Arrived in Beijing

After two layovers and 16 hours in the air, we arrived in Beijing at around 5:00 pm local time. The weather is hot here. We waited in a very long line to get a taxi to our hotel. Rush hour here is much more exhilarating than anything we have back at home. I don’t know why they bother painting lines on the road; no one seems to afford them any special meaning. I did manage to engage our driver in some light banter about the weather, some local landmarks, and a car accident that had traffic backed up the 八达岭高速公路. Also got the liberated cell phone working with a Chinese SIM card, so that’s a plus. Once we arrived at our hotel and got checked in, we didn’t feel like venturing out very far so we set out on foot and visited some of the local stores. The supermarkets are always fun because you can find interesting foods like cucumber-flavored Lay’s potato chips. We dined in high style at the Pizza Hut right around the corner where we had seafood supreme pizza and Qingdao beer. Must… sleep… now…