Arrived in Beijing, just not knowing what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. Customs and Immigration was an absolute breeze, although the agents were noticeably dour and few words were exchanged. Got out into the arrival hall, all bags accounted for, to find it was just like any other international terminal. Teeming with people, so we pushed our way through them trying to get outside to the taxi stand, piece of paper in hand with our hotel name in Chinese characters to make sure we would get where we wanted to go! Approached by a tout who spoke good English and told us he had a taxi waiting for us. Now we had been warned about this and to make absolutely sure that the taxi had a meter by which we would be charged. He assured me there was a meter, but when I asked how much the trip would cost us, it was about 5 times what it should have been. By this time, we had been taken down about four floors by escalator to a parking garage. Oh God, hadn't we learned anything? Sure enough a taxi was waiting and against our better judgement, we paid the tout before getting into the taxi and then we were on our merry way. The driver spoke a small amount of English and, must admit, the taxi was immaculate (we'd been warned that some of the scungey ones actually have fleas!) The driving in Beijing wasn't as hairy as we'd been warned. Nevertheless, there were many heartstopping moments when the vehicles just cut across each other, pedestrians, cyclists and somehow everybody stops in time. This style continued for the entire duration of our stay in China and after a while you sort of get used to it. Thankfully they don't drive fast in the cities and we never saw as much as a dent on the vehicles (although we did see two minor accidents). One of the first things that knocked our socks off was the new vehicles - tons of Audis, Hondas of all models, VW Jettas - it was much more prosperous and Western than we could ever have imagined. Movie theaters with the latest movies (no doubt censored), the majority of people with cell phones and digital cameras, modern clothing, McDonalds, Subway, KFC (which apparently they love) and nowhere near the number of bicycles we expected - but nonetheless there were plenty. Back to the taxi ride ... we wouldn't have known if the driver had taken us the very long way as we had no sense of bearing, but in about 40 minutes he had us at our hotel safe and sound. If you go to Beijing, don't do what we did - go outside the terminal building to the taxi stand and totally ignore the touts who will rip you off as they did us. But actually we don't regret it due to the very clean and new vehicle, somewhat of a commentary from the driver, and getting to our destination safely. It turned out our hotel was a Marriott and no different to any large American style hotel. Check in staff very gracious and helpful. Room nice and clean; bathrooms had American fittings. Made the mistake of purchasing Chinese currency before leaving the US. Don't do this - the hotels have the best exchange rates! Went downstairs to the lobby for a ginger beer (Warren had a Corona) and a bowl of peanuts. Mostly Brits, Australians and a few Kiwis. Met a couple from ChCh who were on a world tour, Sally and Peter. Retired early for a good night's sleep.