China at last!

Hello everyone! I am safe and sound in Beijing, which is more exciting thatn I could possibly describe.

Right now I am in the Jianguo Hotel waiting for my dad to come back from the gym so we can eat breakfast (since it's 7 AM here) The experience I'm having at this hotel is certainly different from the era my parents described when they scrimped and saved to eat Western burgers in 1982. When it opened, the Jianguo towered over the block at it's 5 stories but now it's dwarfed by the massive skyscrapers on the road. it's difficult to imagine the drastic changed this city has gone through.

Anyway, my flight was as easy as I could have hoped for. Highlights include
*Getting a window seat and being able to see the ice floats in the Hudson bay, mountains of snow over the North Pole, barren desserts and mountains in Mongolia, and the smoggy patchwork of fields outside of Beijing
* A few minutes after we passed the North Pole and were officially in the Eastern Hemisphere we were served Ramen for a snack and the announcements were emphasized with Chinese. Now, Ramen is not ideal airplane food because of the whole "stewardesses have to pour boiling water into the cup" deal, but I was amused by the concept.
* I saw 27 dresses! I really... don't need to say much more about that except to note that it happened.
* the middle aged lady next to me was so nice. I thought I had lost my camera for 5 minutes before she told me I had put it in my backpack and not my purse...whoops! We then had an hour long conversation about where I was travelling in China and her daughter my age who had taken a similar trip. She frightened me a bit with her strong warnings against travelling alone as a female but she said she was even scared to travel is San Fransico so I'm taking her advice but not going to be too scared to go anywhere.

The new Beijing airport is beautiful, bright, and clean. I found my dad from his flight from Hong Kong with no problems and we left for the hotel. On the way he was telling me about all the buildings and their history which was pretty exciting. The Jiangup itself needs thorough description especially the hostesses in the lobby but I'll save it for another time. You'll enjoy it, I promise.

After dropping off bas, my dad and I went for a walk around the city. We strolled around the diplomatic district (a place my dad knew well) on our way to Ritan park. We saw the compound we lived at when I was youg and my father pointed out the efforts that had been made to disguise the bullet holes from Tiananmen... interesting indeed. The only photogrpahs I've seen of these buildings have included tanks so they have interesting associations.

Anyway, Ritan park was a lovely relatively quiet spot in the city. We went to the Sun Alter, which was a huge circluar wall with a large series of steps in the middle. It was being used primarily for flying really intricate kites. The pagodas were stunning and although some parts looked a little run down I really enjoyed the quiet and the trees. it was a contrast from the Jade Alley market street we passed to get there which literally felt like running a gauntlet of aggressive sales people in red vests.

Next, we took a cab to Tiananmen. It was bigger and flatter than I expected. It's kind of huge and corwded with people and PLA soldiers. We took a customary picture with Mao's face looming in the background and made some snide comments about the communist party as we surveyed the great Hall of the People and the People's Monument and other buildings with similar names. it was really fun. Today, I'm going to the Forbidden City for the entire day! It's going to be fantastic.

As a final stop, we walked to Wangfujing, a pedestrian shopping mall and Dad patiently let me visit two book stores to begin my research. The first one we went into was a large, multistory, building that would have been like a B&N except for the ninja-like hostesses and the explosion of Beijing Olympic stuff. No billingual Shakespeare but I found Jane Austen, Lady Audeley's Secret (sound familiar Thea 328 people?) and a Giancoli Physics textbook! My Dad bought some learning materials from fawning salespeople who wanted him to speak more Chinese and I chose a small Chinese - English dictionary before we headed down the street. The second store was a Foregin Book Store with a fascinating "Learn English" section: "Crazy Englsih! Princess Diana" Anwyway, they had tons of Shakespeare in all different formats. I found the brand Professor Huang recommended as a S.H.E song started playing over the speakers.. talk about omens.

Once we got back to the Jianguo we tried to get dinner recommendations but the location we were told led us down back alleys of neighborhood cafeterias and late night vegetable markets. it was nice to see the neighborhood alive and authentic but I was hungry and exhausted. We tried the Jianguo Imperial restaraunt but apparently Imperial means "strange food that no one has ever heard of before and doesn't even seem Asian" so we went to the normal lobby hotel.

I experienced my first bit of censorship when CNN blacked out after the phrase "Free Tibet" was uttered but other than that the rest of the night was uneventful. Got a full 8 hours of sleep (take THAT jet lag) and now I'm off to eat and explore the city by myself.

Congratulations if you read that entire sprawling entry. Obviously, I'm having a wonderful time and I miss all of you!