Beijing's airport dragon (Capital International Airport (PEK))

Member Name: JohnCleese

Product:	Capital International Airport (PEK)
Date:	29/07/08 (125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: spacious, well organized, hospitality

Disadvantages: far away

I have been in Beijing in April 2008 on a business trip. I spent over a year working in Beijing in 1995/1996. This was my first visit to Beijing after that and I was excited and apprehensive at the same time.

During my first stay I have been at the Beijing airport very often - waiting for friends or colleagues or travelling myself. The picture which was stuck in my head was of the sea of taxi cars, yellow and red taxis, perfectly lined in a huge queue covering vast parking space in front of the airport. I never saw so many cars in one place.

On my come back, as I was putting the first shaky step on the Chinese ground after the long trip, the very first thing I saw was my name written on the panel which was in the hands of a beautiful Chinese girl. After the first shock I noticed that there are few more girls with passengers' names standing in the queue behind her. I knew that taxi is booked from the hotel I was staying at but didn't expect anyone to wait for me in the airport finger. She explained that she is airport hostess and she will help me to get to the taxi driver who waits outside of the building. She insisted on helping me with the luggage and it was difficult to say no to such a nice lady.

As we made our way through new Terminal 3 everything looked so new that you would be reluctant to touch it not to spoil perfect harmony and freshness. Loads of people were cleaning, adjusting new equipment, helping people... This is all in preparation for Olympic Games 2008. Another striking thing, apart from pristine condition of all the things around me, was scale of the whole building and the space around you. The new Terminal 3 is the size of 235 football pitches and is bigger than any other airport not even adding existing two terminals. It is larger than London Heathrow four terminals added together... Everything is signed visibly and we had no problem finding our way around. Terminals are connected with the fast automatic trains.

The designer of the building intention was for building to resemble a dragon (looked more like an oyster to me). Interior design was based on Forbidden City cascades and open space. The designer was Lord Norman Foster (famous for his work on Wembley stadium, 'Gherkin' building London, Hong Kong airport...), and it has been constructed under the supervision of Arup, the British architectural engineers. It was built in 3 years.

As we travelled from the airport I noticed many areas around the airport covered by newly planted trees. Although every tree looked natural as it should be the whole project looked to me like a last minute artificial attempt to freshen up the Olympic air. I was expecting to see people gluing fresh leaves on the branches...

All in all, I was impressed with the modern design, grand scale (as usual in China) and hospitality. I hope that gateway to Olympic Games 2008 will work well for the purpose. (BTW they are planning to start building a new terminal in 2010 and finish in 2015 and I plan to go there more often if possible).
...and now for something completely different...

Summary: Another biggest thing in China