I’m happy to report that Brad and I landed yesterday in Beijing without incident. Impressions… I was amazed at the airport. It seemed gigantic, even by baseline standards such as O’Hare. I think the difference is that I was design to give the impression of bigness as it seemed liberally scaled in such a way that the eye just kept following the building into the distance. The interior reminded me of an internal skeleton that criss-crossed the inside and support a massive structure. The ceilings were high and expansive. Customs went quickly and the further we pushed into the city, the ever more crowded it seemed to get. The people have been very friendly so far and not at all annoyed at helping two neophytes getting around the city.
We got settled, plugged in and I’m happy to report that the world has indeed shrunk. The only thing that betrays our hotel’s location in China is the fact that everybody is Chinese. The hotel is as nice as I’ve ever stayed in. The rooms are modern, clean and wrapped in rich ornate wood. It’s extremely comfortable. We’ve got internet and cable TV and there is absolutely NO hint of “roughing it” in a third world country.
Brad, Chris and myself decided to head out latter in the evening for a bite. I warned them that I’m the world’s pickiest eater which can prove to be a bit of a challenge here in China. We headed down to what I would call the local “mall”. Mall is understated but that’s the best that I can come up with. It’s HUGE and just bustling with people. I would describe it as a cross between a huge state fair and Times Square. The small vendors cooking food in the streets is juxtaposed with gigantic LCD displays running ads on everything American/international. You can literally get a stick of pot skewered meat (Chris apparently likes donkey) and an Armani suit. Just don’t drip the donky on your new threads. Apparently the Chinese like to know their food before they eat it. As a vegetarian I found this both interesting and disturbing. One restaurant we stopped buy had tank after tank of just about anything you’d be brave enough to eat. Personally I don’t eat anything with tentacles but that doesn’t seem to stop a lot of folks. We passed on that joint. As we left I was wondering why it was so hard just to get a bowl of steamed rice. Finally we settled on a place that I would describe as “family style”. I decided on a big bowl of tofu in brown glop. Looked good. The waiter warned me that it was hot – bring it on sir! It was absolutely delicious! Brad, Chris and I gorged on 3 entrees, a dumpling appetizer and six LARGE beers for 179 RMB – That’s about $25 US – not apiece FOR EVERYTHING!, less than $10 a piece.
I’ll conclude for today, I think it’s going to be a busy one. I’m happy to report minimum affects of Jet lag (thanks Mom for the Ambien! ) and Sue… gotta tell you, the Bose headsets… ALL THE DIFFERNCE IN THE WORLD!! Thank you guys!!
