The Eagle has Landed!

Day 1

Arrival… After 17 hours flying over Greenland, Siberia, and the Gobi Desert we finally arrived.  After months of planning and preparation I took my first steps within “The Sleeping Giant”.  Unfortunately those steps almost immediately led me into a back room by myself for Security purposes.  OK, so I was standing at the immigration desk for about 5 minutes and it was clear that the immigration inspector did not believe that I was the same person in my passport picture.  In a thousand ways I am not that person in the picture; physically the photo was of me at age 18 just prior to graduating high school.  Since that snapshot I have gained a diploma, bachelors, and experienced 3 years of a diverse, fast paced, and vibrant young career while pursuing a master’s degree.  So there I am awaiting my fate, after roughly 4 different security immigration officials proceeded to bounce their eyes back and forth from my passport photo of what I looked like almost a decade ago and my mid/late twenties mug in the flesh.  Next I gained the “privilege” of moving on….. Into the back security room.  Surprisingly I was only nervous for a second, between the jet lag and disillusionment that I was really in China I only had a minor panic attack and then instantly I was hit with the sensation of calmness.  After I tossed about 6 ID cards at some very official looking gentlemen (which basically created a chronology of my aging over the past decade) they finally granted me entrance to the capital city.

The bus ride from the airport gave me a feeling of exuberance I haven’t felt in a long time.  I can only compare it to the gut excitement  when you’re about to experience something  100% new for the first time like entering a sports stadium or Disneyland when you’re a kid, or a first kiss as a teenager or even getting dropped off at College.  The small differences in infrastructure and the vast road systems on the way to the airport were amazing…. Everything was so new and fresh to me.  For that matter to be fair most everything in Beijing is relatively new, there was construction EVERYWHERE!

The Hotel is very nice, from an insider industry stand point I was impressed with the building and the interior decor.   The Royal King is HUGE and seems to offer a lot, personally I am not planning on spending much time here but it is cool.   

Dinner was at a destination restaurant where the authentic traditional Chinese cuisine dining was completely integrated into their landscape, it was comparable to a tavern theme at Colonial Williamsburg or Epcot Center.   We discovered an interesting occurrence that is related to their education system and migration.  Many young people come Beijing from small towns outside the greater Beijing area, to maneuver and change locations within China is very similar to us as moving to a different country to work (i.e. applying for a Visa).  Also the servers and the “actors” dressed in tradition Chinese garb did not have much more than an elementary education; in fact they couldn’t answer some of Dr. Chung's questions about the menu because they couldn’t read it.  With over 600 characters many children forego furthering their education do to circumstance and difficulty of even their own language.   The plating and garnishing of the dishes was beautiful and I really enjoyed trying Chinese food that I wasn’t used to in the states.