Tale of Two Cities

My flight from Nanchang relatively uneventful except for the occasional turbulence, during which the flight attendant gave instructions for the passengers to stay in their seats and “in the event you should feel motion sick, please use the motion sickness bag in the pocket in front of your seat”. I thought that was funny – like you needed to be told what to do…...

The flight started at 18:00 and lasted two hours – just in time for a glorious sunset. I normally don’t take pictures from the plane, but clouds and the sun painted a scene just too wonderful to pass up:





For my two days in Beijing, XiaoHua has arranged for a personal tour guide who will transfer me to the hotel and provide sightseeing over the next two days before I fly back to the US. I meet my tour guide at the airport – a young Chinese man (he looks to be in his early twenties but is probably older). He reminds me of Simon, who I used to work with at GE – a natural talker and seller. His Chinese name is TianLi, but tells me to call him Tony. A big bonus is that his English is excellent (but I do tell him to speak with me in Chinese).

The ride into Beijing is a smooth 45 minutes, and not even close to some of the harrowing rides experienced in Nanchang. In fact Beijing seems to be the exact opposite of Nanchang – everything glistens with newness and a gleaming clean in Beijing, compared to the rough grittiness of Nanchang. The temperature, although warm, is no where near the sauna-like humidity of Nanchang.

My hotel, the Grand Hyatt Beijing, sits in the center of the elegant Oriental Plaza and is two blocks from the Forbidden City and TianAnMen Square. I can see the front fountain from my room.



So, it will be the Forbidden City in the morning and then the Great Wall in the afternoon……ciao!