China 2013 Day 2

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We arrive in Beijing right on schedule. Beijing is exactly 12 hours ahead and of course we have crossed the International Date Line, so even though our bodies insist it's 4 am, it's actually 4 pm the next day. Beijing airport is enormous. We have to take a monorail to proceed from the arrivals area to the mammoth baggage retrieval area. And everyone's luggage is there safe and sound!

After collecting our bags and exiting arrivals, we connect with our group and meet our guides: Jack, who will travel with us throughout China, and Wanda, our local guide in Beijing. We board our bus for the hotel.

Beijing is a huge city of 20 million people. With 5 million cars, it has a very bad case of the disease that we've seen in some other major cities of the world: traffic near-gridlock. The drive from the airport to the hotel is stop and go the entire way along a major 6-lane highway. The trip was supposed to take 45 minutes but it takes an hour and 45. Wanda tells us that efforts to address the problem include: restricted days for driving based on your licence plate number and a 5-year residency requirement for buying a personal car. Pedal-powered transport and motor scooters abound. Some of these carry incredible loads, like a pile of 2x4’s.

Wanda tells us that we have lucked in as far as they weather is concerned. It was on the cool side last week but it is supposed to good for the next few days. In addition, there was bad pollution over the weekend and into Monday, but things are back to normal. Wanda starts teaching us Chinese: Ni hao ma? (How are you?); Ding ding hao (Very very well).

Our hotel is a Hilton, albeit a Doubletree. Lovely and spacious, but jam-packed with people and a little ragged at the edges. We have only 20 minutes to refreshen up before reuniting with our group in the lobby for supper. We walk a couple of blocks to the restaurant. Even at this late hour (around 8 pm), the streets are lined with peddlers and their wares. As we were warned, we have to be careful crossing the street because the traffic lights are only guidelines and the cars don't necessarily stop for pedestrians even if you technically have the right of way. Traffic is an intricate ballet performed by cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, motor scooters and pedestrians, orchestrated by horns and punctuated by near misses.

Supper is good: a variety of tasty dishes placed on a large lazy Susan so we can serve ourselves. The beer is good, the wine less so. Unfortunately, most of us, including your esteemed scribe, are beyond hunger and barely clinging to life. We stumble back to the hotel, make quick preparations for tomorrow and then fall unconscious.

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