Beijing Bound

On Friday we got up early and were off to the airport, on our way to Beijing. This was our last airplane ride before heading home on Wednesday -- a very good thing. Counting the original packing in Seattle we (read, Nancy) have packed up, gone to the airport and boarded an airplane twelve times. One to go. We've gone through customs six times. One to go. These are very good things.

The trip to Beijing went off without a hitch. We were again picked up at the airport, as befits folks who are, as the French say, "d'un certain age." The hotel turned out to be delightful. We had gotten the hotel though a friend of Amy Wood, and she (the friend) came to visit us after we were settled in. Based on all the places people had suggested we go, she came up with an itinerary for us. Not only that, but the weather was, and has remained, beautiful. A great way to end our vacation.

We were so excited about how things were going we decided to head right out the first night and go to a lake north of our hotel. We had the names written in Chinese -- both of the lake and of our hotel. No sense going there and then not being able to get back. We bravely hailed a cab, showed the driver the piece of paper and were on our way. We were fine until he arrived at the wrong place and announced we had arrived. No, we said, we haven't. He kept driving, but now neither he nor we knew where we were going. I had no map. He knew no English. We knew no Chinese (except for "hello" and "thank you"). Oh dear. In a fit of divine inspiration, I took out my iPhone, gritted my teeth and enabled roaming, found the destination on the map and showed it to him. Soon enough, there we were. Now, wasn't that easy?

It was pretty. It was cold. There are restaurants and bars all around the lake and we walked all the way around. Some photos.

When we were almost all the way around we found a restaurant which looked pretty busy and not too expensive. In we went.

No one spoke English, of course, and the menu was only in Chinese, but we've found that the best places have pictures, and this was one of those places. The food was great although I probably won't get the pig's ears again.

By the time we were finished we were warm and happy. Time for one more photo of the lake

before an uneventful taxi ride home. Beijing is going to be ok.