Day 1. The hotel.

They’re waiting for us. No, seriously, they are. We we got to the hotel, there were 15 chinese men waiting to carry our luggage. Thankfully, they speak enough english at the front desk to help us get by.

Long story short, it’s hot here. Really hot, really humid. They don’t seem to appreciate A/C like we do, either. My room is something. I’ll start at the bathroom.

It’s small. The shower is basically the entire bathroom. The shower curtain is on the other side of the sink, so when you shower, the entire room gets wet.

There is a sign that says the water is not drinkable. But, they give you 2 cups. I’m confused.

I’ll leave you with one last photo. Politi got very excited when he saw the Olympic mascots at the airport to greet us. It’s gonna be an interesting trip!

Even first class was delayed

Nothing like getting delayed an hour on a 14 hour flight. We knew it in the
boarding area watching a big dark cloud moving in over the airport. We
boarded as scheduled, but once I got onto the plane, the skies opened up.
Haven’t seen rain like that in a while. The plane shook from side to side
like there was an earthquake. That was fun. Then they pulled us away from
the gate and parked for 20 minutes. I got an email from Mills who was
sitting back in coach. He said they were delayed back there. Yes, even first
class was delayed, but the seats are more comfortable.

Once we got in the air the turbulence was pretty bad. I just got a drink
served when the plane was all over the place. Had to hold the glass in the
air just to insulate it from the bumps and keep it from spilling.
It’s been mostly smooth since then. I’m writing 2121 miles from Beijing,
only another 4 hours. The flight went straight north thru Canada, over the
north pole and now were over Russia. The strange part, it’s been sunny the
entire trip.

There was a point hours ago when I felt like I’d been on the plane forever.
Looked at the flight log and noticed that there was still 9 hours left!

Oh, and if you’re keeping score, the food was pretty good. Warmed nuts,
appetizer tray with smoked salmon and roast duck, followed by salad, I had
the steak for the entrée. Then they brought around a cart with cheese and
fruit. Might have been my favorite part, I found it hard to turn down. Then,
of course, the dessert cart. Yes, I would like nuts and whipped cream on my
ice cream! A few hours later they brought around a snack. You’ll all be
proud of me. I showed some restraint, just had the bowl of soup, passed on
the cheesecake.

We are at the hotel. There’s plenty more to blog. I’ll save that for later.

Going out in style…

24 hours till the flight. I just got back from Walmart, had to buy some granola bars so that I will have something to eat that I know won’t put in the bathroom. I’ve seen pictures of the bathrooms in China… I will be sure to shoot one once get there. But for now, happy thoughts.

I am checked in for the flight. Seat 3L, which by the way, is in first class.

At first I felt a little guilty about upgrading, since my four other co-workers are stuck in the back, but that wore off once I saw the menu being served in first…

Dear Continental, you had me at DESSERT CART!

Sorry boys. Considering the news yesterday that the paper may be sold, I’m going to enjoy one last trip.

I am almost packed. I’ll be taking 1 loaded camera bag and a backpack with my laptop, ipod, PSP, etc. onto the plane. Hopefully they won’t weigh the camera bag, it’s over 50 lbs. Then I’ll be checking 2 other bags with clothes and 60 pounds of other assorted camera gear.

It appears that all of the concerns of China censoring internet access are true. Check this CNN story. Considering I am in an official media hotel, I am sure someone will be watching me. Its unclear if I will be able to blog freely from there. All I can think about is the movie Good Morning Vietnam, with the censors. So, if my blogs come across with black lines thru anything, you’ll know that they got to me.

I am setting up a personal VPN so that will hopefully not be a problem.

So, that’s it for now. I still need to do a couple things. Like lunch, where I’ll eat my last slice of real pizza for a month.

At least I am not the only one not ready…

Thankfully, I won’t need to get a visa. My credential acts as a visa for entry into the country. I still needed to make a trip to the Chinese consulate in NY. My colleague and I need to register the camera gear so that we can get through customs when we land in Beijing. We went in today, and what a pain in the ass. After waiting in line in the visa hall, we were told that we need to apply for a visa. Of course, they were wrong. So they sent us to line #1, which is 30 people long. There is a lot of yelling and arguing in chinese at the front of the line. After we realized that was not where we needed to go, we found our way to a different entrance. To get in that door there was a phone. And a phone directory. Written in chinese. I guess we looked clueless enough in the security camera, because a nice man came out to help us. Long story short, after waiting in a room for over 2 hours that was clearly being monitored (they were watching us) they finally told us we’d have to come back. Maybe next week. So, in the mean time, as I anxiously await the call, check out this video. I’m leaving the swimming trunks home…

T minus 10 days…

So, I leave for China in 10 days. Months of research and procrastination, the whole time, I didn’t believe we would actually go. While every other newspaper in the country is cutting back, we are sending more. So, while I still won’t believe it till we are on the plane, in the air, it sure seems like it’s gonna happen. I have more on my to-do list than I can possibly handle. Shit, I can’t even see my desk anymore. But thoughts of my trip to Athens, the land of flat wooden spoons, ouzo, cheese pies, shared showers, flooded bathrooms and most memorably, “do not flush toilet paper” signs made me realize that I need a blog. So, since the predicted 3″ of rain washed out my round of golf today, I’ve decided to ignore the to-do list (for now) and make a blog.

But first, I’d like to apologize to the people of Athens.
Despite your signs, I flushed.

As for the list, in no particular order…

1. clean my desk
2. make list of camera gear for approval at Chinese consulate
3. get shots
4. make appointment to get shots (oops)
5. buy video camera
6. expense video camera before I leave so Kristen doesn’t kill me
7. get her to agree to Tyree
8. ultrasound
9. clean off computer
10. pack
11. buy super size package of Imodium A/D
12. don’t drink the water
13. learn how to use the new blackberry
14. figure out how much I have forgotten to put on this list.