Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Thu / Fri - Aug 17/18
The day begins at 3am on Thursday morning on a beautiful night in Bethany Beach, DE. Since the bomb scare and extra precautions at the airport, my travel plans had an audible at the line of scrimmage the day before. Instead of taking a train at 8am from Wilmington, I had to meet a car at 6:30 am to take me to New York. We got to Newark Airport by 8:30am and I was through security with luggage checked by 8:45am. My plane leaves at noon. The rest of the morning was spent staying awake and cleaning out emails.
The plane leaves on time and we have a long, uneventful flight to Beijing – flying over Canada, north of Alaska, over Siberia and then down into China. As I passed over Ontario, I was able to see Magentawan and Rhoades Island on Ahmic Lake. We arrive on time in Beijing at 2:30pm Fri – Aug 18 (2:30am Fri Aug 18 in DE). I slept about 4 hours on the plane, so this is a long day. I cleared customs and loaded into a cab with a driver who speaks no English on a hot, hazy and smoggy afternoon. I have a piece of paper with the name of the hotel and we start on our drive at 4pm. Traffic on Friday afternoons is horrific and my cab driver was determined to get me to my hotel quickly – weaving in and out of traffic, blaring his horn, using the shoulder to pass, etc. I was looking out the back window and ignoring my near death experience. I get to the hotel in one piece after a little over an hour in the cab (total bill = $12US).
Now my goal is to stay awake until 10pm to get over jet lag. 5 hours to go – spent unpacking, working out in the gym, having dinner (sushi in the hotel restaurant) and collapsing at 10pm. Elapsed time since leaving Bethany Beach is 31 hours. Number of hours spent sleeping is 4.
The plane leaves on time and we have a long, uneventful flight to Beijing – flying over Canada, north of Alaska, over Siberia and then down into China. As I passed over Ontario, I was able to see Magentawan and Rhoades Island on Ahmic Lake. We arrive on time in Beijing at 2:30pm Fri – Aug 18 (2:30am Fri Aug 18 in DE). I slept about 4 hours on the plane, so this is a long day. I cleared customs and loaded into a cab with a driver who speaks no English on a hot, hazy and smoggy afternoon. I have a piece of paper with the name of the hotel and we start on our drive at 4pm. Traffic on Friday afternoons is horrific and my cab driver was determined to get me to my hotel quickly – weaving in and out of traffic, blaring his horn, using the shoulder to pass, etc. I was looking out the back window and ignoring my near death experience. I get to the hotel in one piece after a little over an hour in the cab (total bill = $12US).
Now my goal is to stay awake until 10pm to get over jet lag. 5 hours to go – spent unpacking, working out in the gym, having dinner (sushi in the hotel restaurant) and collapsing at 10pm. Elapsed time since leaving Bethany Beach is 31 hours. Number of hours spent sleeping is 4.
