Day 1: Welcome to China!

We are here, safe and sound (and with all our luggage) and settled in for the night in our hotel in Beijing.   The flight was... LONG.  Tylenol PM is my new best friend, because I actually slept a lot on the flight and, so far,  do not feel totally jet lagged.  I also read a book and watched 2 movies.  Thirteen and a half hours is a really, really long time.  Mark did not sleep much (or well--toddler behind us cried and kicked the seat for much of the flight) so he is already out for the night.  I'm about to join him, since we have a very full day of sight-seeing tomorrow.  One change:  we are going to the Summer Palace tomorrow and to the Great Wall on Sunday.  

The folks in our travel group seem nice, although it's a little like going to summer camp: hanging out with a bunch of people you don't really know, but everyone is here for the same purpose.  I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone better over the next 2 weeks.  As my mom always told me, there are no strangers after the first night.  Mark and I were excited to learn that we will be with another AWAA family in Nanchang, and I think both our girls are from the same SWI.  They are not here for the Beijing part of the trip, so we will meet them on Monday or Tuesday when we get there.

Beijing is still all spruced up for the Games and I am totally into the people-watching.  This evening, we walked a few blocks to the local "Jian-Mart" and bought lots of bottled water and some snacks.  I bought some authentic (I hope!) moon-cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is Monday.  It is also called the Moon Festival, so moon-cakes are a favorite holiday treat.  Mark thinks they look a little scary, but I have a feeling they will taste MUCH better than the fried scorpions in the market he says he would be willing to "try."  For dinner, we split a meal from the hotel's "fast-food" restaurant.  It was beef with mushrooms in a gralicky brown sauce, a pickled egg, some kind of sauteed green veggie, and what I think were spicy bamboo shoots.  I got the impression from our guide, Rosa, that it is the Chinese equivalent of Taco Bell, but it was delicious!  Much fresher and lighter than Americanized Chinese food.  I was not brave enough to try the grilled eel, but maybe another time...

Our hotel is nice, very Western in style with lots of Asian decor touches.  I love the sparkly green-- almost glittery-- bathroom vanity.  Maggie and Emily would be totally into it, since it is so very sparkly and "pocketty."  The staff here are so helpful.  When I had trouble getting an Internet connection in my room, they sent someone up immediately to help.  I am still not sure what we did to make it work, but it does and I am glad!  Plus, we left our stupid adaptor plug at home.  The front desk sent one up for us to borrow.  Thank goodness.  Also, there is a Starbucks here at our hotel.  Hallelujah!!  I'm all about trying the local specialites, but it's nice to know I can get a mocha when I need one.  At least until we leave for Nanchang on Monday.  

Well, it's 9:30 PM here and it's time to call it a night.  Others who have traveled before us were not kidding about the hard beds.  When you sit on it, it thuds-- there is no bounce at all to the mattress.  One of the guys in our travel group said his bunk on a Navy cruiser was more comfy.  Whoa.  I am tired enough that I think it will not matter, somehow.  Good night from China!