Summer Break in China - Day 3

 

Breakfast area at GooHug Hotel

June 15, 2024

This morning, we got up to see what breakfast is going to be like. This hotel is on the 25th and 26th floors of a high rise, so it's quite boutique. Not many rooms, but it has all the markings of a luxury hotel, with 24 hour front desk, gym, bar, etc. The hotel is practically brand new, so not much information on line. We came for breakfast and was a little anxious to find out what's in store for us. The hostess sat us down and told us "everything is included". I asked for a menu and wasn't totally sure what she meant. She gave us a menu and explained that we simply get - everything. No ordering needed. YAY!!

Breakfast combo - included in nightly rate

Ah, they weren't kidding. Coffee, juice, fruits, yogurt, congee, boiled egg, dumpling, Chinese pancake, wonton soup, salad... Delicious. Today is an easy day. We just spent 2 days traveling and jetlag is real, so we don't have too much on our docket today. After the scrumptious breakfast, my cousin drove us to a nearby mall for some window shopping and sightseeing. If you are not familiar with Beijing, then let me give you a small introduction on how the roads work here. In Beijing, there are 6 "ring" roads. Each ring is like a circular highway around the city, much like I-285 for Atlanta. So the 1st Ring Road is closest to Beijing city center, and is very small. The 2nd Ring Road is still quite central, probably the most comparable to the actual I-285 for Atlanta. By the time you get to the 3rd Ring Road, you are kind of in-between what's considered "Beijing" and what's not. Locals joke the 6th Ring Road includes the sun. When we flew in, we landed at PEK airport, which is outside of the 3rd Ring Road and inside the 4th Ring Road. There's a highway that connects you from the airport to the 3rd Ring. We chose GooHug Hotel to stay due to the proximity to the end of this highway, which means we are now right outside of the 3rd Ring Road, so not very close to the city. All this to say, we are not near city center at all. That doesn't mean there aren't a ridiculous amount of businesses everywhere. This is Beijing, the capital city after all. The mall we entered didn't have a name, or at least I couldn't find one. There were many small businesses in it. Clothing stores, shoe stores, restaurants, daycare services, etc. Kids got their eyes sat on the claw machine. We have these in the US too but I always thought they were gimmicks and no one would be able to get anything. I was wrong. The kids got a ton of items!

Our Claw Machine Huge Haul!

After that, we walked back to the car and we are now heading to our next destination - lunch. While walking, I noticed this dilapidated restaurant that looked more scary than appetizing.

Lunch today is at the world famous Haidilao Hot Pot. Haidilao has locations worldwide, even in Australia, US, and UK. They are famous for their amazing customer service. This is our first time experiencing Haidilao and it is easily the best customer service we have ever experienced - even compared to all of the Michelin starred restaurants we've been to. No matter what is going on in  your life, you will leave a Haidilao restaurant happy. Guaranteed.

Haidilao Hot Pot Restaurant

This Haidilao Hot Pot Restaurant is located inside a large shopping mall. Since we are still quite outside city center, expect very few non-Chinese patrons and limited English skills. When you first check-in to the restaurant, you are greeted right away and offered to have your nails done for free while you wait. If you don't want a manicure, you can also choose to get a conditioning treatment of your hands instead. 

Complimentary hand conditioning or manicure

By the time we all got our nails done, we were seated into one of the private rooms. This restaurant is HUGE, with many many private rooms (as well as non-private rooms). Every time anyone goes to the restroom, an employee will walk you back to your room because it's quite easy to get lost. Inside our room, on the big table, was lots of complimentary snacks as we looked through the large menu on the iPad. When the food started coming, the waiters moved all of the snacks to the window sill so we can take it with us afterwards if we liked. There were many sauce bars in the restaurant, where you can make your own sauces for your hot pot. Everyone was also given aprons so you don't make a mess on your own clothes (should you choose to wear them).

Teddy at our private sauce bar

If you order a noodle as one of your hot pot ingredients, you can request the complimentary noodle show, where a noodle master comes in with a small piece of dough and through spinning and stretching and tossing, the dough becomes a long noodle. The show is quite impressive with amazing precision - at times the noodle will get inches from your face. This is a must-do at this restaurant, since the noodle is less than $1. 

Besides the amazing service, the food was great too. Towards the end of the meal, we were given an amazing plate of fruits, followed by seemingly countless number of gifts - snacks, backscratcher, lens wipes, etc. Then when we were ready to leave, a staff walked us to the elevator, and didn't leave until the elevator arrived. Most incredibly, this meal was less than $15 a person, including alcohol.

After lunch, we started making our journey to Shidu - our hotel for the night. Shidu is a scenic area located in the Southwestern Beijing. Shidu literally means Tenth Ferry, because it takes ten river crossings to get there. Due to the difficulty of getting there, Shidu enjoyed rather low popularity for many many years. Even to this day, I don't think Instagram influencers have found this place yet! The drive into Shidu is jaw dropping. Shidu's beauty lies in its large karst landscape. The river carved through the mountain over and over again. The river here is the Juma River. Juma means "stop the horse". The mountain here is Taihang Mountains. Taihung means very tall and very long. 

En-route to Shidu, taken near Zhangfang

After hours of incredible scenery, with narrow and winding roads that made Road to Hana like a walk in the park, we finally arrived at our village hotel. The road to the hotel is so steep that we had to park the car at the base and walk on a treacherous hike. The owners of the hotel carried our suitcases for us. 

Our hotel tonight is called Beijing Shidu Banshan Hidden Suites. Banshan literally means "half the way up the mountain". The hotel rents out individual villas, each with its own courtyard. Our villa was Villa #4, which comes with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, and a private swimming pool. Sadly, the pool didn't have water in it and I'm not sure why. The villa was clearly newly constructed, as it was very contrasting from its nearby buildings. In front of us appeared to be another building under construction.

Master Bedroom with Skylight

The most impressive part of this hotel is the master bathroom. It is huge, with a smart toilet, biggest tub I've ever seen, and a giant walk-in shower. But similar to the swimming pool, it has a standard spigot, which I imagine it would take all day to fill up.

Master bathroom tub

View from our front courtyard

Tomorrow, we will be visiting the hidden gem, Eastlake Harbor National Scenic Park.