Off to Beijing! Week 2 Begins...

We left Nanchang at 6:30 Saturday morning to head to the airport for a flight to Beijing.  Our bags were packed and we were ready to leave on a jet plane!  Kristy and Bubba were with me.  Kristy is scheduled to teach this week at the Institute in Beijing, while I am free to experience the sights and sounds of more of China.  We had no problem getting through the airport, but I did have a little trouble getting through security.  After you go through the metal detector they take a wand to each person to check for whatever they check for.  They have everyone stand on top of a six inch high box.  As soon as I stood up there the lady was telling me to get down.  She could barley reach my belt buckle.  Even when I was on the floor she could not reach everywhere she needed to.  It was quite a site and all of her comrades were laughing.

Although the flight was safe, it was very bumpy.  Since flying is not my favorite thing to do, I could have done without the bumpy ride.  A Chinese lady was sitting next to me and seemed to be very nice.  For the in flight meal they served porridge, bread and cherry tomatoes.  The lady next to me put a tomato in her mouth and worked it and somehow peeled the skin off of the tomato and then spit the tomato skin into her hand.  The precision that the Chinese can process food in their mouth is amazing.

We were met at the airport by staff from the Institute who escorted us to the City of Beijing.  Beijing is a city of over 20 million people and is so large it would take you a lifetime to go everywhere.  It is quite different than Nanchang.  While Nanchang is an emerging city Beijing is very international and very metropolitan.  The Institute in Beijing is ten times larger than the one in Nanchang and very modern.  Our hotel room is very large and very nice.  The bed here is shorter, but softer.  The beds in Nanchang were hard.  Every night I would wake up with my legs hurting and I was not sure why, but it must have been the bed because they have not hurt while in Beijing.  Ahh, the simple pleasures of life like a soft bed.  My immediate impression of Beijing was very good.  Within a short period of time I had a diet coke in my hand, which turned into three within minutes.

Part two of this update will follow later...