You're not dreaming, this is all real...

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Beijing..... Wow. I'm in Beijing!

We got to Dubai after a 6 hour flight from Frankfurt at 6:00am... It was 35 degrees celcius already... That's almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The 9 hour flight to Beijing was the best flight I've ever had, despite it's length. I'm sure there was a nice little grease spot on the window, because I had my head plastered to it the whole time. The plane was half empty, I had a window seat, and nobody next to me. About halfway through the flight I dropped my lens cap behind my seat and a French guy introduced himself. He was the chief editor and journalist for a newspaper in Paris (I wish I would have asked which one!). He was 38 and so enthusiastic about his job... I would be too if I was him. He was headed to Beijing as well for work.... Or should I say 4 week, all expenses paid, VIP passes to the Olympics, and tour afterwards vacation.... He was one cool guy. While we had our heads pressed against the window, we talked about traveling, people, the US, France, and life. It was great.

The best part of the flight was the landscape. I figured flying over the middle east would just be all dessert... Wrong! Oh yeah, HIMALAYAS!!! When we flew over Tibet and Northern China, I seriously thought I had died and gone to heaven. The desserts filled with oasises, the mountains crested with snow... Just beautiful. Have you ever seen Ace Ventura when nature calls? You know the Tibetan temples with a zillion stairs heading down the mountain??? Yeah, I saw a few of those from the plane.... I swear it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my whole entire life. I tried to take a picture, but I am pretty sure I deleted it. It didn't do any justice to the view.

Anyways, we got to the hotel... or should I say the wrong hotel at about 2 am Beijing time. The taxi driver didn't speak any English... So we luckily weren't that far away from our real hotel.... Uh, if you call it a hotel. It's pretty much the shadiest hotel I've ever seen in my life. Probably decent standards for China, but not for the US. Not to mention it doesn't have air conditioning.... and Beijing is pretty hot, humid, and very polluted.

Ok, more tomorrow!

For pictures for this entry, click here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041795&l=6a9f6&id=11403958

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Photos

Window seat
For more pictures, click here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041795&l=6a9f6&id=11403958