Beijing with no cash!

After a v lovely last train trip ( despite the 5 hour mongolian/ Chinese border crossing where we were off the train until 1am) we arrived in Beijing at 14.35pm. K was feeling a bit better so that was a bonus.
At a balmy 19 degs it was a lovely temperature.
We said a sad farewell to our Brisbane tour mates and hope we catch up in the future as we really did enjoy their company (We were endlessly thankful they weren’t like people we encountered from other tour groups- loud, rude and obnoxious).
Arriving in beijing we had a little ramp off the train instead of 5 neck breaking steps and then an escalator- China put on a v easy welcome... and there it ended!!
Planning to get cash from an ATM for a taxi we came unstuck as the only ATM at the train station wouldn’t work with overseas bank cards.
We walked to find a nearby one as per google maps- impossible to access without going through a hospital so we decided to walk to the accommodation - 3kms.
On the way we found a bank so withdrew enough cash for dinner, drinks and subway tickets to the airport tmrw.
An hour later ( thanks to the luggage and booking.com having the wrong location of our accommodation) we finally turn up at the Nostalgia Hotel. Their card machine “ wasn’t working” and we needed to pay in cash.... 400 of our 500 yuan!
No worries we would pay for dinner with the visa.... off we went to find something to eat as we were both starving due to no lunch. To cut a long story short we couldn’t find a restaurant that would accept the visa..... so we ended up in Starbucks with a coffee and a chocolate muffin as our meal!! It did have a rooftop terrace so it was nice!
Tmrw we have the morning not to need money and then we r off to airport to fly Beijing to Bangkok.
Photos to follow as I can’t get them to load.Читать далее