Arrived!

I made it! I arrived in Beijing around 2 pm local time. The flight was long, but the views of the landscape below were amazing. As we made our way along the western coast of North America, you could see long stretches of snow capped mountains and pristine coastlines. We then crossed over the Bering Straight and into the vast plains of Siberia. Sadly, I didn’t have a window seat, but I peered over my seatmate from time to time, and got up often to stretch my legs and to peek out the window in the back near the restrooms.

Once in the Beijing airport, I went through customs, which was incredibly easy and painless. They even had these cute little consoles at the counter where you could indicate your satisfaction with the officer. The rating buttons were in English, Chinese and the universal language of emoticons or smiley/frowny faces. I gave the police officer who stamped me through a big “Very Satisfied or “:)”.

After unsuccessfully trying to figure out where Guillermo’s plane might come in, I figured I would just go down to the baggage claim area and wait for him there. (Due to a plane malfunction I was unable to rendezvous with him in Vancouver, but instead got a direct flight to Beijing. He was out all night saying goodbye to Los Angeles the night before, so somehow I don’t think I missed out on much conversation.) We he finally arrived, we hugged, grabbed his bags and headed outside to the crowd of people waiting to welcome new arrivals. We spotted our handler in the crowd holding a big sign, “Guillermo Jaimes and Andrea Osgood” and we were soon off to the parking garage,

At the garage, the driver started loading our four bags into the trunk of a smallish sedan, and when he got to Guillermo’s hard suitcase, it became clear that the suitcase would not fit enough to allow the trunk to close. Just when I was thinking that he would have to unload and rearrange the bags, the driver took one of the many straps that was dangling off my backpack and tied it to Guillermo’s bag (presumably as the last bag packed, Guillermo’s would be the first to fall out, so tethering it to mine solved this problem) and we were off -- cruising down the highway, with the trunk hood gently bobbing up and down (sometimes fully up and blocking all rear views, other times nearly closed). In general, there is quite a bit of honking on the streets here, but I think we got a few extra toots on the horn, as passing drivers drove by – as if to say “I’m here, hiding behind the hood of your trunk, don’t hit me.”


Photo in the car -- see the hood in the background?


The dormitory/apartment building where we will be staying for the duration of our visit did not have a room ready for me, so after dropping Guillermo off at the apartment, another driver took me to a hotel where I will be staying for the next two days. At first I was a little apprehensive about being separated from the group, but got over that fairly quickly after arriving in my posh, if temporary, digs. The apartments are nice enough – loft design with new IKEA-esque furniture and a small kitchenette – but nothing beats a swanky hotel with a sitting room, big fluffy robes, and complimentary house shoes/slippers! After my long day travel, it was totally divine to take a long shower, curl up in a robe, and check my email/call home. After recouping, I went to the restaurant downstairs in the hotel and ordered water and “fried pork” from the translated menu. A steaming cup of hot water arrived (I found out later, thanks to Google, that the Chinese believe that hot water is better for the health. This is probably because water in most of China, and historically in Beijing, has to be boiled before drinking. However, the government now claims that this is no longer necessary in central Beijing – part of the preparations for the Olympics next summer. For now though, I’m going to keep using the electric teakettle to boil drinking water). The fried pork turned out to be bacon with a delicious medley of shallots, chives and/or leeks of some kind, and black beans.