Departing from Shanghai we gave ourselves 2 hours before departure to check in and proceed to the boarding gate. Well check in was pretty smooth only taking 5 minutes. The next step was security. This took 20 minutes and was done with any problems.

After leaving security we headed to gate number 91 of 200 gates. It was a long walk, 750 metres. This airport is huge to say the least. the terminal would have to be around 1.5 ks long. As we arrive at the gate they called for boarding. What timing!

Well the flight from Shanghai to Beijing was a bit on the bumpy side. There was only a few spare seats on the plane. We were allocated seats at the rear, something to do with dirt cheap tickets. Only paid $100 for a 2 hour flight with Air China, Chinas only national carrier.

As we were decending into Beijing it was like there was a thick fog, with next to zero visibility. It wasn't until we landed that you could see the fog was a distinctive brown colour. With bags in hand we found the Airport to city train, bought the tickets and boarded. We had to take 2 more subway trains to get to our destination. All went very smoothly.

The apartment was only only short walk from the subway station. When we arrived at the apartment there was meant to be a person waiting to give us the keys. After a short wait we decided to ring Betty Wu who owns the apartment but lives in the USA. We did wake her as there is a big time difference. The guy showed up and gave us the keys.

From the outside the apartment looked pretty bad, but inside it is beautiful. It is fully renovated with all the modern conveniences. Whats more it is located about 10 minutes walk from Tiananmen Square. So we unpack our bags and sit down for a nice coffee. We then head out to see some sights.

There is a huge mall just down the road, and it is full of brand name stores, all of which are empty of customers. Prices in Beijing are very high, so no bargains here. We are approached by 2 young attractive women asking us to go for a beer. I found this a little suspicious and kept walking. They followed us for a little while before leaving us. Turns out they are just trying to scam tourists out of money by taking them to a restaurant and then being give a very inflated bill. They keep most of the money after paying the real cost of the bill. The restaurant goes along with the girls. Just something else to look out for.

Now as for the air, the only way to describe the air quality in Beijing apart from disgusting is it is like a huge dust storm cloud that is continually hovering over the city. It doesnt smell that bad but it does start to hurt your throat and nose. We were told it is like smoking 20 cigarettes a day.