Well, I have to say that our first leg of the trip l went off without a hitch. Everyone was up and out the door by 5:30 a.m. We got to the airport parking, and a shuttle van followed us to our car, so we got to the airport early. The flight to San Francisco was uneventful - We got the usual bag of pretzels and can of coke. The flight between San Francisco and Beijing was about 12 hours. Like most long flights, they fed us, showed a movie, fed us again, and fed us even one more time.
The customs and immigration process was fairly easy. The house where we stayed was in the town of Zhou Zhou - 60 miles southwest of Beijing. Fortunately, we set up a rental that included the owner as a tour guide. "Lucy" met us at the airport with a driver. We rode in her van for about 2 1/2 hours through rush hour traffic. The pollution was unbelievable. Seriously, you could not see buildings just a few hundred meters off the highway.
Lucy took us to a local restaurant for some excellent food. Even Baxter ate his fill. We then stopped for groceries and went home. Her home is really luxurious. There are 6 bedrooms, so everyone had their own spot. Here is a link if you'd like to see the place:
Lucy's house.
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| The welcome sign in Beijing. |
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| Pollution is really, really bad. |
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The restaurant. Most tables have a huge lazy Susan in the middle so
you can all share food. It's really hard with hungry kids, because
they move the wheel constantly, and the adults get little food. |
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| Chinese Coke |
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| Lucy's garden. |
I just wanted to add that the food at the local restaurant included Peking Duck. After carving the amount we needed tableside, they put the remainder in a plastic bag for us to take home. -Chris
ReplyDeleteThough Zhou Zhou has been described as a suburb of Beijing, it has a rural feel. Lucy said it was a small town of 600,000. -Chris
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