directly to Yaoshan markets to spend the Singapore Airlines $$. After an hour of wheeling and dealing the results were mixed. While Amy did well on her negotiating I paid too much for my first purchase (two pairs of pants – still only $35 each). I did though learn quickly and drove a hard bargain for my next two purchases, even getting one storeowner so upset that they initially refused to provide me with a receipt “for such a small amount” – the fact that there was true venom in her voice must mean I had the final price somewhere near right.


After this we headed to meet the person that Amy is replacing, where Maddy made an immediate friend over lunch at a Cuban cafe/bar. After lunch we met back up with the guide and did the important things of opening up a Chinese Bank Account (20min to open, and we walked away with a fully operational debit account at that time – Aust banks need to look at this), and then onto a tour of the Beijing fresh food market and then onto grocery shopping and one of Beijing’s biggest flower markets (Surprise! Amy liked this more than me).

A sample from the Flower Market that greeted us at our apartment.

Lessons learned during this session are that it will be very expensive to continue to eat a western diet (check out the small pantry filling which cost us the equivalent of $175), and that Beijing parking inspectors make their Canberra equivalent look like little harmless lambs. Pull up on the side of a Beijing sidewalk for any longer than 1 minute and they converge suddenly to try and swindle a Yuan or two. To watch our driver arguing with the parking inspector and refusing to pay before simply driving off was to demonstrate why the Chinese are so successful at business – they only believe in winning a negotiation.

At 55 Yuan for the jar (around $14), this Vegemite is a better investment here than gold or platinum.

All in all it was a great first day, and while we expect to have some difficult times ahead at least we have started out on a positive note. It’s certainly not Canberra, but it’s not as different as I thought it would be. Tomorrow Amy is heading into the office, while Maddy and I will take the opportunity to explore the city a bit more around the Embassy.

Streets full of modern cars. Part of the Government's plan to keep the pollution down.

**LATE BREAKING NEWS** Our bags were tracked down this evening and dropped into the citty for us by the airport company. Thanks the gods for that one - one of the missing bags had our coffee maker in it and if that wasn't found then things might have got ugly :-)

Food Glorious Food and a Singapore Fling

After the dramas of yesterday's flight and the misplaced bags we finally made it onto a flight to Singapore today, still minus our checked-in luggage (fingers crossed it's at the other end when we get there :-). It did though turn out to be a very cruisy day, if not trying on our patience as Maddy fully embraced the self-appointed title of seasoned (read first time) international traveller. We weren't on the plane for 1/2hr before she managed to fling her first drink across the carpet, and then proceeded to do it twice more before we touched down at Changi Airport on the stopover (where we are posting this from - god bless free wireless). In the end I think they were happy to see the back of us.

Maddy - Latest International Jetsetter

Because of the rescheduled flight we have had a longer stopover in Singapore (around 4hrs), and with no desire to change any currency over decided to just hang in the Singapore Airlines Lounge and take advantage of the good food, drinks and hospitality (and the free toothbrushes, with our own ones missing in action with baggage - mmmm, furry teeth).

Singapore Airlines Lounge at Changi - How's the serenity?

Changi Airport is very impressive - only a couple of years old and one of the biggest in the world, all decked out with the brands and requiring my utmost focus to head off the shopping spree. The only thing that might get my interest is something to pull out of the bag for Maddy halfway into our next 6hr stint to Beijing (where the weather for tomorrow is -8 to 0 deg Celsius -balmy). In the meantime we have taken full advantage of the great spread on offer in the lounge, which is hard going given the amount of food dished out on the flight over. Small blessings for the extra holes I have in my belt.


Thanks for the comments on the last post - hope it isn't too boring.

The best laid plans of mice and men

Well after all of the teary farewells and the last minute running around to get to the Canberra airport on time it was mother nature that had the final say. The biggest rain storm in some months came through once during our final farewells at Amy's parents house, and then made an encore showing 1/2hr before our flight was scheduled to leave Canberra (check out the water on the tarmac from the huge deluge). This led to us landing in Sydney at the same time as our plane to Singapore was taxiing down the runway and taking off - Zai jian! The result of all this is that we are doing this update from the hotel room at the Sydney Stamford near the airport, after we were put on a new flight at 8.10am tomorrow.

The positive thing to come out of this was that we managed to catch up with Reece's parents and brother + partner at the airport for a longer time than first thought, which was great (apart from the huge parking bills the parents received from driving between domestic and international terminals looking for us). The negatives include a now daytime flight to Beijing (14hrs of "Are we there YET?"), and the fact that we are sans baggage which is currently floating around the Sydney airport and on their way to Beijing without us.

With all (revised) things going to plan we should be touching down in Beijing around 11pm tomorrow night (Sunday), which will make for a tiring day on Monday as we have a full day of orientation ahead of us.

For those we haven't talked to in person, have a happy and safe new year.

Cowra Crew Get Together

Even with only a few days left there has been time to catch up with a few people that we haven't seen for a while. Back in Cowra it was the old crew from high school, with a couple of faces from the past even managing to drop in. For Kris and Simone it had been a long time between drinks.

Today it was a double family catch-up affair, with breakfast in Cowra with Reece's folks and then heading back to Canberra to have lunch with Amy's farewell.

With two days to go we are down to the final packing and sorting, and trying to remember anything we might have forgotten to do administrivia-wise (not that there is much we can do about it now - hello public holidays).

I've posted more photos from the various dinners and drinks we have had on my Facebook page, so if you are not a member yet and want to check them out then get cracking over to facebook.com.

Our next post will be from Beijing once we touch down and I can find an internet connection.

[Photo above: The Cowra Crew on the back deck of the Guihot house. L to R: Reece, Kris, Stan, Tim, Simone, Mat, Emma]

Thunderbirds are GO!

Welcome to the Guihots in Beijing blog. We have set up this blog as a means of communicating with all of our friends and family about our adventures in China.

Right now it's countdown to departure, with only 4 more days before we fly out of Sydney for our 3 year stay in "the factory of the World". Amy has scored a job over there, while I will be the handbag for the 3 years looking after the social side of the posting. Maddy will be going to school in Beijing and is looking forward to meeting some new friends (although the last few weeks have been hard for her).

The last few weeks have been the busiest of times, with getting the house all sorted and rented out. We have been squatting at Amy's parent's house for a few weeks, and have spent a fair bit of time catching up with friends and family in final farewells. Sorry if we missed you - there was alot to do in a very short amount of time.

We'll try and update this regularly, so stay tuned for the latest news from the Beijing hutongs and food markets. I'm willing to try anything once as long as there are no health risks, which is sure to make for some interesting posts (food reviews ala Reece-style).