First of all, don't fly Air Canada. Its customer service is a joke! During the 11 hour flight, we were served 2 small meals, and a bowl of instant noodle! No hot water for noodles towards the back of the plane. Hot tea/coffee and alcohol was offered with one meal only. When I went and asked for an extra piece of bread, I was told that there was none left. On my flight back, my first leg was one hour late. When I raised my concern about my connecting flight, I was told that I didn't need worry because there is an Alaska Air flight one hour later at 3pm. Well, I ran through another security check and US immigration, and made to my gate 10 minutes before departure. But I was denied entry because my luggage hadn't made it. The gate agent changed my boarding pass to the 6pm Air Canada flight. When I requested to be put on Alaska Air, she said I need to buy my own ticket, and be responsible to get my luggage transferred, because Air Canada would do nothing. No apologies, no attempt to try to talk to Alaska Air. Not a penny, and no access to lounge because my ticket is in economy class. I should say that the lady at the lounge was nice, but she would not let me in because it was against the policy.
11/2. Saturday.
I joined a bunch of (~25) local, hiked the back of Fragrance Hill (香山). Fragrance Hill is reputed to have the best fall color in Beijing. Well, far duller compared to the color in US. 
Early ~7am, subway + bus to YangJiaZhuang 杨家庄 station northwest of Beijing (北京), meeting at 8am. Started walking over some residential area, then up a hill, down a hill, up another hill... Passed some old walkways, on the backside of Fragrance Hill, eventually at its top (more people). We continued to YangTuo 杨陀, a small town next to a big elaborated cemetery. There's a spring, its water is fed through pipes and taps for free by the cemetery. My hiking group dispersed at the bus station there shortly before 3pm. The whole trail is about 800m accumulated gain, and 15km. Took 2 buses (¥1 each. 0.4 with travel card) to get to a subway stop. 1.5 hours later, we arrived at one of the train stations to buy tickets for my upcoming short trips. Some night trains are in high demand. I bought the very last ticket that evening for 山西 Shanxi, even though there are 2 trains within 1 hour of each other. Then we went to visit Beijing University. On the way, I sampled the creamy plain yogurt in small ceramic pots on a street. After a YunNan 云南 style dinner in the neighborhood (I liked the pineapple conge, pork rib soup in bamboo), we went for a foot massage. ¥60 for 50 minutes. Not bad, could be cheaper. They turned the TV on as soon as we walked into our "room". A young man was assigned to me, and a young lady was assigned to my friend. I guess the girl's hands are lighter, my friend fell asleep. I got bored (I turned the TV off to charge my phone), so chatted with these two migrant workers. At about 9pm, we emerged with relaxed muscles, and parted our ways. I headed to the West Train Station dragging my luggage for my train at 0:35am, which will arrive ~6:50am.
You need to show ID and ticket in order to enter the train station. It is BIG. Over a dozen big waiting rooms on both sides of the main hall, with restaurants and the like. Each waiting area has its bathrooms, a hot water dispenser, a long washing sink with 3-4 taps, a long counter that sells snacks, a charging station for ¥1 (otherwise, no outlet). There're always someone smoking under the non-smoking sign. ~30 minutes before departure, they check the ticket and ID again, before you can get to the platform. My train is ¥53.5 for a seat, ¥107.5 for a general sleeper (3 levels, the bottom bed is slightly more expensive), and ¥158.5 for a sleeper in a 4 person cabin. For the other tickets I bought, I had to pay ¥5 extra each, because the train doesn't start here.
