Flying to Beijing

Thursday & Friday, April 12-13, 2007

Our “Roots” trip to China began today at 4:30 AM when the livery service picked us up to take us to the airport. Sam and Mabel are leading their daughters and grandchildren (and lucky sons-in-law) on a whirlwind tour of the land of their birth. Sadly, youngest sister Polly is busy making Pirates of the Caribbean III, so she and hubby Alex couldn’t join us. Sister number two, Bonnie, and her boys Chris and Eric were on the same flight as us. About 24 hours after we left home we walked into our luxurious hotel, the Grand Hyatt Beijing. Sister number three, Mimi, Frank, and their girls Melissa and Michelle met us in the lobby with lots of hugs and cousins running around. Now we just have to wait for my daughter Alexa and brother-in-law Paul join us in Shanghai for the group to be complete.

Alexa is traveling with a high school group for the first week, so she left the day before us and flew to China all by herself. Since she is joining us for our last few days in China, her special travel arrangements meant she couldn’t fly with the school group or our family. In Beijing she was met by tour guide Yang Yang (also known as Shiny Yang) who wrote, “I will meet her up first in the airport and take her to the hotel then I will go to pick [the school group] up at the later time. For better meeting with Alex [sic] concerning of her own, there is a 'STARBUCK' right outside of the exit, so it would be easier for us to hold each others.”.

Our first evening in China (like every time the Ing-Yang clan gets together) revolved around food. First we had to decide what kind of food we wanted. Obviously Chinese food, but each region has distinctive tastes. As they say “Shi zai Zhongguo, wei zai Sichuan” so we quickly agreed on Sichuan-style. (In case you don’t read Chinese, the saying means China is the place for food, but Sichuan is the place for flavor.) Next we had to decide where to eat. Miranda, our guide in Beijing, recommended an excellent restaurant that, conveniently, was a short walk from our hotel. The restaurant was full of Beijing Ren (residents of Beijing) having dinner, so that was a good indication that we were going to enjoy a great meal. The first dish, dry-fried green beans, is one of the most popular Sichuan dishes and one of my favorite as well. Another traditional dish was boiled fish in fiery sauce, full of spicy chilies and mouth-numbing pepper.

Tired from the long flight and with full bellies, we all went to bed early, but most of us didn’t sleep well. I woke up after a few hours and couldn’t fall back to sleep so I got up and practiced my tai chi for a couple of hours. My goal was to learn the entire Yang-style short form before I came to China so I could join the morning ritual of doing Tai Chi in the park while I was here, but with traveling to California, Jackson Hole, and India interrupting my training, I’ve only learned about half the positions. Still, Miranda gave me directions to a nearby park where people would be doing Tai Chi soon after the sun rose, but after practicing much of the night, I fell back asleep and when I woke up had to hurry to breakfast and then off to a full day of sightseeing. Then the next day, we had to leave early for the airport and fly to Chengdu so I missed my chance for group tai chi in Beijing. Maybe I’ll get a chance in Shanghai.