September 14, 2008

We arrived safely in Beijing after a 7185 mile journey taking 13 hours! By 5 hours we were ready to get off the plane. The unusually rugged mountains around Beijing were an awesome sight as we got closer to the airport.The guide met all 6 families at the airport as we converged from several different states. The remainder of the group will come in tomorrow.The Para Olympics are taking place so the traffic is still restricted to a third of its normal capacity. Beijing is an mixture of new and old. Weeping willow and poplar trees dot a landscape of modern skyscrapers, old builings with cage-like balconies and traditional Chinese style buildings.One building referred to as 'the pants' is a modern highrise shaped like an upside down u. Traffic consists of motorized old bicycles of all sorts,scooters,rickshaws, taxis, trucks , buses and private cars.