It's 8:00PM back at home and I'm five hours away from Beijing.

Surprised I managed to get some shuteye on the plane even though my feet were really cold and I had to curl up like a rolypoly.

Food wasn't anything out of the ordinary. We had some pretzels for a snack, microwaved chicken/rice/broccoli and a salad that came with MSG (yum yum!) dressing for lunch and later we had a big turkey BBQ hot pocket with a small container of ice cream.

This airline has a good variety of movies and shows to watch, like Heroes and 30 rock (and even Bollywood films). I rewatched Okuribito and saw two other movies: Kung Fu Hip-hop, which is like a cheesy Cantonese version of a Step Up movie I guess, and half of Hana Yori Dango: The movie. I saw the HYD drama series but the movie was so over-the-top and boring at times that I just stopped watching.

Emery and I also played against each other in chess and battleship...so that accounted for another hour or so.

I'm sipping out of my 4th or 5th water cup and watching ice cream melt. I was going to brush up on my Chinese while on this flight but I'm kind of lightheaded so I think I'm going to go for another game. Can't wait to take some real pictures!

<--- Russiaaaa

* edit

An hour before landing, the flight attendants served defrosted fruit and sausage omelets. Caught one last show and filled out some paperwork before getting off-board. It was 44 degrees outside and the rain had just stopped.

Unlike most airports I've been to, Beijing's airport construction makes sense and it's pretty too. The immigration, baggage claim, and taxi hunting process was relatively smooth. We even got SIM cards for our cellphones easily.

The taxi driver ripped us off though but that was expected. And although he drove like a madman (everyone in China drives like one it seems), he still took us to our hotel. We passed through downtown Beijing and Tian'anmen Square on the way.

The tour group hotel was some place called King's Joy/Xihua Hotel. It's more run down than I'm used to (I'm kind of spoiled). I'd say it's a 3 or maybe 2 star hotel. Emery requested for a specific room, the service clerk confirmed it twice with him and still gave us the wrong room on the floor with no elevator. The shower floor isn't separated from the rest of the bathroom; there's just a drain next to the toilet where all the water's supposed to flow (I hope Emery doesn't slip while brushing his teeth lol). Our mattresses feel like scratchy blankets on top of cement blocks. I think the walls are as thin as cardboard because I can clearly hear this lady a few rooms down talking on her cellphone..,or it could be that people around here just talk loud.

I got over the initial shock after washing off all the grossness I felt during that long international flight. This hotel even be one of the nicer accommodations on this tour. I have a lot to learn about being a backpacker on this trip.

Emery is taking a nap at the moment. I'm trying to keep my eyes open but the jetlag is just hitting me. We have a meeting with the tour guide in a half an hour.

* edit

The tour group meeting was at a restaurant down the street. We met four Australians and one other American but we were kind of too worn out to socialize. Our tour guide, Jenny, gave us an overview of China's history from the ancient Xia dynasty to the modern day People's Republic of China. Then she quickly went over our alternative itinerary for this trip and ordered us food. It was around 8 o'clock then and half of us were shaking from fatigue and hunger. The food was pretty standard take-out type of dishes (aka not good Chinese food) hence the lack of photos. We went to bed around 10 because the next day was going to be an early start.