Peking - minus to push off
The QM run was a
stunning one for me and the trip for me was the Thailand shooting trip. However
it was 6 months away and part of me wanted to make up for Ving about my solo
trip.
I offered a short
trip to Xiamen which was one hours plus away. Simple hop in with flight from K
city and proceed with an eat and walk around trip for 3D2N. My thought was
simple, we should use the visa free entry for at least once before it is closed
again.
My offer was
rejected as Ving told me she all she wanted was a visit to the old palace and
great wall…A great leap from my initial plan and a further leap of fate for me.
So many things to
sort out apart from the lodging and flight.
The flight was a
crucial one to settle. The first step was to inquire Xian if he could settle
with a HKG transit. It was many years ago when HKG started to enforced strict
law about treason. Xian was terrified for a while and he told me he never
wanted to land his foot on the land anymore. Well, he had however nodded when I
asked him if he is AOK with the transit. The best choice was CP as it offered a
variety of time to choose from.
The next was the
duration and I had finally squeezed a window of 6D5N…a late flight in and late
flight out which allow us to spend 4.5D around P city. I regretted not long
after I did the purchase; I had booked a flight back to K city which had 1.5hrs
transit time in HKG only. My club mate who travel frequent to HKG told me, if CP
could offer the flight then they are confident to get you on. It still haunt me for the rest of the 2 months prior to take off and I kept thinking off changing the flight…
The lodging was
another challenge and I decided to go for a service apartment instead of a room.
We would need the kitchen and washing machine as it was a long stay. I had
chosen a service apartment managed by Marriot ; it was situated around the old
palace and located around a great shopping area.
The old palace was
a crucial point for our trip to Peking and purchasing entry ticket was a challenge. The only way for a
guarantee ticket was to book a tour. Trying to do a purchase at the gate would mostly ended
with a sold out leading to depression. I pre-booked a private tour as I need someone to
tell the story about the place. Even though I am a fan of “six month river” and read most of
his work but I am not a historian that could tell the palace story to my family.
The great wall
part was simple, I opted for the MYT great wall which offered a Tobago run as well.
I booked a bus ticket from MYT bus service which offered a late trip back. Most
of the bus service run between 7am to 2pm. The MYT bus service offered from 7am
to 4pm. An extra 2hours would allow us to do a relaxing ascend and descend.
That above arrangement
settled the first two days of the trip. Nothing was planned for the leftover 2.5 days, however I knew we would make up of something when we reached there.
There were a few
things that bother me before the trip. Google was not a reliable source for
info as the partial lock down only shown out of date info. I had to installed
CHN software like it or not.
The next part was
the payment method, although Peking was still foreigner friendly with real
bucks however the e- payment was the way to go. I was lucky as I had TnG set up
back in Malaysia. The Wechat payment was another backup plan but without
linking with a local CHN account it is like a handicap software.
The initial booking
and reservation phase took me about 2 weeks and the next task was sourcing take
away food to buy and eat during the old palace and great wall trip. The app
DianPing was an ultimate guide and it proved its value during our stay in Peking
providing valuable pre-buy coupon that was worthy and good recommendation about places and food.
Before we depart
from our house, I was still hesitating if I would change my return ticket to a earlier
time but yet I decided to gamble with my luck…
Source:
Peking - minus to push off
