Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Steve, Allison, Sean, Megan and Ryan!
An invisible red thread connects those who are destined
to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.
-An Ancient Chinese Belief
As we were driven to the airport to fly to Urumqi, it continued to be amazing on how many people there are in Beijing...many of them walking, squatting (instead of sitting), riding bikes, and zipping around in little cars. There seemed to be many very close calls to accidents, but the locals are accustomed to close proximity between vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians. During breakfast at the hotel, a little Chinese girl pulled up her pretty dress, squatted at the parking lot curb, and urinated about 70 feet from the restaurant window...all the while her father chatting with the bell boy nearby! After she was done, she pulled up her panties, fixed her dress, and danced around the parking lot.
The flight was shorter than we thought at about 3.5 hours. It was great going in
Business Class so we had room (especially leg room for Steve) and a good lunch. It was immediately obvious once we got outside that the air was cleaner because we saw blue sky instead of the dull gray sky from Beijing. It was just as hot, but no humidity. The drive from the airport went through some dilapidated industrial areas that still had many people walking, biking, and simply hanging around what looked like abandoned buildings! The city borders the Tian Shan Mountain Range, which is the backdrop from our view in the hotel. The mixture of old, dirty and worn out buildings with the new shiny modern architecture is just as unique as the mixture of languages and cultures in this city. There are 46 ethnic groups (and three Americans) in the area, and it shows in the signage and advertising. The American images and products still stand out however, especially the sexy billboard ads with skinny American women in bikinis (I didn't notice this detail, it must have been Allison!).
The hotel is extremely nice, and it seems we are in a shopping district. To one side of our hotel is high-end stores (something like Chicago's Michigan Ave.), the other side bargain basement shops and street peddlers (like a flea market), another unique contrast. Speaking of close proximity and traffic, the bell boy's foot was run over by a car as he was directing a guest into a parking space (actually the car stopped on the end of his shoe, just missing the heal of his foot). As he yelled (we think he swore) at the driver, the driver seemed to either deny any wrong doing or act like it was the bell boys fault!
We will be meeting to pick-up Ryan Tian at 10:00 am Wednesday morning....we can't wait !!!!
