A Trip To Beijing #2 Taking The Flight

BEIJING BACKPACKING TRIP #2

return to Home Page please click Halaman


I wish Salam to everyone,

Mid-November 2014. Flight MAS MH360 scheduled for departure from Kuala Lumpur Airport KLIA at 6.45 in the afternoon, dan kami expect to arrive in Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 pada pukul 1 early morning past midnight. The duration of travel will take approximately 6 hours journey.

Arriving at KLIA, we immediately arrange for baggage check-in and getting the boarding-passes. We then entered the departure hall and finally we boarded the airplane. In the plane, it seems that passengers are mostly consist of Chinese citizens. This can be seen from their way of their dressing and the dialect they converse.

The much awaited moment finally arrived. Alhamdulillah the time of airplane departure was as scheduled.

Throughout the flight journey, I prayed hard that nothing bad befallen us during the journey. I keep reciting Du'a keeping my voice as low as a whisper. My heart was pounding, worrying about bad things that could happen. I could also see my wife's lips muttering the Du'a praying everything will turn out alright.

Close to our seating in the airplane was a Malay family, Malaysian citizens. Muslims people, all heads down reciting ayat-ayat suci Al-Quran sejurus apabila kapal terbang memulakan perjalanan.

Alhamdulillah the weather was fine and smooth throughout the journey. Penerbangan kami tiba dengan selamat tepat pada waktunya.


BEIJING AIRPORT

We disembarked from the airplane at about 1 in the morning and walked to the immigration area. It was still a long queue at the immigration counter with the flights passengers arriving from Moscow and other locations at about the same time as us.

After going through immigration and customs, we then rushed to baggage claim and thankfully our bags made it safely to Beijing with us.

Airport express train and bus service were not in operation in Beijing within 11 p.m. – 6 a.m. There were still taxi services but as I mentioned earlier, we don’t prefer taking taxis.

There were free shuttles sending passengers to terminal 2 even at 2 a.m. There were a few cheap hotels around Terminal 2. I didn’t make any arrangements for a Hotel near Beijing Airport. I should have, because it was Zero celsius freezing cold even at airport lobby, perhaps next time.

There were only 2 direct flights a day from KUL to PEK. Malaysian Airline MAS arriving in Beijing at 1 a.m. and AIRASIA arriving around 2 a.m. We should check-in at a hotel close to airport or to arrange with a tour agency to fetch us up. Capital Airport Hotel was quite near to terminal 2 and the room rate for standard twin was something like 150元 to 200元, it would be OK to spend the night in a hotel close to airport, close to winter the temperature out there was freezing cold.

We wouldn’t want to book a in a hotel near airport that would require us to travel some 30 km back to the hotel every day. All the nice things were in the city center, therefore we have already booked a hotel located in Beijing City Center.

The regular public transport was not in service after 11 pm at night. Taxis were available 24 hours but we avoid taking taxi. Therefore we had to spend the night at the airport. We waited at the seating area nearest to Beijing Metro Train ticket counter.

Anyway, for this trip, it wasn’t that bad waiting all night long at the airport lobby to catch the first train to the city center.


USE THE SMARTPHONE

In Malaysia, I use Celcom mobile phone as the network operator and when in China, the international roaming service aligned with Celcom was China Unicom mobile phone network. It was really useful to communicate with family and friends. The last people in the world that I would expect to receive calls and messages were from the boss and clients, out of sight out of mind.

We were living in the Information Age or we can say, The Computer Age, therefore having access to internet is very important and very helpful to find our ways around Beijing and help us to bargain with the seller during shopping by searching for market price for the products you want to buy, since some places in Beijing you were able to get things really cheap if you negotiate - request the seller to meet your price, not just simply pay the price on the tag and sometimes you can get the things you want at just 30% of the price tag, say if the price tag shows 100元 if you negotiate you might just only pay something like 30元 or even less in the end, depend on your bargaining skills. Don’t worry, the seller have made enough profit already otherwise they won’t sell it to you.

Well, it’s good to get out see China and do things tourists supposed to do. Let’s get on with the story. We will start with day one, find out our Happy First Day in Beijing! please click Forbidden City