BEIJING, China (Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, 12:40 a.m.) – After 22 hours in flight and probably a total of 24-plus hours of travel, Pam and I arrived in Beijing, checked into our hotel and are ready to crash.
We are tired, drained and a little more than full with four meals – I may have lost count – on our three Northwest Airline flights from Jackson to Beijing. As I said earlier, the food and the service was much improved from March-April 2006.
Now this wasn’t gourmet food, mind you. It wasn’t something you’d find at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. It was serviceable, decent and not too bad. Just too much – four meals and a snack.
We arrived in Tokyo about 20 minutes late and rushed to make our connection to Beijing. We almost missed our flight – or could have wound up in jail – when Pam failed the security check in Tokyo.
Her offense: Security confiscated a large tube of her face cream (which cost at least $22) because the amount was larger than allowed. Pam was upset and tried to save her face cream; I reminded her we had a flight to catch. She agreed.
You also might have noticed the dateline above says I posted this at 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 4. Starting with this post, my datelines will reflect China time, which is 14 hours ahead of the Central Daylight Time.
We are staying at the Novotel Peace Hotel, a nice hotel at first glance in the heart of Beijing. The lobby, where I’m typing away furiously on my computer, is huge and dominated by a tall, 20-foot, fully decorated Christmas tree.
I have a lot more to share – along with some photos of the hotel. But, as I said, it’s late. We are exhausted. And we need some rest before we hit the 8 a.m. breakfast buffet.
We have at least two tours set up between now and our orientation with Holt International Children’s Services on Monday, Dec. 8: We will catch a Beijing Acrobatics Show on Friday and tour the Forbidden City and Summer Palace on Saturday.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
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