We Landed!

In what is hopefully a good omen, we arrived early, having had no problems at all en route except for the fact that it was a cramped 14 hours. Both flights were full, but we were lucky in our seatmates.

We took the Hindu meal option for this trip, which we really enjoy as a decent (and healthy) alternative to the usual "beef or chicken?". If you like Indian food at all, give it a try sometime.

It was a spectacular flight, actually. Over the Arctic, clear skies below in the northernmost parts, so that one could see the sheets of ice, the cracks, the ice fragments floating in a gray sea. We went almost due north from Chicago, skimming north of Alaska and then southwest thru Kamchatka (sp?) to Siberia, and then almost due south to land in Beijing. The terrain outside Beijing is hilly, and except for where the fields were planted, all looked sort of sandy/dusty.

We were relieved that the agent for our hotel was waiting to direct us to the shuttle. "Hohma" almost looks like it could be Chinese, but we quickly realized it had to be a reference to us.

The airport has a new terminal, Terminal 3, which is brand-spanking new and quite lovely, English signs everywhere! No problems using the ATM machines either.

The hotel's Chinese restaurant ("Chopsticks" -> how original!) was your typical hotel restaurant. The creativity of the name basically reflected the food as well. Of course, they advertized how versatile pigeon was (the monthly special!), and there was shark fin soup to be head for over $100 (yup, that's USD), but we stuck to the basics. So maybe it was we who were lacking the creativity.