On February 23-28, 2013, I had a Do-it-Yourself (DIY) trip to Beijing with my friends Weng, Leah, Mark, and Hermes. A day before our trip, my passport got wet. I almost lost hope and prepared myself not to join the trip.
Because it took me to much time and effort to get a Chinese Visa, I decided to continue with the trip using my recently-dried-and-formerly-wet passport. I was nervous when I approached the immigration counter at NAIA Terminal 3. So, it was a big sigh of relief when the scanner was able to read my previously-wet passport. I said to myself, "this is it!"
Our Cebu Pacific flight to China left NAIA Terminal 3 at around 20:00. After flying smoothly for 5 hours, we arrived at the Beijing Capital Airport terminal 2 at 01:00 in the morning. When we got out of the plane, we instantly felt the bitter-cold winter weather! It was -2 degrees! We rushed directly to the immigration counter to have our passport stamped.
After clearing the immigration counter, we were met by our driver and proceeded to our hostel (Happy Dragon Hostel). Taking the train is a cheaper way to go to downtown Beijing. However, since we arrived at 1a.m., the train station is already closed.
We arrived at the Happy Dragon Hostel at around 2 o'clock in the morning. Happy Dragon Hostel is located at a Hutong area with a busy morning market everyday where you can buy cheap fruits and see everyday life of local people. A 5 minutes walk to the Dong Cheng subway station.
Happy Dragon Hostel has a youthful vibe. Most of its guests are backpackers. You can write anything you want on the freedom wall. The rooms are small but tidy. My only complain was on the heating system. The heater was not able to beat the cold weather outside.
A room for 2 in this hostel costs at Php 1,081/night. If you wish to stay here, you may visit their website at www.happydragonhostel.com.
I will give a detailed daily itinerary as the trip progressed. :-)
Because it took me to much time and effort to get a Chinese Visa, I decided to continue with the trip using my recently-dried-and-formerly-wet passport. I was nervous when I approached the immigration counter at NAIA Terminal 3. So, it was a big sigh of relief when the scanner was able to read my previously-wet passport. I said to myself, "this is it!"
Our Cebu Pacific flight to China left NAIA Terminal 3 at around 20:00. After flying smoothly for 5 hours, we arrived at the Beijing Capital Airport terminal 2 at 01:00 in the morning. When we got out of the plane, we instantly felt the bitter-cold winter weather! It was -2 degrees! We rushed directly to the immigration counter to have our passport stamped.
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| Hello Beijing! |
After clearing the immigration counter, we were met by our driver and proceeded to our hostel (Happy Dragon Hostel). Taking the train is a cheaper way to go to downtown Beijing. However, since we arrived at 1a.m., the train station is already closed.
We arrived at the Happy Dragon Hostel at around 2 o'clock in the morning. Happy Dragon Hostel is located at a Hutong area with a busy morning market everyday where you can buy cheap fruits and see everyday life of local people. A 5 minutes walk to the Dong Cheng subway station.
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| Happy Dragon Hostel restaurant |
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| Staircase that leads to the rooms (Yes, you are free to write on the walls) |
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| Happy Dragon Library! |
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| Our room was on the second door from the right... |
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| Yes, we wrote on the wall too... |
Happy Dragon Hostel has a youthful vibe. Most of its guests are backpackers. You can write anything you want on the freedom wall. The rooms are small but tidy. My only complain was on the heating system. The heater was not able to beat the cold weather outside.
A room for 2 in this hostel costs at Php 1,081/night. If you wish to stay here, you may visit their website at www.happydragonhostel.com.
I will give a detailed daily itinerary as the trip progressed. :-)
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