Made Up For Lost Time

We were supposed to tour Beijing on a bicycle ride this morning, but partying last night caused us to wake up very late. We have from 12:30PM to 3:30PM to make the best of the day, because at 4PM, we have to meet the rest of the group for meeting with China Investment Corporation.

So we decided to take a cab from our hotel to view the CCTV Building and the Summer Palace



CCTV Building



The CCTV Building is an architectural tourist attraction. Even after seeing the building, it amazes me how the building supports itself and does not topple over with a strong wind.

The security guards kept us from getting too close to the building, because the building is still under construction (i.e. like many other buildings that we saw in China). China has done a great job at masking the incomplete projects from the public eye.


Summer Palace




Alec and I made it to the Summer Palace with very little time to spare. We need to be headed back to our hotel within 45 minutes or we will miss our meeting with the China Investment Corporation.

The gallery above highlights the pictures that we were able to take during our speed tour of the Summer Palace.



Who Do You Think I Am? I'm a Tourist, but not a Sucker !!!

When we were trying to find a taxi from Summer Palace to our hotel, none of the drivers would agree to take us home unless we agreed to pay 120 RMB for the ride. Now, 120 RMB isn't that expensive (approx. $18 USD), but Alec and I preferred to pay the metered price rather than a negotiated amount. We figured that the metered price would be less than the metered price.

Apparently, the taxi drivers at this location work in a ring together and try to take advantage of the tourists. Neither Alec nor myself would agree to the terms being offered and they wouldn't agree with ours. After a while, I didn't trust them. They could have taken us to a remote location and demanded more money than what was agreed upon. They tried to take advantage of us once, what would prevent them from trying to do it again.

Fortunately, we saw a taxi driving through the area and we hopped into the car and the driver agreed to the metered price. The cab ride home ended up being 30 RMB.

Moral of the Story: Never negotiate or do business with a crooked individual. Never! Don't compromise your values for no one.