Finding the Feel Inn

We decided to forgo the water town as it was turning into a bloody shitshow of misinformation. We packed up our things and headed to the railway station to catch the next fast train to Beijing. Managed to get a taxi straight away and off we went. We arrived at the rail station, got in line to get tickets, and the next ones with 2nd class seats didn't leave for another 6 hours - shit. Well, not much else to be done, so we hunkered down and read most of the day, and my daughter took a nap. When it got closer to our departure time, we started looking for our train on the departures screens, only to discover it was not listed. I went in search of information then, and was promptly informed that our train did not leave from that station, but from another one about 17kms north of where we were - WTF???? Why in hell did they sell me a ticket from a different station? I pitched a bloody fit right there in the station, and before I knew it, we worked out that a taxi would take too long, but the metro subway went right there and would be fast. We had an hour and 15 minutes to get there, find the right platform and board the train. The station security fella was nice enough to take us right to the metro stop as it was in a whole other part of the station, and lugged one of our bags for us. Mad dash to the metro, then to buy tickets and get on the train bound for the right station. We made it with just 20 minutes to spare before loading - THANKFULLY!!! Another Amazing Race Moment as we ran pell mell through the station. We finally boarded the train and whistled across the country towards Beijing again. Good bye Suzhou - you were an asshole.

Finally arrived at Beijing about 8pm, took the metro to where we could then take a taxi to the hotel we had booked for the next four days. Metro was a breeze - finding our hotel was another bloody nightmare and added to our mounting frustration with taxis and directions. We flagged several down only to discover they had no idea where we needed to go. Then a nice young man who spoke some English offered to help us. He phoned the hotel and got directions then attempted to inform a taxi driver - nope - still had no idea. Then we made the desperate decision to jump in another motorized rickshaw box of some sort...and agreed on the price of 20Yuan (which is about $3.50 to take us to the Hutong where our hotel was. After stuffing us and our large bags in tightly (couldn't see anything or barely breathe) he putt putted around for the longest time, asking directions as he went, seeming to drag us into the middle of nowhere at which point my daughter lost her shit and told him to let us out and get lost, after paying him the 20yuan. We stopped a few people to ask them where we were or if they knew where our hotel was - we got answers such as just down the street and turn right, or 7 kms from there...dammit. Then my daughter had enough and just sat down on the curb, utterly frustrated. The hotel had given us walking directions of just 6 minute walk from the metro station but yet no one had any idea where we needed to go. So she turned on her mobile service, knowing it would cost a fortune, but we could at least see where the hell we had been dumped out. Turned out we were not far from the hotel but unsure just how safe it was to wander through the various hutongs it would take to get there or if we had it in us to drag our packs any further. We took a leap of faith and struck out, not wanting to sleep in the street tonight, managed to bump into a nice lady along one of the hutongs who recalled a hotel like we described just around the corner with many lights and many foreigners - THAT'S IT! So off we ran and sure enough, we located our hotel, more than 2 hours later...I could have kissed her. We were breathless and steaming hot by the time we fell in the doors of the hotel/hostel so they gave us water immediately - nice cold water too. Then we checked in, and booked our Great Wall tickets for tomorrow. Pick up right at the bloody door, thank GAWD! 

Bonus of the hotel - onsite cafe that served Western food!!! We ordered some supper and dug in before settling into our hotel for the night. We leave at 7:30am tomorrow morning and cannot wait - this is our biggest reason for coming to Beijing. Hope it doesn't rain!