smokerblog

Safe in Shenyang

[SHENYANG, 1/15 10:30PM]

I arrived safely with no mishaps. Just talked to Kari via Skype and I must have a wonky internet connection here, because we keep getting disconnected. I hope the next hotel works out better.

The trip was looong, but mostly uneventful; I do have to say that I knew exactly the moment I crossed from West to East. After disembarking from the plane in Beijing, our planeload of people wandered through a vast, empty, polished airport terminal space toward baggage claim. I was one of the few people on that flight who was continuing on to another Chinese city, so after clearing customs I got routed back through a "Domestic Transfer" area, another wide open space with just a handfful of people milling about. After checking my bag again, I was waved toward these two sets of huge translucently opaque sliding doors (I didn't even recognize them as doors at first) and as soon as those doors slid open, there was Beijing, in all its bustling, jostling, small-zones-of-personal-space glory. from that point on, I wasn't beckoned or waved from place to place, I was herded.

So but here I am. In the hotel room, feeling like it's 10AM, but exhausted and ready for whatever fitful snatches of sleep I can grab before our lives change forever.