First Day

We are in Beijing.  It's been a very long trip, but it was smooth and not unpleasant.  We left our house at 4:30 am Tuesday, in the dark.  Being picked up by a strange man in a van in the dark freaked B out, and the kids were excited and ran out the door, so it was a little chaotic, but we go to the airport and checked in for our flight to Newark, through to Beijing.  The flight to Newark was on some very, very small commuter jet which was a step up from a prop plane.  It was smooth, though, and only took 35 minutes.  Once in Newark we found our departure gate.  We had a  4-1/2 hour layover, so we got breakfast and then just hung out. We explored some of the shops, and J and the kids played cards on the floor.  Everyone was very well behaved.  Eventually the gate area got crowded.  I expected there to be a lot more Chinese nationals than there were.  There were some, but it looked like mostly Americans on the flight.  There was a big group of college kids.  Some African people with big zulu masks, some Asian Indians.  I wanted to interview everyone: "Excuse me.  What's your story?  Why are you going to China?"  I didn't.

We got on the plane, but we couldn't all sit together.  J, B and I were in three seats in the middle.  T and mom were across the aisle and one back.  M was one seat ahead of me (thanks to some nice man who moved).  R was a few rows behind my mother.  He didn't seem to mind.  We were fed three meals and got to watch movies on the screens in back of the seat in front of us.  The flight was long and uncomfortable but not miserable.  B had a pee accident, and though I was prepared with a change of clothes, I hadn't brought pull ups.  I just dropped the ball on that one- he's trained, but not reliable in his sleep.  The attendant got us a new seat cushion and that was easily solved.

The most entertaining things were watching the "airshow" which is a screen that tracks the plane's route.  We didn't go the way I expected.  We went north into Canada and over Greenand and then flew over the north pole, then headed south over Siberia and Mongolia.  That was really pretty neat to see the names on the map in the part of the world where we were: Seoul, Mumbai, Taipei, Osaka-  dang, we're in Asia!

The other entertaining thing was watching my mom try to find T's shoes and socks towards the end of the flight.  She couldn't really bend down to see because the seats are so cramped, so she was scootching with her feet and eventually the nice Chinese man she was next to got involved, and there was a great struggle until they were found.  Bob, I thought of you; you would have appreciated the moment.

When we landed, the Beijing airport was HOT.  No air conditioning.  We got through customs quickly and found our guide who, along with many others in the crowd, was holding up a sign as he waited for us.  It was just packed, and he walked really fast.  We had a hard time keeping up as we juggled the kids, my mother and our luggage.  It kind of freaked me out when he crossed the road in front of the airport because traffic *does not stop*.  He left us on the other side, and then looked back to see us all stuck.  We're going to have to keep a close eye on the kids.

We took a mini bus with AC to the hotel which was kind of fun.  Beijing has construction everywhere.  Lots and lots of cranes and new modern buildings going up.  We got to our hotel and got checked in around 4 pm (Wednesday).  J kept telling us that we shouldn't got to sleep until after 7:30, but we all just dropped.  We all slept all night, except I kept waking up every few hours: 7 pm, 9 pm , 11 pm, 2 am.  I finally got up and had a bath, then went back to sleep until 4:30 am.  We're all just hanging out, waiting for the restaurant to open (except for J and two of the boys who went for a walk to explore).  The hotel is ok.  Fancy in the lobby, adequate in the rooms, but the rug isn't clean.  Not fancy, but ok.  The beds *are* hard, but in a futon kind of way.  Much nicer than a 17-inch airplane seat.

We are exactly 12 hours ahead of home, FYI.  We will be going to the panda house at the zoo today, then a few other things.  I'll post an update later.