Wish i'd taken the train

4200m and -10°C outside. I've been higher and colder before. Part of the plane wing (fuel tank?) has been shaking since takeoff; as long as it stays on for another 2 hours i'll be fine.

6400m and -25°C. The height of some of the highest peaks in Peru, and i've been colder. The mountains outside are awesome fog covered creatures, and wooded.

Still rising - the landscape is clear, no fog like Beijing, and the mountains are dry, some green interspersed throughout. In the distance, the fog covered mountains are still visible. The plane part that was shaking no longer is, and is still on the plane.

Levelling off, i see a sloped dam with a fat, winding lake behind it. The river bed in front is thick and dry, appears silt-covered. Perhaps a recently built dam?

Further, rolling hills and terraces throughout - straight lines of differing contrasts cutting through the curved hills. Small towns abound, projecting small roads like sun rays. There are a few circular farms like the ones found in the far midwest and west of the U.S. One or two factories.

Small sand dunes and a few bushes. Only one road cutting through them, very small settlements of but a few houses, and Mr. Bean is playing on tv. A few lakes as well, but no rivers visible - perhaps collected rainwater from infrequent storms?

Only sand, we follow a river but i can't tell whether or not it's dry. Keep my eye on it; if we crash i'll make my way towards it.

Sand doesn't even look wind-blown now. Either it's not sand or it is hot, dry, and no wind down there. This must be Gobi.

Beginning approach to Ulaanbaatar, still dry outside, but some vegetation. I see a few white dots - Ger camps? I guess they are real...

Hills now, and a winding dragon-like river - lots of extending rivulets - with many more collections of white dots speckled about.

Real buildings in increasing density along the riverside, forest along the mountainside, and spots of snow? Perhaps i shouldn't be wearing shorts.

City density, and some strange shapes by factories - conical but no point, and large. I'd say nuclear power, but not here, and they don't appear cement (later i realise they are next to the power plants, all which appear to be coal based).

Landing gear down, we're on final approach. Looks like only a single runway, and the airport has only 2 gates.

I'm in Mongolia now.

Beijing Extras

In many ways the city reminds me of a Latin American city; it is dirty and poor with pockets of wealth mixed in. A fancy modern building lines up one one end with a 4 lane paved road lined with other modern buildings, and on the other side with a half dirt, half paved barely single lane road lined with shacks and poorer houses.

Half the taller buildings look like typical 50's and 60's communist generic block structures found throughout the world. The other half look very modern, each one a different experiment in space, lighting, etc. Many make extensive use of fancy atriums, facades, decorative tops, and more. As there are quite a few tall buildings in Beijing, i imagine an architecture class could learn quite a bit from what's been worked with here. The cityscape is also peppered with cranes, implying that in a few years there will be even more interesting buildings.

There are many cyclists here, and lanes dedicated to the cyclists, but in practice these become largely irrelevant; cars are very aggressive and the throngs of cyclists must fend for themselves.

One final (for now) note: aqui son muchas chicas que parecen a mi prima; her nickname is truly appropriate.

Beijing Day two

One of those planned tour deals, similar to the ones i took in Peru. The main events were the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall, but the tour also included stops at a jade factory and a school of traditional Chinese medicine. Neither of the latter two would have been bad, except that in these circumstances the stops were geared solely towards selling us stuff.

The tactic reminded me of Bangkok's more devious methods, where the taxi driver insisted that the Royal Palace was closed and that we should visit a jewelry shop. I wonder if the scam will propagate to Peru, and if it does, how long it will take to get there. What is the velocity of scams?

The scams left me with but two hours to walk 7km through to the highest point of the Badaling section of the Great Wall, and 7km back. There is a lift that takes tourists most of the way, but using that didn't seem right - workers bodies are buried in this wall, having toiled to death building it. Least i could do was walk along part of it. Parts of the wall slope at 45, 60 ° angles. Parts of these slopes have steps, parts don't. Walking the non-sloped parts reminded me of climbing around sandstone in Utah.

I made it to the top and back with 20 minutes to spare, and had plenty of time to shoot, look, sit, and ponder. Cycling throughout the year has paid off.

Beijing Day One

Make it to the hotel in time to find the channel the Pistons are playing on, in time to watch everything but the first couple minutes, in time to watch them lose.

Luckily they lose in time for me to make it to the MIAT office before they close, and am able to purchase my ticket to Ulaanbataar.

From the MIAT office, which i'd taken a taxi to, i decide to walk to Tiananmen Square, or at least try to. If i travelled with others, would they be so lenient as to spend their first day (of only 2) in Beijing wandering around, not sure if they would see "the sights"?
Is this Barbara's answer?

Tiananmen Square is just down the road - i've a pretty good sense of direction. I'm one day early, but can still feel the tension. The square, and indeed most of Beijing attractions, is covered by cameras and guards. Are other places in the world like that now?

The Forbidden Palace is across the way form the Square; each side of the Square holds a major attraction. The Palace is a huge complex that delivers less corruption to the surounding cities, similar to what a capital does.

The restaurant i eat at has such delicacies as dried fungus, fried ass, and twice cooked dog in pot (at least the labels claim these tasty treats). I get the taro pineapple in sweet and sour sauce. There are lots of food vendors on the side street; though i didn't check them out thoroughly i think they had some corn on the cob - not quite a traditional Chinese dish - in case the pineapple is filled with cat (not quite the end of the world yet). The chef is making what i think is dumpling pastry, and a fish in the aquarium has been staring at me since i arrived.

First Day in

4:40am
Walk through the Bird Flu Quarrantine folks, waiting for the immigration oficer to grunt at me in disgust, like the Japanese fellow did for not having an address i was staying at. She doesn't.

4:55am
I see my bag, i'll grab it and walk through customs and they'll say nothing to me, barely even look at me as i walk by.

5:00am
I'm really in China now. Too early for the Hotel Reservation place at the airport, but up ahead is a 24 hour cafe with what appears to be a fairly well-stocked bar.

5:15am
It's hot - 21°C or so - and the chinese noodles (with beef, oops) are steaming hot too. Hopefully they know how to make a Bloody Mary here - that should cool me down a bit (hey, i's 5:15pm MI time!) I eat while wondering where i'll stay tonight, what i'll do in the upcoming days.

5:30am
A couple Spaniards walk in, and a Chinese man, all speaking Spanish. At LAX, China Airways flights depart from the same concourse as TACA, and on the flight here were a substantial number of Spanish speakers. I wonder if the language will follow me around the world (probably will - we notice what we want).

5:45am
Finished soup, waiting for waitress.

5:50am
Mumbling my way through explaining a Bloody Mary - she doesn't get it. How can a waitress not know "vodka" or "Smirnoff" or "Absolut" when there's a bottle of it behind her? Tsing Tao it is, and i'm back to pondering the more important, pressing issues at hand, like where i'll watch the game that's scheduled to start in just over 2 hours, if my time-math is right.

6:05am
Trying to remember the 2 Chinese characters i tried to memomorized on the plane: "exit" and "open". Still remember a couple of phrases in Serbian, which impresses a couple friends, and a few in Khmer, which impresses no one (yet!). I also wonder how long til my accent kicks in. During the Belgrade trip, it took under 2 days for me to start speaking with a latino accent.

6:06am
A large group of airport employees has gathered outside, a woman speaking to them. The Spaniards are speaking about garlic manufacturing and processing. I'm wondering what work e-mails await me - if i had my way, i'd still handle all the mail i normally do, but i don't know that they could take the delay (ok, as is there will be a delay anyways). I like my job, and love being able to do so much from around the world. If i had my way, this is all i'd do - travel the world and put in hours wherever i am.

6:20am
The employees are going their separate ways and i notice there is now someone at the hotel reservation counter. Must go ask for a hotel with the Pistons - at this point i still don't know they'll disappoint all of us.

6:22am
Just finished my first Chinese beer in China. Now to find a place to stay.

Around the World

Tomorrow i leave for LA. I'll be there for just over a day, visiting my brother and family, after which i'll head to Beijing. There i'll see Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square and site of the infamous 1989 protests. Maybe stop in and say hi to Mao, resting in eternal frozen state, and ask him "Why?"

From Beijing i'll hopefully train it up to Ulaanbataar, where i'll horseback ride along the same steppes as the greatest horseback rider of all time. After 1-2 weeks i'll try to make my way to Europe (hopefully by plane not horse) to see my parents and extended family in Germany, and then down to Rome to see a couple friends. If all goes well, i'll be heading back to DTW on the 21st, 58 days under those other folks.

For a bit i was stressing about the cost of this trip, but then a friend of mine mentioned some yoga workshop that headed to Peru for a week, at a cost of $3600, not including airfare. There's no way i'll spend more than that on this trip, unless i get real drunk. Or lost. Or bored. Or mugged.