Hello Beijing

Take two was successful. There was a slight delay in Vancouver, but we arrived safely in Beijing although it was a day and an hour behind schedule!

We did have a great surprise at the airport. Nadim's friend gave us a contact in Beijing and he managed to track us down and pick us up, even though we were a day late. He borrowed his friend's car to pick us up because there are still restrictionson how many cars can be on the road and today it was a even number day, meaning only cars with the last number on the license plate with an even number are allowed on the road. Arthur, our new best friend in China has even invited us for dinner one night this week. We're pretty excited to get into the real way of life of the Chinese, rather than just see the tourist sites.

The apartment is nothing fancy, but it is clean and functional. The kids have their own room. We just put them to bed so we will see how they sleep tonight. I'm sure we will all be off for a few nights as we adjust to the 12 hour time difference.

Nadim went out to a nearby supermarket and bought some bottled water and breakfast goods. He was excited about the fruit prices - Cheap and lots of variety! Nadim's loving this country already. I stayed back with the girls and got some things unpacked. I'm looking forward to getting out to explore tomorrow.

It's very warm here, and I thik I can notice the difference in the air quality. I'm sure we'll adjust. It's supposed to be high twenties for the rest of the week. A little warmer than Ottawa!

The flight was really long. We were on the plane for 13 hours including the wait on the runway. It was really, really, really, long. There's only so many movies, or TV shows you can watch and reading only keeps you happy for so long. I didn't sleep much, but the kids had a couple of hours and Nadim slept a fair bit too. I guess the lack of sleep will just help us get back to the right time schedule that much easier.

CM