I just returned from China. What a wonderful adventure! What a great time! Adding to the fun was the fact that two of my sisters were among the group of 29 on the tour. Our tour group left the St Mary's County Chamber of Commerce Office at 6:30 am April 14. We traveled by motorcoach to JFK in New York. How appropriate that the coach drove through Chinatown on the way to the airport. Perhaps this was an intended introduction to the culture we were about to experience on a larger scale. I had not been to NYC in years so it was a treat to see the Statue of Liberty in the distance as we drove; to see the Brooklyn Bridge; and of course to see the New York skyline. We arrived at JFK about 1:30 pm. Our flight left about 5 pm, a direct flight to Shanghai. We arrived at 8:45 pm April 15 but had to collect our baggage, go through customs and board a plane to Beijing. The plane to Beijing left about 10:30, arriving at 12:30. My seatmate on this flight was a Chinese journalist who specialized in economics. He was a fountain of information about everyday Chinese life, shopping, exchange rate, the written language. So interesting!! We finally checked into our hotel room at Pullman Beijing West Wanda at 3 am. Exhausted! How many hours did we travel? TO BE CONTINUED
