Christmas in Beijing

I'm in China!!!!

Getting here was quite a journey - 13.5 hours to be exact. And Air China definately didn't impress me either.

At this point in my life, I consider myself to be a seasoned traveller, and I've flown on most of the major transpacific carriers. Because of this, I go into these long haul flights with pretty high expectations - most of which Air China didn't meet. Don't get me wrong, the flight was fine and the food wasn't too bad. It just wasn't great either. There were no tv screens in the back of the seats, which is pretty standard now on flights of this length, and the flight attendents were a little rude at times and were really stingy with the drinks.

I miss Japan Airlines!!!!

It wasn't all bad though: There was a really hot male flight attendant in my section! :)

So, eye candy aside, everything is going pretty well here so far. We went through customs and immigration fine, and made it to our hotel with hardly any problems. Speaking of our hotel, it is freaking amazing!! I've never stayed at a Ritz-Carlton before, but I can easily see what all the hype is about. Some room highlights include:

• All marble bathroom complete with TV
• Frosted glass shower/toilet area that you just have to see to believe
• Huge bathtub with spa kit
• Huge flat screen tv
• The most comfortable bed ever
• Fresh flowers
• Chocolate truffles on the bed
• Curtains that are operated by remote control!

It's just amazing, and will definately be one of the high points of the trip. However, after getting up to the room, it suddenly dawned on me that Katie and I are going to be together basically 24 hours a day for the next two weeks with little to no privacy! I think it'll be fine, but I tend to be a pretty private person, and getting alone time is important to me - so we'll have to see how it goes.

Anyway, tomorrow is our first full day of sight seeing. I can't really remember where it is that we are going exactly, but I'll write about it and post pictures tomorrow night. (the language barrier is already an issue, so tomorrow should be interesting. I keep wanting to speak Japanese to everyone - I really wish I learned more than just how to say hello and thank you in Mandarin haha)

Oh yeah, and it's Christmas here now - so merry Christmas everyone.

Cheers!