We made it!

Well, we finally made it to China! We arrived in Beijing last night (Friday the 3rd). Although our flight was long, it went very smoothly. Beijing has quite a lot of smog. But, today it has been extremely windy, making for clearer skies. We went to the Forbidden City today. Most of the major buildings are under construction, so we didn't see as much of the architecture as I would have liked. I'm still trying to catch up on some sleep. We leave tomorrow morning (Sunday) for Chongqing and then pick up Lei on Monday! Will write more once we get there. - Jean

Hello everyone! This will be the first installment from me to our blog. What a long day Thursday was! Very nice travelingin a Boeing 777. It's the replacement to the old 747's and has lots of cool stuff to help make the long ride easier. Weird thought that we left at 6am Thursday and ended up finally landing here in Beijing after 5pm on Friday! Jean already mentioned the smog being terrible. That's an understatement. I hope China does something aggressive about improving their industrial controls and air quality soon. The Crowne Plaza where we're staying is nice. The language barrier is tough but people here do try to communicate with us. Just not always easy to understand what they're saying and I am sure visa versa. The very blustery wind today cleared out the smog and made for a great blue sky and comfortable fall-type day. The city blocks here are enormous! Nothing like Boston or New York. These blocks seem to stretch for 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile each. We did a lot fo walking to say the least. OK, that's enough rambling for a first installment. We're here and we're excited! Christopher