Back to Beijing

I'm here. Back in Beijing. The GPS tells me from the hotel it is 7111.75 miles from home. I believe it.



I departed RDU about on time to arrive in Newark on time. And low and behold, the flight for Beijing should have left on time and someone on the ground not hit the emergency power button and killed all the power to the aircraft for a few minutes. The pilot announced that once everything was 'reloaded' we would be on our way. I had visions of some earlier navigation systems that required aircraft to be stationary for a lengthy period of time before take off. Thankfully technology has improved and we were only a few minutes late for takeoff.



The Continental 777 is nearly filled to capacity. I'm in a window seat with a French Canadian couple between me and the aisle. Part of a tour group coming to China. We converse only briefly. Their English is limited and my French is non-existent. But we get along for the flight and I just make it a point to get up and walk around when they get up and walk around. It works just fine.



I still don't sleep well on planes. Had brought some Sominex to try to help me sleep, but it is in my bag a couple of rows back and I decide to try other strategies for coping with being cooped up.



I watch a movie. Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard. My kind of action movie. I watch it three times trying to catch it all. I would either doze off, get interrupted by needing to get up and walk because the couple next to me were on the move, or by food/beverage deliveries from the flight attendants. I still don't know how a couple of things happened in that movie. I also do a little reading but in the end, the fatigue that sets in keeps me from concentrating on a book. I'll save that for long nights in the hotel. What I am able to read is a book authored by my grandson Kyle. That is a big help in getting through the long hours.



The strategy seems to work though. I seem to handle the entire flight easier than I did last time.



I'm through customs without incident and we're off to the hotel. Much has changed but much stays the same. The air quality is still poor, but I remember worse. We'll see what happens with that over the course of my two week stay. Some buildings under construction when we were here before are nearing completion. There is a general trend to more cleanliness, and green is in. Everywhere garbage cans are marked for recycling and then 'other' waste.



The hotel has changed hands It is now the Grand Mercure Xidan Hotel Beijing. Xidan is a shopping district and must be nearby. But I know nothing about it. The hotel is comfortable with excellent service in my book. I like it. It is a good place to call home for a couple of weeks.



Technology is an amazing thing. After several attempts, I finally connect with Janie (the repeated calls are not technology problems...just issues of us getting to the right phone at the right time.) From 7000 miles away I just dial her number like I would at home and talk to her at the laundromat (we're saving our well water due to the drought.) It's wild.



I'm off to bed in a few minutes. I can hardly keep my eyes open. At this point I've been up for 28 hours. That's enough for one day.



No picture today. Maybe tomorrow. Though uploading pictures may be something of an issue. Working this site from Beijing, well it's in Chinese. Maybe a bit hard to figure out the upload process.



(Posting time adjusted to Beijing local time.)