Beijing, China
Countdown to Sam Sam: 48:00 hours
We began our trip by missing our flight from Seatac to San Francisco in spite of arriving to the airport by 6am. The doors closed just minutes prior to our arrival, and although our plane was right there, we were denied entrance. Nice start.
Fortunately we had a long layover in San Francisco, so we were put on a different plane and arrived with time to hand Lidia off to Auntie Cathie and Natalya, and to catch our flight for Beijing.
The flight here was long and cramped. Victor’s over sized body barely fit into the 4 square feet of space assigned to each passenger. 12.5 hours in the air. Sore buns and backs. We arrived at 2:30am Pacific Time, 6:30pm in Beijing. Victor was quite taken with the airport structure. It is far bigger than any stadium or other covered building we have ever been in. It is awesome. It is huge.
Our bubbly Beijing guide, Sarah, met us and guided us to the smiling chauffeur who smiled and smiled while smashing our luggage into his trunk, and continued smiling while slamming the car door on Victor’s foot. Here is a photo of the view from the window of the Grand Hotel, where we are staying. This is another hotel.We rested well and ate a wonderful buffet breakfast this morning. Carina had an omelet and croissant. Victor had cangee with stinky tofu. Mmmmm. Free wi-fi is nice given that the computers in the business centre cost $5 for ten minute’s use. Unfortunately, the internet is choppy and prone to shutting down. If you don’t hear from us for awhile, you’ll know why. Today’s adventures will include Tiananmen Square which is supposed to be enormous and enormously cold. We will opt out of the promised Hutong tour on the advice of two trusted sources (not authentic). Pictures to follow.
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