I’m now 5 days behind on my blog and for two good reasons. My whirlwind trips in India and Bangkok were ridiculously exhausting (also wild and unforgettable). I also got stomach problems from eating something in India. I have now to thank those outstanding humanitarians, Mr. Pepto and Mr. Bismol.

I knew not to drink any tap water, eat any raw vegetables (except those that have a natural covering like bananas), or eat any street food. The driver bought a box of a sweet dessert from a Hare Krishna village and before I thought about it, it was down my stomach. There is a down side to having your first thought be “I’ll do it” and then acting on that thought before weighing the consequences. You have to excuse me, I’m just a kid (or maybe I was a kid once).

I admit it. This is probably my least interesting entry. I was sick, I flew from Bangkok to Beijing, the traffic was bad in Beijing, I fell asleep at 7 PM.  Skip to day 2 of China where I see the Tienamen Square, sing “The East is Red” (old tribute to Mao) with my Chinese guide, and see the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.

If you’re still here, here are the details. I couldn’t sleep last night, which was my one night in Bangkok, until about 1 and had to get up at 6 to meet the driver and guide at 7 for the trip to the airport. Nothing in the breakfast buffet looked good to me. It was all good food, just not for me in my state. I couldn’t even imagine coffee, which is a severe sign.

For the first time, I climbed a staircase to get to my seat in an airplane. There was a 32-seat business class area on the second floor. The person next to me was a Spanish-speaking woman traveling with her parents, who were sitting behind us. I was in no mood to talk and she wasn’t either. Normally, I love to talk to people on the plane.

Getting ready to climb stairs inside the airplane (left), looking down the stairs (right)

My guide, Alice (her American name) was waiting for me after the baggage claim. The drive to the hotel took about 1.5 hours, mostly through slow traffic. The density of the massive buildings was more than I thought. Beijing is incredibly developed. She said the population is about 20 million and the developed area is massive and very new. The 2008 Olympics really heightened the pace.

Traffic jam on the second ring road (I think there are 6 concentric ring roads), some of the tall buildings

I was on the edge by the time we got to my hotel room. I needed to plug in the Internet cable but it was missing a major part. I called their IT number and a guy at a service who knew what he was talking about realized that they needed to have someone come in person to see it. He called the hotel’s IT and someone was there in 5 minutes. He looked at the problem and came to the correct conclusion immediately. I needed a new room unless I wanted to watch him work to find and install the missing part. I was impressed with the efficiency of the IT people but not with the fact that the problem was there in the first place.

After just barely doing the minimum in my new room, I laid down at about 7 PM and slept until 8:45 AM and was late for my 9 AM meeting with the guide. I had set my iPad to wake me up but then changed the setting from Bangkok to Beijing time so my alarm time got modified. I usually also set my iPhone to wake me up but I was too knocked out to do it.

Not every day can be fun. This was a tougher one for me. It’s so many levels removed from the hardships people are going through in places like Japan and Libya, of course so once again, stop my whining. Tomorrow will be amazing.