Arrival - Beijing, China

Beijing, China. I left Phoenix around 10 AM on the 26th and arrived in San Fracisco about noon. I had to make my way from the Domestic to International Terminal, which wasn't much trouble. I went to the China Air counter. Most people in the line looked Chinese. There were a few non-asian looking people scattered around, but few enough that if you saw one you felt like starting up a conversation like "What are you doing here?" The plane was one of the jumbo trans-pacific planes that have ten seats accross in the economy class. 3-4-3 pattern with two asiles. I did notice the stewardesses where not as cute as those on Singapore Airlines. To see Photo Album click here It takes a few minutes for all the pictures to show up.


I sat next to the aisle, on the other side was a older woman from central China. It was a little bit of a lonely flight, becaue the older woman seemed content not to talk with me. As far as in-flight entertainment, China Air is deffinately not on the same class as other airlines I have flown. But the funniest moment came when we were about midway through the flight and they showed an in-your-seat exercise/loosen up video. I had never seen that before. And the video instructor was doing stretches and moves in her chair that I was embarrassed to attempt in mine.It was fun when the stewardess asked us what we wanted to eat and drink and I answered in Chinese. Also it was fun to hear in-flight announcements spoken in Chinese. I could feel like I was really on my way to China.
Upon arriving I found an ATM machine to withdraw money and passed immigration and customs without any delay. Upon exiting customs though I was barked at about getting a Taxi. These barkers were a little too aggressive so I got suspicious and seeked out an information desk. I was able to find a Hotel Reservation counter and they were professional and spoke English. But the 5 star hotels were expensive, I settled on a two star hotel in downtown Beijing for 280 yuan. 1 dollar equals 8.28 yuan. I also got a taxi into Beijing for 100 yuan (about $20). My hotel room is certainly not above two stars, but it meets all my needs. The Television gets about two channels, there is just a shower head over the floor in the bathroom, the toliet seat is too small for the size of the toilet. The hotel staff put there laundry out in front of their rooms and some sleep in the lobby at night. But the location is nice. I easily found an Internet Cafe where I could send an e-mail to my family and let them know I arrived safely.
Tomorrow I can check-in to Renmin University. Before I go to check-in I plan to do a little walking around and check out the area more. After all this is downtown Beijing.