In Which I Chronicle my arrival in Beijing

Sunday 2 June

Roughly 22 hours after my first flight departed Dulles, I alit in Beijing and it was Sunday morning. Think about this for a minute: I left Washington between 20:30 and 21:00 Friday night. My two flights and layover totaled a bit more than twenty-two hours and the time in Beijing is about 07:30 Sunday morning. I passed easily through immigration and customs and went in search of my driver. I had no idea how sharp or dull my facilities would be after this metaphorical travel marathon so I decided to pay the tour operator, GAdventures, for a transfer. I didn’t relish the challenge of trying to navigate a strange metro or a language barrier with a cab driver. My hired driver was late but we eventually connected and I arrived safely at the hotel. As a side note, I observed that the traffic signals near the airport have large countdown clocks showing the remaining time before the signal change but this wasn’t the case for the signals closer to or in the city.

The city itself lay under a visible blanket of smog that kept the sky a flat, matted, almost mournful gray all day. The scene was reminiscent of aerial photos one would see of Los Angeles or Mexico City on their worst days. And if the visibility of smog is a measure of the potential pulmonary harm, I think the citizens of this metropolis would rejoice in a Code Red air quality day in Washington since the sky is usually clear.

For what proved to be the first and only time on the trip I checked into the hotel before 14:00 with no complications. When I got to my room, I noticed that I’d forgotten to pack my umbrella so I decided that I would make that my first purchase in China. Before doing so, I snapped a few pictures out my hotel window.  Those who have followed my travels before know this is one of my odd habits. You can find all of my hotel views including two more from Beijing here.

I set out on a brief exploration of the neighborhood around the hotel noticing immediately the hospital across the street. I walked in that direction where I located the entrance to the metro and several small eateries but no place to buy the desired accessory. So I turned around and walked in the opposite direction where I found a large multi-story shopping mall. For me, the experience was rather interesting – a bit like walking through an open-air market and an upscale mall simultaneously.

The street level was loud and raucous and was the place to go in search of a bargain as far as I could determine. Each store had several young, mostly female, employees trying to lure shoppers by loudly touting what I assume were the virtues of their prices. It was here that I purchased an umbrella for about 40 yuan or six and a half dollars.

I had some time so I explored some of the upper levels of the mall and these were considerably more upscale and populated with many international brands that even I recognized.  It housed an ice rink that was being actively used by children of varying skill levels and skating interests ranging from kids struggling to stay upright to girls gracefully gliding along to boys in full hockey regalia. As with any good mall, this one had a large food area. However, the choices looked to be mom and pop type operations serving local food as opposed to the KFC and Pizza Hut adjacent to the entrance. The level below the street had a grocery store that would later supply our group with food for a train ride.

The time change finally caught up with me and at about 13:30 I hit the wall and had to return to the hotel and stretch out on my bed. I didn’t want to fall asleep so my sleep pattern could adjust as quickly as possible to the new time zone so I turned on the television found an international version of Bloomberg News in English and let it prattle on as comprehensible background noise. Still, I probably dozed off from time to time.

At 18:00 we had a group meeting. There are a total of eight of us including our CEO (Chief Experience Officer per GAdventures terminology) Groud (pronounced Groo-ud). Those of you who read the Conventions and Conversions entry, have already seen my pithy, sometimes tongue in cheek, post-trip impression of the group. Here is what I wrote that first night:

My fellow travelers are:

John & Anne – a couple in their seventies from New Zealand for whom this trip is something of a bucket list item;

Erin – from Cairns whom I’d met via email prior to the trip and who is a bit wide-eyed;

Rosemary – another Aussie who’s in her late thirties, well-traveled and adventurous, and making her second trip to Beijing;

Lucianne and Ana – friends from Brazil. Lucianne’s English is better than Ana’s so I’ll reserve initial impressions.

Groud describes herself as a gypsy. She grew up on a boat in the south of Thailand with a Thai mother and Mongolian father. She lived on the boat until she was nine when her parents died and she went to live inland with a family friend. It was at this time that she first attended school.

In the meeting she set forth some of the parameters of the trip as well as the philosophy of GAdventures. Whenever possible, their contracts – hotels, guides, etc. – are with locally owned businesses to better support local economic development. They also try to minimize the ecological footprint so on a tour such as this one that is labeled “Standard” accommodations will be clean and comfortable, trains will be local with second class (4 to a cabin) sleeping, an so on.

After the meeting Groud led five of us to a nearby restaurant where we shared our meal in the typical Chinese fashion. Each of us ordered a dish that was placed in the center of the table as it was prepared and we shared. I did wish I’d taken my camera to photograph some of the English translations of some of the entrees. One I remember was “Wood turns into Meat.”

Tomorrow the tour begins in earnest beginning when we assemble in the lobby at 07:30 for a guided tour of Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Many more photos will be revealed.