7/22: I have arrived in Xi'an!

I'm here! And it's raining...but way cooler in temperature than it has been lately. Only about 20 degrees Celsius (roughly 70 degrees Farenheit).

The plane from Chicago arrived a little ahead of schedule. It was still a very long flight. I did get to see the Great Wall of China on the descent into Beijing, for about 30 seconds. It was an obvious thin ribbon winding through the hills. Cool!

I managed about 2 hours of rest-sleep during the flight from Chicago. Not enough to compensate for the lack of sleep Thursday night.

By the way, I WUZ ROBBED. Robbed of Friday night, that is. Leaving at 12:15pm Friday afternoon from Chicago, arriving around 2:00pm the next day in Beijing, it was daylight the entire time. That's really strange.

The spare (option-bay) batteries for the laptop lasted about 2 hours each. I drained all three spares.

When we disembarked (or is it debarked?) the fun started. L-o-n-g walk to customs, with two intermediate stop-off points. Customs amounted to 40 separate lines, about 30 of them active, and about 30% of those for foreigners. Characteristically for me, I picked the wrong one and it took me about 35 minutes to get through instead of the 20 minutes it was taking those in the lines on either side of mine.

A couple of the changing signs on a huge flat-panel display on the wall over customs struck me as unintentionally humorous. One said "Laws are fully enforced and service for passengers warmly!" Another said, somewhat contradictory, "Inspectors should service passengers, be responsible for laws, and be supervised by passengers."

I made one mistake even though I had been warned about it, that being letting somebody handle my bags. I made the mistaken assumption that it would be OK because he was wearing a name badge from the airline. And although he was very helpful, the ugliness started when he told me I had to pay him for it. I had been warned, though. I got away from him 100RMB lighter, though that was a lot less than he wanted.

Pat's International Travel Tip (PITT) #3: be prepared to be mobbed by people trying to "help" you get a taxi. I experienced a near-mobbing by men wanting to help get me a taxi. "Taxi?" they would ask. After I would say no, most times they quickly followed that with "Maybe later?" I couldn't impress upon these guys that I didn't need a taxi in Beijing, not now, and not later, either.

My itinerary called for a 5-hour layover in Beijing, to catch the hour-and-a-half flight to Xi'an. I had been advised to check in Beijing upon arriving for an earlier flight. That's what my 100RMB "helper" did for me, along with helping hauling the bags. Net result: I ended up on a 4:25pm flight to Xi'an rather than waiting for the one I was booked on at 7:50pm. Saved myself over three hours there, not a bad result. I only had to wait in the gate area for about 30 minutes, too.

Since I had phoned my contact in China to advise that I had found an earlier flight, I had a ride waiting for me in Xi'an. Shelen (pronounced, hopefully I have this right this time, as "Shy-len"), the offcie manager. She had hired a taxi. The three of us barely fit in the small Peugot with my luggage. Anyway, about 35 minutes later, we arrived at the hotel. The Sheraton is really nice!

PITT #4: Wireless internet is only available in the lobby and meeting rooms, but the room does have wired internet for 50RMB/day.

Oh, yeah. It appears that there is a China equivalent of the Home Shopper's Network on TV. Amazing.

OK. I'm in the room for the night, having begged off of a dinner later with Shelen. I'm exhausted, I need a shower (for sure!), and my screaming headache has begun finally to abate after downing Advil as soon as I got into the room. I'm going to close for now. Sunday should bring a bit of exploring.