We had computer problems yesterday, so weren't able to post, so we're dashing off a quick blog post to let you know we've arrived safe and sound. After a very very very long flight, during which time Dan didn't sleep and Becca catnapped, we arrived in Beijing.
This is an overwhelming city that must give an ulcer to city planners, as it looks like a relatively random development strategy. Top that off with crazy traffic (2000 new cars are added to the road every DAY in Beijing), and you have a very interesting drive from the airport. Our hotel room is very nice, definately 4-stars, though smells odd... we think it's an odd odor in the cleaning supplies. Combine slight hint of skunk, stale unusual cigarettes and 2-3 unknown spices and you have the smell. Not bad, but bearable. The extra hard bed is the same, not bad but bearable. The food, however is fantastic. We've discovered that our local hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant we love, China House, is a pretty good restaurant. Topping the list of delicacies in the last 24 hours are homemade noodles (6 feet long, eaten only with chopsticks!) with chili sauce, eel fried rice, wonderful pork dumplings, coconut milk, plum juice, 100-year-old egg (gelatinous and salty), fermented bean curd (texture of fine cheese, taste like nothing else you've eaten, and WAY salty) in runny canjee, Peking duck (yum!), fried inside-out carp served whole (best thing so far), melons, very weird scrambled eggs, sausage that tasted like a cross between hot dog and kielbasa, fried pancake with shredded pork (yum!), sticky rice and various vegetables.
Today was touring the Great Wall, Chinese lunch served family style with about 12 dishes, visiting the Summer Palace, a dinner of Peking Duck, and then seeing the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. We were so exhausted by the time we we got to the Acrobats, we feel asleep several times. Now, we're going to pack, and then bed!
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