Not that any of the above should be taken as a negative. Far from it. It was weird, wonderful and everything in between. It was, well, China.

What was distinctly lacking, however, was an integral part of any Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games - snow.

My four-day stay in the Asian country did not exactly coincide with the depths of winter but neither did it fall during the heights of summer, and the absence of the white stuff was unavoidable. Even when the temperature did veer towards the negative, there was not a single flake in sight.

This was particularly evident during a tour of the Genting Resort in Zhangjiakou, one of the three main clusters due to be used for the Games in five-and-a-half years time. To see ski slopes without any snow at all was bizarre at best and troubling at worst.

As I was being shown around the impressive venue, my guides were keen to stress that, at some point, the surrounding hills and mountains would be entirely covered in a glorious sheet of white. They had also claimed it had snowed there recently, though even a smidgen of proof of this was difficult to find.

Of course, naivety can often cloud one’s judgement. This, after all, was Beijing in October, not Lillehammer in December.

But isn’t that part of the reason why some still snigger when they are told the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics will take place in the Chinese capital? Shouldn’t the Winter Games be held in a place where snow is a given?

Beijing 2022 insist this won’t be a problem come Games time, while my friendly tour guides pointed out a number of large cannons dotted around the resort, which help"top-up" the amount of snow on the ground.

In fairness, they also showed me a number of pictures of the area covered with a thick layer which they were keen to stress were taken around the same time of year as when the Winter Olympics are due to be staged.

Despite the confidence expressed by the locals, the issue is unlikely to go away. Privately, IOC officials and other members of the Coordination Commission will be studying the weather each February, monitoring the temperatures and amount of snow as the clock ticks towards 2022. Publicly, they will laugh off suggestions there won’t be any.

In other areas, Beijing 2022 have every right to be confident. Even at this early stage - so early that the "Beijing 2022 - Candidate City" signs remain in place in the mountains - and even after the first of many Coordination Commission inspections over the coming years, things seem to be taking shape. Or, to copy the IOC’s favourite phrase following one of these types of visits, they are "well on track".

One of the most-valued strings in the Beijing bow is the venues closest to the capital city itself, the majority of which are existing facilities used for the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics and need just a simple face-lift to turn them into arenas fit to play host to the Summer Games’ colder cousin.

The other venue I was given a chance to see in the flesh was the LeSports Center - the home of basketball at Beijing 2008 - which will be turned into an ice hockey stadium for the Winter Games. The striking structure is impressive, while the surrounding area is gradually becoming a positive example of Olympic Legacy.

Free outdoor basketball courts are everywhere you look, complemented by an indoor playing space and a state-of-the-art gym equipped with all the latest fitness machinery. Next door, building work is ongoing on an entertainment centre which is due to feature bars, nightclubs, restaurants, cafes and shops. Those behind the project are hopeful it will become one of the main hubs and hangouts for youngsters from across the city and beyond.

Fittingly, the day of my tour came before a pre-season match held as part of the NBA Global Games Series, where sides from the world famous league travel to the Asian nation to entertain fans and market their team in the process, between the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Thankfully, it was impossible for me to interrupt proceedings as the players were merely training ahead of game day.

The same cannot be said, however, of the wedding in Zhangjiakou. Many in the city, located around three hours by road from Beijing, may not have seen a foreigner before and having to walk through a wedding reception with hundreds of Chinese eyes locked on my every move was humorous yet slightly unnerving.

Zhangjiakou itself came in for the bulk of the back-slapping given by the IOC before and after the Coordination Commission inspection. International Ski Federation secretary general Sarah Lewis told insidethegames that she believed "remarkable" progress had been made at the mountain venues, while IOC vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch singled out the region for praise during the closing press conference.

The success and impact of the Games there will largely be down to the construction of a high-speed rail network – a ¥58.41 billion (£7 billion/$8.7 billion/€7.8 billion) project which will be crucial in linking Beijing with the northern city in Hebei. The 174 kilometres long rail will cut journey time to around 50 minutes, if you believe those who are building it.

Much like Pyeongchang, the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics which is situated a considerable 130km from Seoul, Beijing 2022 will be dependent on this being completed in order to ferry passengers between the Games hubs. They will need it to ensure visitors can experience the Games in its entirety without the hassle of a long car or bus ride and without the added expense of an overnight hotel stay.

After all, not everyone will be get the IOC treatment. During my journey from Zhangjiakou back to Beijing, the driver opted to take a shortcut, but it proved to be somewhat of a mistake as we sat stationary for a lengthy amount of time.

The reason was not clear to begin with and I jokingly suggested it was because the Coordination Commission were being given a Presidential-style escort from their hotel to Beijing as police cars, motorbikes and other support vehicles sped past on the adjacent road. In fact, that was exactly what happened.

Away from the IOC’s celebrity hospitality, further south from Zhangjiakou is where the key concerns for Beijing 2022 at this point lie. The delay in choosing an exact site for the sliding centre in Yanqing, 90km from the capital, has provided organisers with a problem they will want to rectify sooner rather than later.

IOC executive director of the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi sought to quash such concerns, claiming it was merely "technical details" which were causing the hold up.

International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation President Ivo Ferriani was among those to raise questions during the visit, with the Italian seemingly fearful due to the fact that the sun faces the current proposed site. Not exactly ideal for a track made of ice.

Beijing 2022 will also face a distraction that they can do little about. Coordination Commission chair Alexander Zhukov has said he will stand down from his role as Russian Olympic Committee President later this year, which would see him relinquish his status as an IOC member. 

Should he choose to resign in order to focus on his role in his country's Government, his title as head of the inspection group would go the same way.

Samaranch, who stepped in for Zhukov to fulfil media duties on the final day of the visit, stressed IOC President Thomas Bach will be quick to appoint a replacement. Who that might be is anyone’s guess – for what its worth, I’ll hedge my bet on Samaranch with a Russian IOC member taking his place on the actual Commission - but a new chair is likely to be in place for the second visit next year.

Come what May, other things will have changed, too. Who knows, I might have even learned how to use chopsticks by then.