Friday, August 31, 2007

Day 1: Fri 31 Aug - Canberra to Beijing via Sydney

So, another FIP Congress starts. Another early start from Canberra to get to Sydney in time to transfer from domestic to international and then get through immigration and customs. Another reason for the early departure from Canberra is that at this time of the year, Canberra can experience heavy fog in the mornings thereby delaying in-bound and therefore any further out-bound flights. By catching the first flight out of Canberra you are almost always guaranteed of getting out as the plane is already on the ground, in Canberra. I met up with Steve in Sydney and we travelled to Beijing together.

After we’d collected our luggage and proceeded through the melee, we caught a taxi and had fortunately printed the name of the hotel in Chinese so we could give to the driver so as to not get taken for a ride. Well, it was a ride as traffic in Beijing is like nothing experienced before. Anyway, we eventually made it to our hotel for the next seven nights – Jiu Hua Grand Hotel, which was close to the congress venue.

Whilst my room was spacious and had two beds, both were hard as rock with pillows as thin as blankets. So, I took all the bedding from one of the beds and placed it under the bedding of the one I was going to sleep on. And, I had brought my own pillow – thank goodness! I unpacked, showered and went to sleep.

Our hotel - Jiu Hua Grand Hotel

My room









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