The trip to China was long. It took two hours to drive to LAX, two hours to fly to Vancouver, two hours to wait for my plane, and eleven and a half hours to fly from Vancouver to Beijing. Still, there was an awful lot of pretty scenery to look at.

It was sad saying goodbye to my parents at the terminal. I walked up the stairs and through security, and realized that I was now pretty committed to this trip. I found myself a bit nervous.

The Air Canada area of the terminal sucks, because it's directly over the baggage loading dock. Every few seconds there is a loud bang and the floor shutters. It started to make me sick to my stomach after a while. When we finally got on the plane, it was cramped and uncomfortable. I started to get worried about the eleven hour trip from Vancouver to Beijing.

Once we took off, I entertained myself by taking pictures out the window:

Santa Monica

Arrive Vancouver

Ice on Window

Cascades

Lake Tahoe

Los Angeles

The trip to China was long. It took two hours to drive to LAX, two hours to fly to Vancouver, two hours to wait for my plane, and eleven and a half hours to fly from Vancouver to Beijing. Still, there was an awful lot of pretty scenery to look at.

It was sad saying goodbye to my parents at the terminal. I walked up the stairs and through security, and realized that I was now pretty committed to this trip. I found myself a bit nervous.

The Air Canada area of the terminal sucks, because it's directly over the baggage loading dock. Every few seconds there is a loud bang and the floor shutters. It started to make me sick to my stomach after a while. When we finally got on the plane, it was cramped and uncomfortable. I started to get worried about the eleven hour trip from Vancouver to Beijing.

Once we took off, I entertained myself by taking pictures out the window:

Once we were in the air they gave us a lunch of fish. It was like the good old days, being fed on an airplane without paying for it.

After lunch, they gave us forms to fill out. On the back of one was this somewhat frightening message:

The sun sank into the south as we flew towards the Arctic Circle...

The last meal they gave us was called noodle service. Cup of Noodles are a lot cooler in China. They're bigger, less salty and full of yummy things. As you can see from this photo, the blue ones have crab, mushrooms, and squid, among other things.

Finally, we got to Beijing. It was strange. For almost an hour we flew through fog or soot or smog or something like that, and you couldn't see anything at all. Then suddenly, moments before we landed (about when I took this picture) the ground came into view. Lines of trees. Garbage dumps. You knew this was not going to be like America.

When we landed, I noticed a lot of guards standing around. We taxied past brick buildings with barred windows surrounded by barbed wire. Guards were everywhere. Outside the gate they were standing at attention, arrayed in a huge grid.

Inside, the airport is very nice, and they are about to finish a huge -- I heard 9,000,000 square-foot but that seems a little large -- expansion project.

I had to give an officer my entry card, but I didn't know till I got to the Visa stand and he yelled at everyone behind me "Entry Ca!"

When I got to the baggage claim I became very confused because I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to be picked up. Finally I noticed a throng of people waving all kinds of flags and holding up signs, hundreds of people. I quickly found my group.

Eventually we walked outside and got in a bus.

It took an hour to drive to the school from the airport. Beijing is shrouded in mist almost all the time, and it's full of neon signs, so at night it looks like a scene out of Blade Runner. When we got to our building, Dr. Sun met us and helped us get our keys and carry our bags up five flights of stairs. (China is not handicapped-friendly, except at tourist locations. However, if you are looking for a western style toilet, a good thing to look for is a handicapped sign, because handicapped toilets are western-style.)

After that, he said good night and good luck and left.

Fortunately for us, Juli -- center in this photo -- can speak fluent Chinese, and she found us a restaurant -- a fancy one on campus for international guests and special occasions -- and we all ate there. Total bill? $30 for everyone.

In the morning, we could see better where we were located.

We have all of our classes directly opposite our dorm, in the SIS (School of International Studies) Building.

We had our first meeting to talk about the semester. We have all of our classes in this room, except for language, which is upstairs on the third floor in an office (there are six people in my class).

Later, we explored the campus. This water feature is near the west gate. There's some kind of hanky panky going on in the background, but I didn't notice it when I took the picture.

Well, that's all for this post. I barely made a dent in my collection of experiences, but it's a start!

written by  jstarrdewar on January 25, 2006 from Beijing, China
from the travel blog: China 2006
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