I arrived in Beijing yesterday afternoon. We landed shortly before the earthquake struck Sichuan province; I didn’t notice anything at the airport, but of coure it was felt in various parts of Beijing.
The flight was good – long, long, long, but improved by (a) a gratis upgrade to Business Class ((Both first Class and Economy were oversold.)) and (b) a thoroughly congenial neighbour: CFO of a pharma business, an old China hand, and a delightful conversationalist. And Channel 9 was on the whole way; it was fascinating listening to the Russian and Chinese controllers. For a long way (from Anchorage to Khabarovsk) we were part of a small Star Alliance convoy: one Air Canada, followed by three United, all heading towards Beijing. We had an uneventful ride, but the United flight just behind us kept getting all sort of grief from the controllers, who seemed to think that he was too close behind us (4 minutes). “This is Magadan control: United 853, can you cross Dukat one minute later?” “United 853, negative.” “Are you sure?”
(The oddest aspect of the flight was that, after I’d just flown from Seattle to San Francisco, the San Francisco-Beijing flight took us right back to Seattle and up the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. I could have stayed in bed a few hours longer!)
Once at the airport, I took a cab to the hotel. It felt like a strange mixture of Japan and India: the freeways and major roads were reminiscent of Tokyo, but the taxi driver’s “creativity” would have been right at home in Hyderabad! The hotel (the Ascott) is fantastic: it’s designed for medium-stay guests, so I have suite with a kitchen and even a small laundry. I arrived late afternoon, succeeded in staying awake until 9pm, and then slept until 6am.
More anon.