Friday, May 23, 2008

Lost in Beijing

BEIJING - As you can tell, I'm in China now, readers!

After enduring both a six-hour flight to San Francisco and an even longer---12 hours---flight to Beijing International Airport, my mother, one of my younger brothers, and I are chilling in the Great Wall Sheraton hotel here in Beijing.

We all had to wake up early on Thursday morning---at about 2 a.m.---to get to John F. Kennedy International Airport to catch a 6 a.m. United Airlines flight to San Francisco. Thus, none of us got a lot of sleep the evening before---and while I'm not sure about my other two family members, I wasn't very successful in catching up on sleep in the two cramped economy cabins we all sat in. So hopefully tonight I will be able to actually get some!

I'm not sure there's much else to say right now. Because we are a part of a tour group, we were greeted at Beijing International Airport by someone leading the group. It was quite humid. My aunt from my mother's side met us there---at least, after a lot of effort and near-panicked phone calls. The other people we've met with our tour group seem quite nice. We went to an amazing Chinese dim-sum restaurant that looks like a virtual marketplace inside and spans a few floors; I'm not sure I've heard of any restaurant as large as this one (but then it's not like I'm hugely active in the New York restaurant scene or anything...maybe the New Jersey buffet-restaurant scene...).

And now it's almost time for bed.

I'm hoping I can try to take some time every day on this trip to post some photos from that particular day. I think photo essays should probably be sufficient; I'll probably end up saving detailed commentary once I return from China.

For now...wan shang hao.

No comments: