China Trip Day #2 - Arrival in Beijing

I was anxious about the flight to Beijing because it was so long.  The longest flight I’ve ever been on was a 9-hour+ flight from Germany to the East Coast.  The strong headwind stretched the flying time way long than I had anticipated and I remember feeling like I was on that plane forever.  So I’m happy to report the Seattle to Beijing flight was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be and it went by, dare I say, quickly.  We were had upgraded ourselves to the Economy Comfort, which provided not only a little extra space for our seats, but also a nearly empty section.  We had our row in the middle of the plane to ourselves, as well as the seats on either side of the aisle and the four seats in front of us and just one guy sitting behind us.  The plane took off on time (and landed 40 minutes early) and Chris and I settled in and enjoyed watching movies and TV shows. I doubt it will feel that way on the way home with two small children!  So I enjoyed this time where we had nothing we were responsible for. 

Everyone raves about airlines like Korean Airlines and Cathway Pacific, and although I’ve never flown either airline and can’t compare them to Delta’s service, I was satisfied with Delta.  They got us from Point A to Point B on time and without any hassles.  While the airplane food isn’t spectacular, I thought the food was fine.  I was astounded by the number of movie and TV options and I never ran out of anything to watch.  

Despite all the extra room we had, it was a lot harder to sleep than I thought it would be. I was super tired, but drifted in and out of sleep for two or three hours.  I had gotten just enough rest to power myself through the rest of the flight and our first foray into Beijing.   

We arrived after sundown in Beijing and between that and the fog, or maybe it was a polluted haze, we couldn’t see much of the city as we landed.  I could see the lighted outline of the multiple ring roads that circle this massive city of 20 million people, but not much else.  Compared with American cities, Beijing was rather dimly lit. 

Although I was extremely tired as I exited the plane, I was also full of adrenaline.  I couldn’t believe I was finally in China and I was excited to see my children’s birth country.  There was nothing exciting about the airport, but I still wanted to soak it all in.  Everywhere we turned, there were signs written in characters that meant nothing to us (and thus so thankful for the limited signs printed in English so we could at least figure out where to go) and people chatting away in Mandarin – all so foreign to us, but still so cool.

We breezed through customs, exited into the arrival hall and almost immediately saw our driver holding a sign with my name on it.  I had debated taking a taxi, but given this is our first trip to China and I wasn’t sure how tired we’d be upon arriving, I opted for the driver.  For anyone considering taking a taxi, it would be very easy I discovered.  The taxi stand was immediately outside the door from the arrival hall and while I have heard scary stories of people being ripped off by “black taxis,” all the taxis lining up at the stand were legitimate, licensed taxis.  I had print-out of our hotel’s address in both English and Chinese I found on the hotel’s website and I have no doubt we would not have had a problem getting to our hotel.  Our driver “Tony” barely spoke any English and we all did fine, so I’m confident we would have been fine with a Beijing taxi driver, all of whom have been trained in enough English to quote you the price of the trip.  

We got our first glimpse of Beijing from the ground on our drive from the airport.  Just like I had noticed from the air, the city is not as brightly-lit as American cities.  The few neon signs atop buildings were almost all lit up with red letters.  As we approached the center of the city, there were more lights, buildings lit up and huge electronic billboards reminiscent of Times Square dotting the sides of tall buildings. Traffic was light and we have not yet experienced the legendary (or infamous) Chinese driving.

We’re staying at the Poly Plaza Hotel in central Beijing.  I know we are close, or at least just a subway stop or two, from some of Beijing’s top sights, but since we arrived at night, I’m have no idea what is actually around our hotel.  Tony is not coming until 10:30 a.m. tomorrow to drive us to the Great Wall, so I hope to get outside after breakfast and see some of Beijing by foot.