It was our first trip without our daughter, Rachel so it was bittersweet. Januck, Alex and I decided that going to the Great Wall would be pretty cool so we thought about going to Beijing and found out we could go on a 72 hour free visa and booked out flights and an English tour. About one week before leaving, Chinatour.com informed us we would need a visa to enter China. Fortunately, we worked with a Japanese travel company that got all our paperwork into the Chinese embassy and we expedited our visas. We got them two days before we were to depart for China.
We decided to drive to Narita airport and stay in a hotel where we could park our car. It was a good plan until a highway in Tokyo was shut down and it took us about 5 1/2 hours to drive from Numazu to the airport hotel. Usually the trip takes about 2 1/2 hours. Had a good rest and took the shuttle for a morning flight out to Beijing connecting through Shanghai. Alex forgot to take out a pair of scissors out of his pencil case so the security check resulted in opening his backpack, his scissors being measured by a ruler and then later being confiscated.
When we arrived in Beijing airport, our bags were not at the baggage claim but at an international baggage claim so there was some confusion. We met our guide, Annie and got our bags before getting in our van with the driver. They took us into the city to our hotel, the Oriental Bay.
Driving was a bit scary in Beijing. No apparent rules about lane changing and many drivers would honk at each other regularly.
Annie welcomed us and gave us gifts. She explained that we were on our own for dinner and she would pick us up the next day at 8:30 a.m. We met with a staff member's wife and kids that were visiting Beijing for dinner. We had a feast of really good Chinese food! The best being the sweet and sour pork, looking and tasting nothing like what we order in the States.
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