Last Monday I touched down in Beijing [after a grueling 13 hour flight] and got my first taste of China. The airport was an impressive, towering structure that you could tell was newly renovated for the recent Olympics. I was fairly impressed with the latticework on the cathedral style ceiling and the clean, modern facilities. My first thought of China was that is wasn't too different from home.
Once I got to customs however, I got my first taste of REAL China. Assembled before the 15 or so customs agents was a sweaty, bag-laden crowd of people all surging towards the desk. It was basically madness. The lines in front of each agent were hazy, ill-defined, amorphous things. People jumped from one queue to the other, or just walked to the middle of a line and cut in. I was constantly being bumped, shoved, or elbowed as people attempted to edge me out of line to move up in the queue.
Nearly three hours later, I was sweaty, tired, and exceedingly grumpy; but I had arrived in China.
When are you not sweaty, tired, and exceedingly grumpy Casey?
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