Beez to Beijing
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Thu 10 May 2018 22:57
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Beez to
Beijing
 The first couple of days back from
Nepal was all about unpacking, laundry, food shopping and sorting. Bear’s bug
left him feeling tires but he battled through a morning job, have a break at
lunchtime and work part of the afternoon. My bug, being two days later than
Bear’s meant I had to go through the lightheaded, faint phase. That done I
attacked more cupboards and filled an old luggage bag for the charity shop.
Saturday 5th May. We got up this
morning to find a new neighbour – an aeroplane................Funny what you find
in a marina.
 A tiny creature
built for two and on closer inspection, an amphibious
chap.
    Sunday 6th May. Bear was fascinated
and watched as Beez new friend trotted off across the car park and down the
slip. Off he went. Bear put the pedestal back
together so the cockpit is looking more normal. I cleaned, hoovered through and
packed for our Chinese fortnight.
Monday 7th May. Bear went with the
hideous little sail repair man. After my last run-in – post terrible repair job
of dropped stitches, no doubling at the end and no strengthening – first stiff
breeze and the genoa would have shredded), I stayed on Beez and found more
cupboards to sort. Bear returned. We had decided not to leave the sails in ‘his
care’ just in case said man went bust and we lost our main and genoa, They are
now safely stowed in the storage area. In fairness, my snarling had had a
beneficial effect and I’m told the finished product is
reasonable and despite being told we
could have the job for free (on the promise I didn’t tell everyone in the marina
what a shocking first job he had done) Bear gave him three quarters of the
original quote.
  Tuesday 8th May. A
very exciting day. Mr Razzoli came with our newly
covered three piece suite. He has done a wonderful job building up the
sponge and by using a tension seem got rid of the need for the buttons that
always wanted to bite nether regions.
 From a distance it looks like a bog
standard boaty-blue but up close the silver grey
really shows, time to get three silvery coloured accent cushions, ooo errrrr, hope to find them in Beijing,
well if you can’t find a Chinese jack shop in China
where can you..............exactly and they will be useable
keepsakes. Bear was using the internet in the office (ours on board has been
non-existent since a terrible thunderstorm during our first night back from
Nepal). Whilst there he heard people talking about the general election and how
the roads would be terrible on the tenth (the day after), it is a must to vote
here or face jail time, Voting officials even troll around hospitals dabbing ink
on the index finger left hand to prove that the person has indeed fulfilled
their civic duty. The only base-line need seems to be taking
breath........Locally, everyone wants change from the corruption that has been
the last sixty years, the chap they want is a sprightly ninety-two year old.
Sooooooo, our booked bus on the tenth allows us two hours before our flight,
which had been brought forward by the airline, and it would only take a short
delay and things would get too tight. Bear went off in a taxi to the bus shop to
bring our tickets forward a day. I booked us in to Tune at the airport and that
was that.
 Wednesday 9th May. Taxi booked to
take us to the bus station at a quarter past four meant we had the day to put
Beez to bed, clean the fridge and I managed yet another swift victory on the
backgammon board. To say I’m growling is an
understatement. I am being hammered. But you are loved. Huh. On the five o’clock bus and although the roads were really, really
busy, we were settled in bed by just after eleven.
 Thursday 10th May. Not flying until
18:40 we decided to extend our hotel by six hours, normal check-out is eleven
and they don’t mind you dithering until one but we kept it official and signed
up until seven. We took a slow bimble across at three and soon made our way
through officialdom to wait in ‘Q’ area, now sporting a pretty fish tank, or
should I say a fish tank with pretty
fish.
    We boarded a very full flight half an
hour late and our pilot told us the delay was due to traffic congestion over
Hong Kong, we sat on the very hot, stuffy girl for another half an hour. My seat
area had the distinct aroma of someone having made use of the ‘little white bag’
and on checking my seat pocket found it to be missing. What with that and a
fractious little girl in the middle seat of the middle row everyone around was
thrilled when we finally taxied out. Once up we were treated to a lovely sunset. Half the folk around had their left index
finger inked, the same with the flight crew. I was so very pleased when Bear’s
Thai green curry overtook that other aroma but, sadly, it was only a temporary
thing.
 The peace of our six hour flight from
KL to Beijing was accompanied by the said fractious
little girl sobbing loudly for four and a half hours. She settled to sleep just
as we came into land...........
   Coming in to Beijing, we saw a huge,
flat sprawling city. On landing we bimble to the fingerprint machines. My thumbs and
middle fingers give a fairly good impression but a young lady, all full of
efficiency and lacking in interpersonal skills almost stood on my little fingers
before giving me up as a bit of a lost cause. We quickly made it through the
queue to repeat the fingerprint business with an Immigration Official who asked
me twice “Is this you”, well my hair has grow a bit.....That done we looked to
see our hard won Chinese Visas had a pen scrawl across them.
  Bear fought with two ATM’s and beat
one of them into submission. Lots of these came out, one
hundred Yuan or eleven pounds and sixty five pence. Our driver was called
Mrs Woo, been driving for twenty years, no threat of a smile cracking that
‘train stopping look’ but twenty minutes later we were at our digs. Unwelcomed
by a receptionist in a trench coat (not really that cold), she efficiently dealt
with us and off we went to the seventh floor.
   I have a
natural tendency to exit lifts and turn right, saw decreasing numbers and kept
going. Four sides of a square later and there we were. Generically speaking, we
could be anywhere in the world other than the sign on
the complimentary water having a new sort of spaghetti above the English
translation.
 Having been warned that Chinese beds
are very hard by European standards, we were absolutely delighted to sink into
softness with fluffy pillows. Beds led the way and by
the time we had put out the smellies and washed it was going on for four in the
morning.
  Friday 11th May. I’ll sneak this in
on this blog. We briefly woke at eight thirty and the next minute it was half
past nine, a quick dash to breakfast. On leaving our room we found the lift was
four doors to our left. Last night we could have bimbled past those said four
doors instead of the forty going the way I had led us.............. Once in the
lift we remembered the ‘poke the key card in the slot’ and there we were on the
fifth floor passing an empty gymnasium. It can stay empty for all my need to shuffle in.
Rightee-oh then, too pleased that breakfast is served until ten. OH wow, we gave
our room number to a young lady who did try a smile but her face muscles were
not used to the action and we were looking over a huge
dining area.
   I settled in the
corner with fresh fruit and Bear delivered a cup of tea. Delighted. Looking up another wow. Bear settled his feathers with
cereal and then found himself the makings of a fry-up
with proper pork sausages no less. Back to
our pit for a few more hours then up and ready to explore
Beijing.
ALL IN ALL ANOTHER AT-VENTURE
BEGINS
A LONG BUT EASY
JOURNEY |