The flight in was pretty uneventful, if extraordinarily long. Over 24 hours from the time I got to the airport in Houston until we arrived at the hotel here. We flew to Newark, changed planes, then headed over the pole to Beijing. Both planes were completely full, and I didn't have a window seat, so no pics of the Houston-Newark trip. On the Continental flight to Beijing I didn't have a window seat, either, but I was in the first row of the third section, so had extra leg-room since I faced the bathroom wall. Plus, the emergency exits on either side of us had windows, so I got lots of pictures of Greenland and Russia. I wasn't able to sleep much - lots of traffic in front of me, people walking the aisles, using the lavatory, babies crying, but I did miss the North Pole while I was sleeping.
After clearing customs we road a short train through the airport, exited, and our hosts met us at the exit. The airport wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected. The road to the hotel was not crowded, either. They told us that at rush hour it would be packed. I did see lots of construction, and whole blocks of apparently old buildings that had been bulldozed. Also, there were thousands of trees that had been planted along the highway, I guess to block the view during the 2008 Olympics.
The hotel is nice, we each have our own room. Supper was a buffet with various dishes, most of which I was not familiar with. Spicy cabbage, pot-stickers, some sort of mashed potatoes, and 20 other things. I will definitely be losing weight while I'm here.
Enjoy the pics, and wish me luck staying awake during the lecture tomorrow morning. In the afternoon we go to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. I am looking forward to that. Maybe tonight's rain will have cleared the pollution out of the air. It's terrible, my nose is stopped up with dust, and my eyes are burning. We will be in Beijing 10 days - I hope its not this bad the whole time.
be safe, see you soon,
rem
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