I'm Here

We made it. I have just wrapped up my first night in Beijing. It's amazing. We had a 13 hour flight in from Chicago. I slept for about 5 hours. It was a quick flight.

I was amazed at how quiet and orderly the Beijing Airport was when we arrived. We arrived about 6:15 pm on a Monday night. In America, the same scene would sound like an NFL football game. There was no overhead speaker. No loud yelling. It was calm and orderly.

Advertising is everywhere - good and bad. For example, HSBC "sponsored" all of the gate ramps from the terminals to the planes in the section of the airport we arrived. Advertising appeared on the luggage carousels and all over the highways on outdoor boards. As a matter of fact, I noticed an outdoor board for a company showing Mount Rushmore with all of the current facades only this version included the facade of Buddha.

Construction is everywhere. China is obviously under a huge construction boom and you can see it all over the place.

A group of us went to dinner in downtown Beijing tonight. I must say, as someone who loves food and loves to cook, it was a tough scene. You are warned not to eat street vendor food and I can only appreciate why. Rows after rows of vendors with raw skewered meat were everywhere. Granted they would cook it "fresh" in front of you but the stench was too much to bear. We opted for a restaurant. I ordered spicy "Dan Dan" noodles and a lot of beer.

Our hotel is great. Right in the thick of things. Tomorrow we leave at 7 AM for the Great Wall. I will have had a total of 12 hours of sleep over the last thirty six hours. Hopefully I can catch up soon. Stay tuned.