China Journal

China Journal

We arrived in Beijing last night at 10:30 local time, after a nine-hour flight from Dubai. This was on an Emirates 777, no showers, but the same private cabins. We’ve flown 21 hours, halfway around the world, and we’re in very good shape. The airline is top rate.

Only three of us were in first class (holds eight on a 400-passenger plane) and our colleague was greeted at the jetway by a committee of military with more stars on their shoulders and collars than you’d find in the Milky Way. We wandered through a deserted, giant, sterile airport alone. When we reached immigration, it was deserted for the moment, then 40 immigration agents came out and opened all the gates in unison.

After a 20-minute luggage wait, our driver met us to go to the Peninsula. (Just amazing: My iPhone began working immediately on landing.)

Once off the plane you realize something is quite different. From years of consulting in manufacturing plants, I knew what it was, and Maria figured it out, too: You can actually smell and see the air. You’ll see below, on a “nice” day here, that the sun doesn’t shine.

The manager met us at the curb, and the Peninsula is gorgeous. I actually have an office area with a private bath as part of the suite. When I had breakfast at the club this morning, in a huge, well-staffed area (overstaffing here seems to be the norm), there were three of us, all Americans. (I arise very early, Maria does not.)

I find my Twitter and Facebook accounts can’t be accessed, so I’ll have to try them from Hong Kong next week. I sense an efficient sterility here, and I’m hoping to have that impression changed over the next three days. Keep tuned in, more to come.

© Alan Weiss 2013