What a place for your Beijingologist to be blogging about this... right smack in the heart of Beijing airport, as in Terminal 3. Relaxing at the Starbucks has never been more relaxing — as in it's a Friday afternoon and the café itself (not the bit outside) still has enough space. Also, "pleasant" tuna sandwich (although his tweets point out that @TheSpotCafe in Tianjin can also do 'em just as neat)...

A few random pointers as Beijing T3 nears that magical "2" mark...

• Over the past two years, signage at the airport has gotten remarkably better. Skytrax (if we were keeping tabs right) really feel in love with T3, and by that we don't (just) mean that soothing music...

• On his way to the Starbucks, your Beijingologist spotted two arrivals — one from Taipei and one from Pyeongyang, North Korea. Interesting just how air traffic has grown in Beijing despite the global economic downturn.

• The Chinglish is just about gone (although the "Missing Persons Broadcast" at the GTC Service Desk still makes us a fair bit confused). Here, at least for the moment, is wall art near the parking lot — of the twelve animal icons of the Chinese zodiac. Also, parking signage has improved a fair bit, although some fonts are either Shanzhaiveltica (as in Arial) or require Air Force quality eyes to make sense of that.

• Having given both ends of the airport a go (domestic and international), as well as having tried out the VIP section, this is a kick-butt airport. Oh we've also heard of stories of glory in that last section — your own personal security check, complete with private coach to the plane. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, check-in is delightful (no super long queues — as long as you're here in good time) and with the help-yourself services (either checking in back at home on the Web or with those self-service terminals), things are good.

• The only thing we don't like, apart from the push-and-pull inter-terminal train, is the fact that Terminal 3D hasn't been opened up — yet. We could use a fair bit more of T3... We are also not happy that there are not enough fans of the GTC transit hub, as KFC and "Crazy Noodles", as well as countless other stores, have shut shop there.

• Oh and finally, wifi is good. You need a China Mobile number, though, but it's free (at least two hours in one go, three times a day in all). We still have the limits with us on the Web, but oh well — welcome to China.

T3, rock on.