Beijing-A-Go-Go

It's Friday night, China-time, and we're ready to pack in this leg of the trip as we head for Nanchang tomorrow and our "gotcha day" with Zoe on Sunday.

Beijing has been quite surreal - a collision between traditional and modern Asia - ancient temples and modern office buildings, poverty and booming new wealth, hotels with wireless Internet where you still can't drink the water. Everyone we've met here has expressed great pride in their city, its culture, and its history.

Our new friend Zhang Bin, introduced to us by my friend Jinhu back in the States, has bowled us over with his generosity and kindness. He picked us up at the airport, arranged a wonderful dinner with him and his family last night, got us a driver to ably take on the horrendous Beijing traffic (which, by the way, would reduce to tears the toughest New York cabbie) and get us out to the Great Wall (it's pretty great), and arranged for another colleague of his to take us out tonight for another wonderful dinner - Beijing (Peking) Duck with all the trimmings.

And now, off to bed and then off to Nanchang. I don't know how good the Internet connectivity will be there (it's poor here because of a December earthquake destroying an undersea cable), but we'll post when we can. Meanwhile, wish us luck on Sunday!

P.S. We've posted some pictures on Shutterfly. More to come.