Day 1 – Arriving in Beijing

We flew Air Canada through Vancouver to Beijing. The flight was 99% ethnic Chinese, i.e. Sophie immediately had the experience of looking like everyone else. It took about an hour to get through the fingerprinting machines, immigration, and baggage claim at the Beijing Airport. It was a long walk to get from the plane to the first fingerprinting station, which was automated but the kiosks were glitchy so that took awhile.

As we came in to land we saw rural forests of identical high rises all lined up and blocked together, as we descended into the heavy haze of pollution. We saw giant dams that were so huge, even from a great distance in the air, they would dwarf even the Great Wall (which we will see tomorrow). 100 miles outside of Beijing, there was a community of these high rise forest community next to a power plant with 4 nuclear cooling towers.

Our hotel is about an hour outside of Beijing, closer to the airport. There is no such thing as a no smoking room here. It is not the worst smoking room I’ve ever stayed in though. That would be in Las Vegas.

We have a full day today, starting at 8 am, going to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, going on a rickshaw tour of a Hutong Village, and then visiting the Children’s Center and maybe possibly seeing the Matching Room.