Our plane in Houston was delayed an hour and then another 25 minutes in Phoenix. So we were a little antsy about having to retrieve our bags, check in and get through security at LAX. But everything worked out fine. The plane ride from Los Angeles to Beijing was long but not unbearable. I sat next to a very friendly young girl who is from China but is now a US citizen. She helped me practice a few Mandarin phrases and didn't mind us asking a bunch of questions about Chinese culture and traditions.
We arrived in Beijing at 5:00a.m and a guide from America World was there to shuttle us to the hotel. We spent a few hours napping and getting settled in. Next door to our hotel is what they call the Wal-Mart. It is actually called Carefour owned by the French. They did have all kinds of things like a walmart would. We explored it for a while and picked up a few things to purchase. When we got to the registers there were about 30 cashiers and about 20 people in each line. I am not joking. We waited in line for about 15 minutes but then decided to put it all back and try later in the day. Next time I am in the grocery store I don't think I will complain about having more than one person ahead of me.
At lunch we tried our hand at ordering on our own and using chopsticks. Thankfully there were pictures and corresponding numbers of each dish. We've pledged not to ask for a fork so that we can hone our chopstick skills. We ordered noodles with our lunch and really got to test our skills with them.
The rest of our group will be arriving later today from Shanghi where they spent last night. It has been good to have adjustment time. We have a busy weekend of sight seeing ahead.
until later....
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