 |
| BCIA |
On the 2nd of May, I chanced upon a holiday airfare promo from Cebu Pacific. To check and compare the fare prices on each possible destination is really exhausting to the point of getting dizzy staring at your laptop. The offer was really quite tempting, so I started on checking the rates for Beijing and Shanghai, China. I knew beforehand that I need to get a visa before I could even fly to China. Aside from that, I need to travel to Cebu so I could apply for a China Visa. A budget travelers mantra is to save more and spend less before traveling,unfortunately,this was not the case. As much as I would like to complain, I was left with no choice but to comply with the requirements needed. Luckily, the travel period for the promo fare was 5 months away from the selling date which gave me enough time to process my visa.
It was my first time to travel to a country that requires me to apply for a visa. Such a daunting task knowing that there is an unresolved territorial dispute over Scarborough Shoal between my home country Philippines and China. For a moment, I asked myself if I was doing the right thing. A month before my scheduled trip to China, I went to Cebu to apply for my visa. It took me 5 days before I received the result, which is the regular processing period. During those 5 days of waiting, I keep on attending mass at the Basilica del Santo Nino church fervently praying that my effort won't go to waste. The day has finally come for me to get the result and I was nervous as hell as I walked inside the embassy for the second time. I was suddenly hysterically happy upon learning that my visa got approved and that my prayers were heard.
 |
| Dashilan Tourist Street |
What started as a drizzle soon became rain and the sky showed no signs of clearing up on my way to Ninoy Aquino International Airport(NAIA) Terminal 3 to catch my flight to Beijing. As I reached the Immigration Section at the airport, the Immigration Officer told me that the jacket I was wearing would suit me well due to the bad weather there. From being excited, my mood changed to being anxious! Here in the Philippines, bad weather would mean there will be flooded streets later. So I asked myself if that would be the same case as I arrive in Beijing. I only have a few days to spend in Beijing and Shanghai and for my itinerary plans to be ruined by a hellish weather would surely spell disaster.
The plane hit quite a bit of turbulence during our flight. Fortunately, we landed safely at around 12:00AM at the Beijing Capital International Airport - BCIA. If you arrive on a weekend and it's beyond 12:00AM, traveling downtown would be a bit of a hassle. In my case, I took the airport shuttle bus going to Beijing West Railway Station which cost me 16RMB/one way and took a colorum taxi(non registered public utility vehicles that operates at night to prevent from being apprehended by the law enforcers. ) for 30RMB to my hostel.That's a lot cheaper compared to the taxi fare being offered at the airport that cost around 300RMB.
I won't advise solo travelers to take colorum taxis if they don't have the haggling skill and a map (translated in Chinese) they could show to the driver in case he's not familiar of the destination. I only opted to get one due to the bad weather and scarcity of registered taxis during the wee hours of the morning. It wouldn't be much of a hassle to look for a sharer if you will be looking for a taxi outside the train station. At least, you have that idea that you're both travelers and you're not with a street criminal lurking at the station waiting for another victim.
 |
| King's Joy Hostel lobby |
Normally, tourist travelers would freshen up and rest for awhile upon arriving at their hotel before they go over their itinerary. Sad to say, before I could even do it, I was obliged to blow dry my backpack that got drench by the rain on my way to the hostel. It was around 6AM when I started to feel exhausted and hungry. The hostel's restaurant was not yet open so I had no choice but to go out and look for a place to eat. Every time I travel abroad I make it a point to eat local foods only. One thing I learned in China is that noodles and green tea is readily available but not coffee. Maybe the marketing research people from Starbucks didn't do their job well that they placed a branch there when they coudn't serve a decent coffee. To my dismay, I headed back to McDonalds which was just a short walking distance from my hostel and I ended up having my breakfast there with a freshly brewed hot coffee. That hearty breakfast brought back all the energy I needed to sustain and continue with my itinerary for the rest of the day.
