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China Update
Ni Hao, Everyone:
After 20 hours of travel, including the 11-hour flight (and three movies) from Seattle to Beijing, Brendan and I arrived in China.
As soon as we got to the hotel after dinner, we went to bed and slept like dead men. The time difference is 15 hours. I am writing this at 6:23 am on Tuesday, but in Spokane it is 3:23pm Monday.
Yesterday (our first full day in Beijing) we drove through the Olympic Park, visited the Summer Palace, the Lama Temple (including seeing the world’s largest wooden Buddah, 28 meters tall), walked through The Forbidden City and Tieneman Square. It was amazing seeing the famous giant portrait of Mao and realizing that we were standing on the place where he started the People’s Republic in 1949. Seeing the Tieneman Square site where students were massacred by the Chinese military in 1989 was also a sobering place. There are still a lot of soldiers and police around there. We also saw guys standing around with a bunch of fire extinguishers in the middle of the stone plaza beneath Mao’s portrait. I wondered what could possibly catch fire there, and some one told me that Chinese protesters sometimes set themselves on fire there. Yikes!
The people we are traveling with are a lot of fun. I have spent a lot of time chatting with Steve Corker and Cheryl-Anne Milsap and her daughter, along with Jennifer Van Vleet from Coffman Engineering.
The food is great. We don't always know what we're eating, but it has always been good.
Last night we had a “business meeting” in another hotel, which was a complete bust... Lack of organization on the part of our Chinese hosts meant that the meeting was a total waste of time, although I had a nice conversation with someone from the Chinese business organization. We were super tired because it was 8pm at the end of a loooong day of touring and walking, with no chance to have taken a shower or change our clothes that evening.
Today we visit the Great Wall, some old tombs, and will see a Chinese acrobatic troupe tonight after dinner. Another 13 hour day, but certainly it will be very interesting.
I haven’t downloaded any photos yet, so I have nothing to send you. I have been writing and sketching when we’ve had a chance to stop. Drawing in public always attracts people to look over my shoulder and comment (with no way to know what they’re saying.)
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