Finally arrived in China - Nov 18

We arrived in China finally after 19 hours.The flight was really long. My hubby was still real uncomfortable in spite of being in 1st/business class. We watched dumb movies and had ok food.
China has a lot of pollution. As we approached Beijing, there was a ring of black as far as the eye could see. On the ground, there is a haze of smog,. everywhere, the smell of smoke is in the air. people say that Houston or the US is polluted, and it is a joke. We don't have pollution .
Traffic was heavy. It took about 90 minutes to get for the airport to the Poly Plaza hotel. The hotel is basic and we have twin beds.
We are sitting in a tea room, with me drinking ginger milk tea & my hubby having earl grey. A piano is playing Auld Lang Syne even though it isn't the new year. He is pretty tired. He didn't get to sleep on the plane like I did. I am real glad I packed because he has been saying some funny stuff - asking about conserving energy because of no converters, power cords, etc. I guess he forgot his brush (I brought mine plus a comb and purse brush/comb combo). Who knows what else is missing. It makes me giggle a little.
The magnitude of what we are doing hit me hard on the plane. lots of anxiety is floating around in my brain, but I have to believe we will be great parents and make it work. It could be a really long flight in coach on the way home (all 26.5 hours of flying goodness). We will be making 2 stops instead of 1... Maybe the extra stop will let Sofie get some of her energy out before we confine her to a seat.
Ah, the piano players is playing "moon river" now. Feels old school.
Went to dinner down the street, past the recommendations our guide Michaal gave us. We found the busiest restaurant we could find. From the outside, it looked like a cafeteria. The place was hopping. No one spoke a word of English, but luckily they had a visual menu. We ended up ordering dumplings, a beautiful salad with rice noodles, peanuts, chilies, cabbage, and rice vinegar, and a hot pot with beef, potatoes and chilies. It tasted fantastic, and the service was fast. He was complaining about the prices during the meal, but when all was said and done, it cost a whopping ten bucks and was a phenomenal meal.
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