Fly to Beijing Again via CA933 again

This is the second time I record my trip from Shanghai to Beijing via CA933. It is not as perfect as the last time, but still OK, and worth some logistic recording.

Wake up at 6:30 AM as always, wash and waste some time by sitting on the water closet and check my RSS feed, I finally called a taxi at 7:00 AM. I forget how many times I regret that I would have called the previous night. Qiangsheng taxi does not accept 30 minutes in advance booking. That is possible in the previous night. I have to make the call and the taxi arrives several minutes late.

Get on board taxi: 7:12 AM

Get to Pudong Airport T2 at 7:50 AM (Tip: The next time, ask the taxi driver to park at the most north gate, where the CA domestic counters K and L are located. I walked long way to get there (and even long way back to the gate 87).

I still insist that 7:30 (or two hours before flight time) is appropriate time to leave home. Although I waited in the airport for one hour, that one hour is pretty productive. I write something for the business which others requested. Also, I had a not very delicious, but OK beef noodle as breakfast. Most importantly, to have some time in the airport without rush is a good period of time for me to relax.

The CA933 is an iconic flight, since it connects Shanghai, Beijing and then Paris. I believe many people start their first French trip via this flight, just as UA858 for US. The last time, I saw a big section around me was filled by French people, and this time, it seems to me that it is simply a domestic flight.

This time, the flight delayed 30 minutes, and BTW, messed up my whole day’s schedule.

Arrived at PEK at 11:45 (the time the flight arrived at the gate), but when I get my flight and sit on the taxi, it was always 12:30. The T3 of Beijing is too big, and everything is inconvenient because of it is too big. I can not imagine to spend 45 minutes just get out of the airport. This included longer than normal time to wait for my check-in luggage.

Then I visited Huamao Center, and then Tsinghua Area, and when I finished my last meetup near Tsinghua, and got back to my comfortable Shangri-la hotel, it was already 10 PM. Tired, and need to sleep now - it is 0:10 AM.

To summarize my impression of post-Olympic Beijing:

• Beijing is very commercialized, and modern. Look at Huamao, where Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriot are located. Look at SOHO city, and look at the big office tower and complex with residential areas. It seems Beijing just transformed its favorite of big and grand building into a modern sense.
• Beijing seems to develop faster in landscape than Shanghai. There are more completely new and big places coming out of no where, than Shanghai.
• The burned CCTV new tower is much more serious than I thought. I knew the big fire that destroyed the new CCTV tower, but I didn’t realize that it really completely destroyed the building - now it still looks like a building surviving from war.