After a total trip of 17:45 and a distance of 7,346 miles we arrived in Beijing at 3:05 pm local time (the time in Beijing and Kunming is exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern time in the USA) we were impressed by at least two things. First, the Beijing Capital Airport is both massive and modern, the results of a major government effort to ready the city for the Olympics in the summer of 2008. The second thing that became obvious to us almost immediately, we were the foreigners! After clearing customs and immigration we were greeted by David, Marianne and Sarah who had arrived in Beijing earlier in the day from Kunming. What a wonderful meeting when we got to meet and hold Sarah for the very first time. Her is grammie Barb meeting Sarah Grace Dean for the first time.
Next we picked up our luggage and headed for the place where we would catch two taxis to our hotel in Beijing. The primary vehicle of choice for taxis in China seems to be the Hyundai Elantra! And their was no way 5 American adults, 1 baby and all our luggage was going to fit into one cab, so we filled 2 cabs and off we went to our hotel in Beijing, the Beijing Boading Center Hotel, where we would stay two nights while exploring Beijing.
Since we were only going to be in Beijing 2 days, we had no time to waste. After putting our luggage in our rooms, we were off to a nearby restaurant, The Pizza Factory, where a couple of "large" pizzas were ordered. They were sure not larger by US standards, but the pizza wasn't bad.
After supper, we all got to experience the Beijing subway as we made our way out to the Olympic Sports Center, site of last year's summer Olympic games. The subway was modern, clean and very inexpensive, about the equivalent of .30 cents for a one way trip.
When we got to the Olympic Park at about 8:00 pm, we walked around and saw some of the venues made famous last summer, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, as well as the Olympic Tower.
Here's Shawn in front of the Water Cube. And below is the three of us in front of the Bird's Nest.
When we finally got back to our hotel, we were exhausted, but so happy to have arrived safely thanks to the wonderful grace of God who made this entire trip possible. We were ready for bed, but David informed us we should be ready for breakfast at 7:30am, so we needed to sleep quickly.
After a total trip of 17:45 and a distance of 7,346 miles we arrived in Beijing at 3:05 pm local time (the time in Beijing and Kunming is exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern time in the USA) we were impressed by at least two things. First, the Beijing Capital Airport is both massive and modern, the results of a major government effort to ready the city for the Olympics in the summer of 2008. The second thing that became obvious to us almost immediately, we were the foreigners! After clearing customs and immigration we were greeted by David, Marianne and Sarah who had arrived in Beijing earlier in the day from Kunming. What a wonderful meeting when we got to meet and hold Sarah for the very first time. Her is grammie Barb meeting Sarah Grace Dean for the first time.
Next we picked up our luggage and headed for the place where we would catch two taxis to our hotel in Beijing. The primary vehicle of choice for taxis in China seems to be the Hyundai Elantra! And their was no way 5 American adults, 1 baby and all our luggage was going to fit into one cab, so we filled 2 cabs and off we went to our hotel in Beijing, the Beijing Boading Center Hotel, where we would stay two nights while exploring Beijing.
Since we were only going to be in Beijing 2 days, we had no time to waste. After putting our luggage in our rooms, we were off to a nearby restaurant, The Pizza Factory, where a couple of "large" pizzas were ordered. They were sure not larger by US standards, but the pizza wasn't bad.
After supper, we all got to experience the Beijing subway as we made our way out to the Olympic Sports Center, site of last year's summer Olympic games. The subway was modern, clean and very inexpensive, about the equivalent of .30 cents for a one way trip.
When we got to the Olympic Park at about 8:00 pm, we walked around and saw some of the venues made famous last summer, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, as well as the Olympic Tower.
Here's Shawn in front of the Water Cube. And below is the three of us in front of the Bird's Nest.
When we finally got back to our hotel, we were exhausted, but so happy to have arrived safely thanks to the wonderful grace of God who made this entire trip possible. We were ready for bed, but David informed us we should be ready for breakfast at 7:30am, so we needed to sleep quickly.
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