Ah, “US imperialism” in a Chinese airport. When they designed Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), they wanted to make this as “Chinese” as possible. As if printing out more Mao notes was nothing, they made sure T3 (as it’s known for short) was the kind of super-face project that could win a Skytrax award or two.

And it did. Beijing’s T3 cannot be described without using the word “kick-ass”. From the rarely-experience lush deluxe of personalized security checks and luxury lounges in the rarely-accessed VIP terminal to the massive hall housing what must be a trillion check-in desks, Terminal 3 is a sight to behold, whether you’re here going out of the country, or if you’re just out to, say, Nanjing, or if you’re even just here to “weiguan” (围观) or have a look around. When T3 came out, the best thing about it was the food. No longer the churned out result of the planned economy of yesteryear, there’s that fattening Burger King (sorry, no Fatburger here) to Thai treats, both in the arrival and departure halls.

When your blogger met @shelisrael for the first time in late 2008, the two agreed that it was as if “we never left home”. The Starbucks in the arrivals hall is a “big”, so to speak. It has both a neat indoor section with just a few seats (that used to lie all empty) to a sizeable outdoor area which, unfortunately, has the tendency to send people to the sick bed for freezing temps during spring (especially if you’re not here with a jacket or so). In return you get the Starbucks drink of your choice and wifi.

Sadly, wifi is where the venue really, really doesn’t do well. Rather than spoiling you with in-store Starbucks, seen at hundreds of outlets in central Beijing, Starbucks has you use the airport-wide wifi, which to the uninitiated seems available to only China Mobile customers (unless you do “Roaming Partners”). Furthermore, surfers-to-be better come with their own surfboard, so to speak: even getting a signal from the CMCC wifi network (all others appear to be locked) is more than a gamble than anything. When you’re finally on, you’ll unfortunately be greeted by the kind of speed that makes the average turtle seem like the Maglev. VPNs? Iffy here.

Wifi: Free but uses airport terminal network; complex to log on.
Signal: Iffy. Especially hard to log on.
VPN support: Very iffy.
Transit links: Airport Express station not far away.
Note: Temperatures change inside the terminal; come with an extra layer, especially around spring, when the heaters are off!

Starbucks Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) Terminal 3 (T3) Arrivals
Arrivals hall, between exits B and C (international passengers turn left)
Beijing, China