In Beijing we booked the Novhotel. As a first stop, just arrived and jet lagged, we picked something not very adventurous: 3 stars, near Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. It will help us settle in, even if it doesn't look very exciting. On the other end though, booking the hotel was an adventure in itself. All their rooms seemed to offer accommodation for just one child and we travel with two. It took at least 6 emails to reach an agreement. Whatever way we formulated our request for a double room with 2 extra single beds, the first answer was always "Yes", followed by a complicated song and dance that meant no. In the end we got what we wanted (I think!), but we have probably been very rude in forcing out such a direct answer.
The next stop will be in Xi'an, to see the terracotta warriors. We haven't booked anything yet, but we know we want to stay inside the walls as the city is worth visiting.
The best discovery was the one for our third stop, a guesthouse in Chengdu that Brendan found in a blog. It's called Sim's Cozy Guesthouse, owned by a Japanese-Korean couple, Sim and Maki. Of all the places we'll be in this is the one we are most excited about as it looks like a place where you can meet people and have fun. They organize Sichuanese cooking courses, ping pong contests, and they even have a library for the guests, with "all kind of novels and lomance books"! It looks like the perfect place to free some of ours and start traveling a bit lighter.
Next we'll spend three days on a cruise on the Yangtze from Chongqing to Ychang. Once again, we found a deal on the WEB: a local tour operator called Yatour.
Up until now, we haven't been asked any deposit or credit card number to guarantee our bookings. It will be interesting to discover if it is due to a grater trust on humankind or if there is some trick behind it, (like pre-payed discounted rates...), it's all part of the fun.
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