A special hotel for special meetings on a special island on a special lake!

Farewell Hong Kong; hello Beijing!…

On this multi-stage business trip around Southeast Asia, our next port of call was the Chinese capital for another conference of ours. Here, as per, I told our partners and clients all about our latest achievements, new technologies and products and services. I say “as per”, since I know the routine so well now I hardly need glance at my slides for facts and figures. But… one thing was different this time – very. It was the setting the conference took place in: the Yanqi Kempinski.

I couldn’t find much info about the place on the internet, so I’ll give you my first-person account based on my short stay there…

Turns out this here five-star hotel is often used for meetings and summits of top-level officials. And it shows ->

Like I say – it shows. A setting fit for a king – everything neat, stylish and luxuriant; including that there nine-story Buddhist temple (recently built, but in the traditional/ancient style) ->

The hotel’s decorative installations and other trimmings – tasteful, modest, original, striking…

The hotel is situated on a small island in a lake to the north of Beijing on its outskirts, here, and here:

On our walkabout around the hotel’s grounds, we were naturally drawn to the Buddhist tower, and were able to take the elevator up to the top floor…

Curiously, only the ground and top floors are accessible. So it does seem like it’s purely for show, with the bonus of the top floor being open. Which reminded me of another quirk of construction in China: often buildings – including huge ones – are built to be used… just once a year. One big event annually and that’s it – done. Like the congress center in Wuzhen, where every year the World Internet Conference takes place; the rest of the year it stands empty!

From up top – splendid views:

Hard to imagine downtown Beijing is just an hour’s drive south from here!

Beijing? But over there – mountains! While in the foreground – rock garden for meditation:

The rock garden was just as nice once inside it. Shame we couldn’t partake in a spot of meditation – too busy a schedule, plus it was over 40 degrees out! Hardly gonna be able to concentrate on the breath in that heat…

We micro-meditated instead by placing our attention on the wonderful rocks while walking around:

The hotel complex features a venue made specially for top-level talks. For example, APEC have convened here three times already:

Here’s what it looks like inside:

Impressive wood carving wall panel. Imagine how many hours were spent on it. Astonishing detail:

All very nice, but I wouldn’t have one in my apartment )…

From what I gathered toward the end of our walkabout, this building is used for APEC meetings exclusively – no others. It’s the Chinese way )…

Information board – no English translation ( ->

We finish off our stroll having a look around inside…

Thils was my “standard room” :0) ->

I managed to somehow survive my stay in such spartan, cramped conditions )…

The rest of the photos from Beijing are here.