China: First group arrives!

Greetings from China!

We made it safely here, after a long 14 hour flight. We flew over the north pole, which was one of the more interesting views out the window - lots of glaciers and icebergs! Once we got to Beijing, health officials got on the plane and took our temperatures by pointing what looked like a radar gun at each of our foreheads. Then we had to pass through two more temperature screenings before we were finally cleared - guess they're very concerned about swine flu! It also wasn't nearly as crowded as we thought it would be, at least in the airport. Katherine, Rob, Rob, Phi, Teddy, and Prof. Harris and his flight were all on my plane. We exchanged currency, and then Rob asked one of the workers at a tourism booth to write out directions to our hotel in Chinese characters so that we could give it to a taxi driver. They did, but in return gave Rob money and asked him to buy cigarettes from the duty free store for them, which he happily did. We managed to figure out the subway system (which is very nice!) and got to our hotel stop. We asked a taxi driver outside to take us there, but he pointed that it was right around the corner, and for us to walk. Well, right around the corner in China is apparently about 3/4 of a mile - and we had all of our baggage with us! But we made it eventually. Now we're getting ready to go buy cell phones, and then meet up with everyone for dinner. So far so good! Hope everyone leaving for Europe early is having a great time! ~Lauren