Cha-cha-cha-China!

We made it to Beijing, via Los Angeles and Guangzhou. Total travel time from walking out of the house until plopping in our hotel room was about 37 hours. We boarded the plane in L.A. at 11:00 p.m., then sat for two hours (the stewardess said they were looking for a "document")...and then it was 15.5 hours up in the air, in black sky the whole time. We were in the dark half of the world, flying into the next day. Despite taking some Ambien, neither one of us slept great (but no worse than usual, says Joe), sleeping a couple hours at a time, then waking up, readjusting, going potty, listening to music, going back to sleep, etc. We got to Guangzhou about 7:30 a.m. and because of the late L.A. start had to be rescheduled onto a later connecting flight to Beijing (walked and walked and walked through long airport hallways--see photo--until our necks were damp from the Guangzhou humidity). We got to Beijing around noon and found a young guy holding a "Haynie Family" sign (he'd been there two hours because he thought we were on a previous flight). He brought us to the Capital Hotel in downtown Beijing where we are now gratefully parked. We've met two of the other four families in our travel group (one of them is from White Bear Lake, Angie...last name Heubing?) and in a few minutes we are meeting in one of their rooms with a tailor who will show us a selection of Chinesewear should we want some specially made. Our guide, Chen Chen (first name Chen, last name Chen) told us that tomorrow we will see Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and some of the older historic parts of Bejing. Saturday we'll go to the Great Wall.

Impressions of Beijing: Sprawling, many tall high-rise apartments, acrid smell of air pollution, many bicyclists, surprisingly quiet and peaceful walking outside around our hotel despite the congestion. We'll see a lot more tomorrow and can give a better report.

One of the best parts of the day: A shower.

Very best part of the day: Knowing we're closing in on Emma...