the first leg of the trip was 13 hours. these are really nice planes, if you've never flown them. spacious, modern, and smooth. fortunately, i was upgraded to premium economy and had a nice bump in leg room and upgraded electronics. highly recommended. the food on ana (all nippon airlines) is pretty darn good for airplane food, some of the best i've had. and i got to catch up on pirates of the carribean 3 on my personal 5" in-headrest tv screen.
even so, the tokyo airport was a welcome sight for my sore, cramped legs.
i loved this airport. so modern and clean, simply but effectively designed, from the signage...
to the sorted trash and recycling bins.
my terminal had a long row of immaculate, high-end designer stores, from bvlgari to coach and more. you brand-whores would've had a field day, in an airport.
and the walkways were super cool. as you approached, it detected your motion and automatically turned up the speed of the walkway; after exiting it automatically slowed down to conserve electricity.
and they looked so cool too. those japanese. what will they think of next?
what i was shocked to see was a public squat toilet in such a modern airport. (at least it was extremely clean. still, gross.)
another 4 hours later, a smaller and less glitzy plane plopped me down in beijing, china. the first thing i notice upon arriving the terminal is the massive amounts of advertising plastered all over the terminal.
everywhere i looked, there was media in your face. even on the baggage carousel.
can we say overload? it would come to be a running theme across the country.
customs was amazingly easy to go through in china. the officers didn't even check your bags nor did they seem to really read your declarations. i whizzed right through disinterested guards. lucky for me, since i was dying to be done with travel. by this time i'd been up for almost 24 hours and running on the fumes of sleep never attained. by the time my college friend, shimi, arrived from honolulu an hour later, we were ready to blast out of the airport, "get me outta here!!!"
perhaps we should've stayed in the airport. jenny, our ucla buddy who is now living in beijing for work as an environmental consultant, had her driver come greet and pick us up from the airport. personal chauffeur! and although he spoke not a lick of english, he was a nice guy and knew where he was supposed to take us. yes, she has a driver. amazing what you can get with cheap labor.
but as soon as we got on the road, we realized that while a lot of chinese have driver's licenses in beijing, they sure don't pay attention to the markings on the road. close your eyes and imagine hundreds of cars around stuck on the same road headed towards the city, honking and honking. then open your eyes and see another car mere inches from yours and still bulldozing his way into your lane with a beep and a HOOOONK belaying. now picture that happening over, and over, and over again...
omg. my passenger side air brakes must've needed lifetime servicing a hundred times over by the end of that 40 min drive. the picture above doesn't do it justice.
but safely we made it to jenny's apt in dongsishitao, the international expat community in north-eastern beijing. and it was here jenny welcomed us to the motherland with a little golden trinket for good luck and happiness.
and after a few rounds of peach juice and catching up, shimi and i passed out around midnite, beijing time, happy to be able to sleep soundly and horizontally.
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