So I flew Continental from Newark direct to Beijing this time. Never flew Continental internationally. Didn't even realize Continental flies internationally. Apparently they do, and to a lot of destinations. And it was a nice flight. So everyone always asks "which direction do you fly to China?" It *is* pretty much exactly on the opposite side of the northern hemisphere from Boston, and last year we went west up over Canada and the Bering Strait. So that's what I thought would happen again this year. Noooooo, we went right up over the top of the world!! It was the most awesome thing. I can now say that I've seen the North Pole. Albeit from 31,000 feet in the air. And whatdyaknow, there was Santa's Workshop! Okay, so maybe not. And so maybe I'm not sure that I saw the precise location of the North Pole since it's not like there's a big red flag that marks its location. But the little airplane on the little map on the little screen in the back of the seat in front of me went right over a dot that said "North". I looked out the window as we passed over Baffin Bay and the west coast of Greenland, and you could see icy mountains and glaciers. And the North Pole is just a big sheet of ice. It was a little worrying that there are "rivers" running through the polar ice where you can see it's splitting. Of course I don't know what it looked like decades ago by comparison, so maybe it's supposed to be pretty chunky. I'm sure it shifts around a lot. And it never got dark for the whole flight. In fact, the window was screaming hot, and it was so bright out that I felt bad about peeking for too long, since folks around me were trying to sleep. But it was soooo cool.
We arrived at our hotel around 3 pm, and I have internet in the room for the next 4 days. Thanks to everyone who responded to my email. The 25 or so of you kept me busy this evening :) I'm going to try to respond to everyone who writes to me while I'm away. It's great to hear from people, so I will reward your efforts. Still waiting on the other 86 of you ;) hehehe...
We leave on Tuesday for Urumqi (apparently pronounced "wulumuchi"), the capital of Xin Jiang Province. Our plane tickets are supposed to arrive at our hotel in the morning. I'm looking forward to this. Xin Jiang is supposed to be much much much much more beautiful and interesting than Inner Mongolia. Mountains surrounding the desert. So even though we'll still be in the sand dunes, there might be something a bit better to see on the horizon besides more sand. And the food is supposed to be really good - middle eastern influenced, since we're closer to that part of the world. So I'm looking forward to some good kebabs and naan. I'm sure the liquor will be the same rotgut as last year, so I picked up a couple of treats at the duty-free shop. I will be sharing a nice bottle of Talisker with whomever my companions happen to be come my birthday. If I'm going to be turning 30 in the middle of nowhere, I want something to make the experience that much more enjoyable :)
I'm going to try my best to sleep. The air here is warm and thick and has formed a curtain of brownness. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, and I sincerely hope that it does.
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