Maiden Voyage

This is not only my first visit to this country, but also my very first blog entry. We'll see if I stick with this form of journaling or go back to the time-honored mass-email approach.



My flights went very well however, I should have suspected a rocky take off, not just because of the torrential rains, but because while washing my hands in the restroom at the airport, a woman ran in and threw up in the basin next to me. I guess she didn't have an enjoyable landing. Fortunately, my seat mate was ideal for our turbulent take off - and might I add I HATE turbulence. There is nothing to make you more keenly aware that you have no control over your fate as you and your stomach rise and fall and the cabin of the plane thrash back and forth in the bucket of bolts known as your aircraft. I try to remember that the flight attendants and pilots did not get up that morning fearing their work day. They know the plane will stay in the air, and I should too. Be that as it may, I couldn't help but visit adverse scenarios in my head as I clamped my eyes shut and held onto the arm rests. My seat mate, as I mentioned, was a good companion at this juncture because as a staff sergeant with the air force had flown in all sorts of planes in all sorts of situations. It was very comforting to have him tell me about landing in a spiral descent in Afghanistan, coming in at a 90 degree angle to the ground in order to avoid being shot down. I figure if planes (granted a different plane) can maneuver like that, then we should be able to summit the storm. And we did.



The rest of the flight was uneventful. Good food, boring movies, caught up on technical reading, did crosswords and pretty soon we were in Narita and then Beijing. While in line for the Beijing flight I struck up a conversation with an extremely tall woman who had been on my Portland flight. She works for an NGO for disabled students and has lived in China for 9 years. Unfortunately, this trip back signaled the end of her time in China since poisoning by pesticide tainted wheat gluten had caused her to become seriously ill and after 3 months of recuperation in Portland she was returning long enough to pack up and move back to the states. At any rate, she helped guide me through the airport to the taxi and gave me contact information to visit her should I have time.



I am staying in an extended stay hotel apartment (though from the toys in the entry way indicate long term tenants) which while not glamorous is very warm and comfortable. They leave a hot thermos of water every morning, there is a refrigerator and I have discovered the few English language TV channels. Now to get the rest of my bearings...