As I write this I am in China. I’ve come to attend an elective course selection with the Beijing cohort of the University of Maryland Executive MBA program. I’ve come a few days early to see the sites in Beijing and catch up with my friend Laura and her boyfriend Bruce.
After classes end this weekend I’m off to Xi’ain to see the terra-cotta army and be a shameless tourist. After that I’ll have three days in Shanghai to walk along the Bund, shop on Nanjing Road and generally just exerience a few days of really big city living.
The flight from Washington was the new United Airlines direct flight to Beijing. I treated a 13.5 hour flight pretty much like a camping trip. I also had a lot of work to get done as prep for the MBA classes in Beijing: a huge amount of reading that needs to get done and a case write-up on Starbucks. I’m not done, but I made good progress on the flight. I was really amazed that or trajectory took us very close to the North Pole and even more amazed at the view out the window. Thankfully I managed to sleep for several hours, too. For a 13.5 hour flight it all went pretty fast.
I met Laura and Bruce at the Beijing airport and came back to their place to get cleaned up. After some catching up we went for a walk through the city. It was a hot, clear afternoon. Despite a clear sky there was still some dust in the air, and I know the climate will take just a little getting used to. We went to an open air market full of really fresh fruits, vegetables and spices. The food was very fresh and fragrant, and I can still almost smell the spices from the spice vendors. We had dinner at a restaurant near the market.
At about 8 PM I basically collapsed from fatigue. Now it’s 3:30 in the morning and I’m awake. No surprise– I’ll be caught up with the local schedule after a few more hours of sleep this AM.
I hope to find some time every day (or at leas every few days!) to jot down some thoughts on the day preceeding. I am also going to be posting photos as I take them, and you can see my shots from my flight over and first day in Beijing here: August’s China Trip, Day 1.
