Trip to the People’s Republic of China

Day 01
Getting There

The trip to Beijing with Air China is 12 hours at more than 500 miles per hour. Saving gas is not a consideration. To prevent leg cramps and other problems, my roommate and I walked up and down the aisles. We even climbed up and down the stairs to the second floor until the stewardess stopped us, thinking that we were trying to trespass into first class.

An article about preventing Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is available at Smart Living.

We enjoyed conversations with other travelers while standing in an open spot at the rear of the plane, next to the food preparation area and the cargo bay. The window in this area also gave us a great view of the Siberian glaciers and ice flows. Among our companions was an importer from Los Angeles (originally Malaysia), who makes the trip six times a year, but has never seen the Great Wall. He told us that we could buy even better travel bargains to Asia by checking the Chinese newspapers in LA. An older couple was making their third trip to China, each time to new towns. Our seatmate was visiting family in Beijing.

The in-flight movies were an odd combination of travel stories about sites in the United States: the bats in Austin, Texas for one, Chinese movies with English subtitles, and a U.S. dance movie starring Vanessa Williams. Since the screens were too small to see very well and the earphones hurt after a while, I was very glad to have packed several books. This was even more important on the return flight when the same movies were shown a second time. I noticed that some other travelers had their own CDs and headsets and miniature computer games.

Midway through the flight, the stewardesses demanded that all the window shades be closed for enforced sleep time. Pat and I resented what was presented as more than a request. Our body clocks were not ready for napping. Pat had requested a window seat because she wanted to look out and see the sky, and I wanted the light for my reading.

From the very beginning of the trip, my strap-on water bottle was a great item to have along. The attendants kept feeding us, but liquids were in short supply. We filled our bottles from a tap near the rear bathrooms.