Beijing, China: Airport Confusion, No Photos, and We Don’t Speak Russian

This is a continuation of my Japan/China trip report. See also Back from China and Japan Trip! 5 Takeaways, Worth it: JAL Premium Economy Award Seats, Better Than Expected: AA Premium Economy Shanghai PVG to DFW, Hits and Misses from our day at Tokyo DisneySea, Take this Line and Shove It (Literally): Shanghai Disneyland Hits and Misses, Dormy Inn Shibuya Jingumae Hot Spring in Tokyo, Highlights of our Tokyo Shenanigans, Surprise Upgrade at Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay, Our Machiya Rental in Kyoto, The Deer Really Do Bow! Day Trip to Nara, Japan, Highlights of our time in Kyoto, Japaan, Was Universal Studios Japan Worth the Time and Money?, Two Nights on Miyajama Island, Highlights from Our Whirlwind Day in Osaka, Japan, Beijing, China: Airport Confusion, No Photos, and We Don’t Speak Russian (this post)

Before I get into the attractions we saw in China, I’ll cover the logistics of traveling from Japan to China as well as some quirks and observations.

Checking in at Osaka Kansai Airport

My daughter and I flew from Osaka, Japan to Beijing, China. We were traveling on the newly-expanded visa-free transit policy that allowed us to fly from Japan to China to USA with a stay of up to 10 days in China. See this article for more details.

We were flying on China Eastern Airlines from Osaka to Beijing. At the check-in counter, the customer service agent had to verify our flight information for our leg from China to USA as part of the visa-free transit policy. I thought I was fully prepared for this with printouts of our reservations. However, after some back and forth with other employees, the agent needed our full ticket numbers, which I did not have handy. Thankfully, I hardly ever delete emails, so I was able to search through my old emails and provide the long ticket numbers. This delay took around 20 minutes.

Immigration in Beijing Daxing Airport

Our short flight on China Southern was uneventful. Upon landing in Beijing at Beijing Daxing International Airport (BKX), we expected to head to the fingerprint kiosks that I saw on the YouTube video I watched to prepare me for arrival. However, the fingerprint kiosks were closed, and an official waived us through.

When we entered the immigration area, we started walking to the area that I believed was for our visa-free transit entry. However, an official intercepted us and ushered us to a different area. So, I started filling out a form in this area and proceeded to show it to another official. That official told us we were in the wrong area and ushered us back to the area I was originally heading to. Apparently, they assumed we were Europeans entering with no required visa.

In the correct area, we filled out another form and got in line. There was one official processing visitors in this section. In front of us was a family (not American) who was having issues. After around 10 minutes, they stepped to the side to figure things out. Finally, it was our turn, and I was a bit nervous. I hoped I hadn’t forgotten to print anything important.

The official who processed our paperwork was serious. She asked for printouts of all our hotel reservations in addition to our return flight confirmation. She looked over everything very thoroughly. After 10-15 minutes of inspection, she stamped our passports, and we moved along. I was so relieved when that part was over.

Our First DiDi Ride

To get from the airport to our hotel in the city center, we first took the subway to the last stop closest to the city center. Thankfully, it was really easy to follow the signs in the airport to the subway station underground. I used Alipay app to purchase the train tickets. We had to scan our passports to get through the entry gate.

We got off at Caoqiao station and ordered a car from the DiDi app. Apparently, we were in the wrong spot for pickup, and I fumbled through some communication with our DiDi driver before she found us.

No Photos

Several sources warned us not to take photos of any military or police in China. When we were walking through the airport, we saw a statue of some soldiers. At least I thought it was a statue or wax figures. I pointed them out to my daughter. As we got closer, my daughter whispered to me, “They’re alive! I just saw one of them breathe!” They were indeed live soldiers who were frozen in place and completely locked in.

In Beijing city center, one of the most interesting sites to me was the bike and motorcycle lanes. Policemen were positioned at each stoplight, and when the light turned red, the police would close these accordion gates in front of the bike lanes. Trapped! This happened on all 4 corners. I really wish I could have taken photos of this.

An indoor mall was located next to our hotel in Beijing. It seemed like a typical mall with a variety of stores and restaurants. Unfortunately, there were “no photos” signs plastered all over the mall. Very strange.

We Don’t Speak Russian

During our 6 days in China, we only ran into one other group of Americans. At the Beijing South train station, as we were going through security to catch a bullet train to Shanghai, I heard some young people speaking English. We chatted briefly. They were college students from Chicago. But apart from them, we did meet any other Americans on our trip. Considering we booked two English-speaking tours in Beijing, I was surprised! We met a few people from Canada, Greece and Singapore. And we heard and saw quite a few Russians.

Since there were so few Americans there, many Chinese assumed we were Russian. When we had trouble communicating in stores, people whipped out their translator apps and automatically gave us the Russian translation.

Speaking of Russians…..the way that most Chinese people spoke reminded me of my time in Russia. The tone seemed loud and harsh, especially compared to the tone of Japanese people. But we came to realize that they’re not really mad at us, and that’s just how they normally speak.

We used our translator apps at restaurants, but the app isn’t perfect. I ordered a dish thinking it was cheese based on the translation. Nope! It was some sort of sweet, milky dessert. We laughed about that one!

My daughter and I noticed that the noise level on trains in China was night and day different from Japan. In Japan, people were very quiet on trains. Everyone wore headphones, nobody was talking loudly on the phone. China was the opposite in every way–many people didn’t bring headphones, so were could hear several different videos at the same time. People were talking loudly on their phones.

SO. MANY. APARTMENTS.

China has so many apartment buildings!

On the train ride between Beijing and Shanghai, just when we thought we were in rural areas, BAM! More apartments. Tall ones that stretched on and on.

We’d see about a dozen of the same design, one right after the other. Then, a slightly different design appeared with a dozen more. And they just kept going on and on and on.

Did We Feel Safe?

I recently attended my neighborhood’s Travel Club meeting and had the chance to talk about our trip. Someone asked me if we felt safe in China. The answer is yes, we felt safe. There were armed military, police and guards everywhere. Even McDonald’s had its own armed guard in the restaurant. Only one person gave us a hard time about Trump, and he was a European visitor. We couldn’t understand anything except “Trump” followed by laughter. We didn’t feel any anti-American sentiments, but again, people assumed we were Russian. The interactions we had with Chinese citizens were pleasant (well, except for the pushiness at Shanghai Disneyland, which I covered in an earlier post).

Although we felt safe, I did feel restricted. Everyone stays in their lane. No photos. Nobody made waves. At Shanghai Disneyland, we saw a taxi driver that must have stepped out of line because his car was swarmed with police.

Next up: Review of Grand Hyatt Beijing.