We Made it to Beijing!

It was a very long plane ride this time around since we didn't have a stop in LA or San Francisco like my past trips. The girls were so excited when the plane actually took off. It was light out the whole way to Tokyo, since we were flying west. I think we all took some catnaps but we really did not get a lot of sleep. It seemed like they were always feeding us. By the time we got to Tokyo, we were really, really tired. And it was dark out. Jessica slept the entire way from Tokyo to Beijing and Anna and I slept much of the way. I dont know how, but all three times I've flown into Beijing, I 've landed right around midnight. Midnight was never the time we were supposed to land. The first time our plane was delayed 5 hours in San Francisco. The second time there was bad weather and we circled the airport for two hours, and I'm not really sure why we were late this time. My schedule showed us landing at 10:30. When we got to our hotel Jessica fell asleep immeadiately. I had trouble sleeping and still cant find my melatonin. After hearing noises from the bathroom, I realized Anna had locked herself in there and was reading. Without her hearing aids in I couldnt get her attention without waking the people in the neighboring rooms. We were all awake and ready for breakfast by 8. Nice breakfast buffet in the hotel. The rooms and vehicles are stiffling though. They told me because it is spring, they dont use their airconditioning yet. Its 81 degrees in the hotel room! At least this morning I realized the windows opened, so when we are just hanging out, it's not too bad. After breakfast we went on a quick tour of the Summer Palace. I would recommend touring it on your own ins tead of arranging it through the angency. It took as long to get there as we spent there. It was nice and we got some nice photos. Once we got back I had our guide tell me where McDonalds, the supermarket and Starbucks was and we went exploring. I guess there is a Subway too but we did not find that. Jessica ended up buying a gold cow holding a red bundle. Negotiated a little, but they would not budge much. We are just hanging out this afternoon and tonight trying to adjust to the time change. Tomorrow we will tour the Ming Tombs with the other family that's going to Shanghai with us. Saturday is the tour of the Great Wall, Forbidden City etc with the rest of the group that's leaving for China today.