Arrived around 11AM after an 8 hour overnight flight with Lufthansa from Munich. Business Class, thank goodness, but still tiring because unlike on British Air the seats do not recline fully to horizontal. I'm aware, however, of our good fortune that we weren't in Economy!
Beijing airport is immense... and pretty empty. Still growing into it, I assume. Border control uneventful, customs minimal, and our tour guide met us at the exit. Anna seems to be around 30, pleasant, but a fairly strong Chinese accent, which I was having difficulty with yesterday. Hope only because I was tired. She comes from near Harbin in the north... which apparently now has a population of 16 million! First of many such size-related shocks, I expect.
The drive in was uneventful. A fair amount of traffic on the main arteries, but the rest of the roads seemed surprisingly quiet. Beijing is surrounded by 6 concentric ringroads... number six being outside the airport... an hour's drive from the city center! But with a population of 20 million, I guess this isn't excessive (urk... 20 million!).
First impression of Beijing: very smoggy. Coupled with the tinted windows of our car, I couldn't see that much when driving in. Lots of big buildings, of course, but honestly it felt as if we could have been in the US. Same impression in the hotel (a very nice Crowne Plaza about 1km from Tiananmen).
Lidia and Madi went off to see the Olympic buildings, I went to sleep. In the late afternoon they came back and went to sleep (I read the guidebook), and then in the evening Lidia and I had a very nice Chinese dinner in the hotel restaurant before going for a walk around the neighborhood (Madi continued to sleep). From which you can deduce the relative vitalities of the members of our family!
We are on one of the main shopping thoroughfares of Beijing... western brands and advertizing everywhere. Even the Chinese brands advertize with Western models and text. Perhaps not too surprising given that the West has been focussed on consumer marketing and luxuries for 50 years or more while China has been doing the opposite.
First impressions of the Chinese? Well, from their appearance, if you don't look at their faces you wouldn't know that you weren't in the West. Clothing pretty much identical. But then you look at how they behave and differences start to appear. They are calmer, it seems to me, more easy going about things. Cars intermingle with bikes and pedestrians with little fuss, people drive and ride and walk a little more slowly.
We walked by the cathedral (set back, understated, and overwhelmed by the huge commercial buildings around it), in front of which there was an open area full of people doing a half-speed local equivalent of the macarena... about 500 I'd say. An hour later they were still there. Vacant looks, of all ages... modern Tai-Chi?
We walked by a long open street-food market. Among the more bizarre dishes: dogmeat stew, fried silkworms, snake on a stick, centipedes... they really do seem to eat everything!
Fewer people around than I expected... felt much more empty than the typical big city in Europe. And very few people in the stores. Significant? Don't know yet... I'll watch and think some more before drawing any conclusions about China's consumer economy or lack thereof.
Back to bed now for a couple more hours of sleep... lots of sightseeing on the schedule for tomorrow!
