Saturday, May 31, 2008

Arrival in Beijing

We are now entering the last phase of our trip:  Sightseeing in Beijing.  After saying our goodbyes to friends in Xiamen, we went to the airport for an afternoon flight to Beijing.  During the flight, everyone on the airplane was given a scratch off ticket, much like a lottery ticket.  The top prize was Y200000 with several other smaller prizes.  While none of us won, judging from the cheering from the back of the plane, there was a winner there.

We are staying at the RedWall Hotel, which is very near to Tiannamen Square.  We begin our three days of touring tomorrow morning at 8:15 and will of course be posting pictures.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone that made our trip to Xiamen so special and the work they did  on such short notice to accommodate us:  Professor Chen in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and Lisa in the Foreign Relations office.  Of course, my friends, Ann, Michael, and their children, Thomas, Helen, and Sophia, were wonderful guides for our travels.   I only wish I could have stayed a few minutes longer today to have one of the chocolate chip cookies that they were baking. 

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