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I just arrived at my hotel in Beijing after the 13 hour flight on Continental from Newark. Beijing is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so I am going to be jet lagged for a day or two. Surprisingly, it was a breeze to clear customs and my bag was waiting for me when I arrived in baggage claim.

I jumped in a cab and was on my way to The Peninsula Beijing. My cab driver informed me that he was trying to learn English before the Olympics next year. I asked him if he was going to school to learn English, and he responded, "I am going to school to learn English in my cab." That is about all I understood the entire 30 minutes in the cab. At one point, he had a card in his hand that listed all of the major tourist attractions in Beijing and he would try to pronounce them in English. He then would turn around and point to the word and ask me to say it. While doing this, he almost hit a road worker and several cars.

When we got into the center of Beijing, bicyclists started coming at us in every direction and the cab driver acted like he didn't even see them. I thought for sure that he was going hit one of them. Apparently, bikes and pedestrians do not have the right of way in Beijing.

I noticed this building because of the screen-like outer covering. I guess people don't care about the windows being blocked because of the haze of pollution that makes everything look gray here. Welcome to Beijing.

I leave early Monday morning for my excursion to China. This will be my first trip to the continent of Asia, so that leaves Africa and Antarctica to cross off my list. I am flying over to Beijing solo, but am meeting Ralph, who has been traveling in Turkey and Russia and Dan who is already in China for a Kennedy Center event.

We are staying at The Peninsula Beijing, which is supposed to be swanky. We are sharing a room, because Dan is staying there for work. We decided to get a duplex suite and pay the difference so we would have more space to spread out, and because Ralph snores. Dan's friend Chuck will join us later in the week.

I can not wait to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and all of the funny signs that they have translated horribly into English. I am sure that I will want to see more, but I never do any research on a place until I arrive. It must be the explorer in me. All I know is that I will be constantly hungry.