Nihao, China

Well, I made it to China. It seems my travel karma is evening out a bit, as I had none of my typical bad luck and both of my flights even landed early. My sleep pattern, however, is all kinds of messed up. Arriving in Beijing at nearly midnight did a number on me.

Among the many websites that China chooses to block is this one, so since I have to do this from my phone and my phone won't let me add in pictures, my China entries will be brief. Today I hit the ground running, jet lag be damned. I took a day tour to the Great Wall. I chose to visit the Mutianyu section, which is an older section set in more rugged and scenic mountain terrain. More importantly, it is somewhat less touristy than the section closest to Beijing. Visibility was not quite what I hoped it would be, but the Wall's endless expanse through the Chinese countryside was impressive nonetheless. The section I visited was also quite steep in some places. Three hours of hiking up and down uneven stone steps was quite the workout. My legs already feel like jello, so I can tell I'm on vacation.

Tonight I met my group that I will be with for the next 15 days. There are only four of us - a couple from LA and a woman from Australia besides me. They seem very nice and easy-going, so it should be a great trip. We have the same master itinerary but plenty of free time on our own once we get to places, which I like. Tonight we gathered over a traditional meal of Peking duck and tomorrow we have a full day of sightseeing ahead of us. It will be the first time I really get to see Beijing. My impression so far is that it is just massive. Our local guide arranged a day for us since we're a small group, which is really nice.

Now I'm going to try to get some kind of sleep before I wear myself out again tomorrow. So far, I'm so excited that I decided to do this. It's only been one day and I'm already blown away by some of the things I've seen.

And if I ever figure out how to post pictures from my phone, I'll add another post. :)