Beijing Of Old

Woken from my slumber entirely too early this morning, (I pretty much slept all weekend and am now accustomed to noon wakeup), the DH and I braved the cool and rainy Linyi morning for a quick flight to Beijing. Now we’re holed up in our hostel room, watching CCTV9 and feeling quite urbane.

Parked airplanes at Nanyuan Airport

The morning flight from Linyi to Beijing is serviced by China United Airlines, an airline founded by the military, (or so we’ve been told…) CUA flights land at Nanyuan Airport, a military airfield south of the city. I highly recommend all tourists and expats in China to fly into this airport at least once. Why? Nanyuan and the neighborhood surrounding it is one of the few remaining places where you can get a feel for what Beijing must have been like twenty years ago… Quiet and narrow tree-lined streets… Patriotic billboards featuring young soldiers at attention… Squatty brick buildings… Old grandmas and grandpas riding their Flying Pigeons… Red stars with hammer and sickle insignia here and there… Old railroad tracks leading seemingly nowhere… A walled compound called the “China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology”… Rows of gray hutong homes… It’s a Beijing far removed from the modern, consumption-mad powerhouse. It actually feels Communist. (Just don’t drive too far up Nanyuan Lu, where huge wholesale markets vie for space!)

Can’t you just see the white-coated technicians working on this?

If you do fly into Nanyuan, take the airport bus dowtown for a close up view of the contrast. Once you exit the baggage claim, you’ll see a small ticket counter on the right next to the exit. The bus to Xidan subway station (and CAAC office building) will be the first as you exit the doors, just byond the taxis. Cost = 16RMB

We passed the Forbidden City on the airport bus, so we consider our touristic activities done for the day. Now time for relaxing. I am even going out to a spa later. Awww, I’m feeling better already!

Proof! We were here today!

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Tagged as: Beijing, China, Travel