I’m in Beijing!!!

But first let me finish describing my time in Vancouver. The last 2 days of training weren’t too eventful: one day on customer service, half a day on updating us on events planned for the time we are there. It’s amazing how many events are already scheduled! We the first group are actually looking at the busiest schedule of all three waves! Most delegations, ministerial visits, or other events are being crammed into the May/June period. We will have only a few days to get organized before the soft opening on May 1, which happens to be a 3-day national holiday here in China. This means we are probably looking at hundreds of thousands of people to millions of people flowing through the Tian’anmen square in those days alone. What a way to open!!! I really wonder how it will all work out J

The final half day was media training, which we put to good use immediately the next morning. The morning of the flight, media was all over us. It was an organized media event, with all the local media, especially the Chinese ones. Everyone was being interviewed, the Chinese speaking staff were of course easy targets. I tried to stay low-profile knowing the strict rules at my department. However, I was the only one who spoke Cantonese and the word got out. I believe every Chinese media came after me so I did about 4 Cantonese interviews, a Mandarin one, and an English one – all the while being very careful to stick only to personal background and my excitement. That was my first encounter with media, first time being interviewed; not my cup of tea. My family saw me on Fairchild News at night. Ouch :P

The flight to Beijing was delayed by 2 hours or so, but it was a smooth flight; not too much turbulence. I wasn’t able to sleep too much despite the single seat (pods that lie flat). I was never uncomfortable, just simply suffering from jet lag I suppose. Loved the service, and the fully adjustable seat that turns into a bed, with privacy too. J If only I am rich enough to always travel this way :P

We got to Beijing at 5pm local time, were met by BCCP staff there. The airport was huge, the soaring ceiling is very unique and futuristic. From a distance it’s like a space ship… I was quite impressed by the magnitude of it all. We had to take the train to luggage claim and it was quite a long ride. The trains were made by Bombardier; if my camera had been handy, I would have taken a picture of that logo at the foot of doorway. J These were fully automated people movers; no driver necessary. Impressive technology. When we had cultural training, we learned that westerners tend to line up in a relatively straight line, Chinese form no line and all crowd around, Japanese form a straight line… I got to observe that a little bit with the people mover, and later fully experienced it on the Subway system (today).

It was also the first trip I ever made using my red diplomatic passport; quite enjoyed the separate line at Chinese customs which took no time at all and were asked no questions. J Of course, all the advantage of time saving from customs were all lost at baggage claim, where our “priority handling” tags did nothing to speed up the arrival of our luggage. Hey, at least we all got our luggages, no story of poor souls arriving missing their luggage. Given we were a big group, that’s quite an accomplishment for Air Canada. J

We were lucky enough to be directly behind a motorcade for some important visitors, apparently we made record time going from Airport to downtown. I saw complex highway networks that dwarfs anything we have in Ottawa; construction was taking place EVERYWHERE… There are new buildings, but on the same street you could sometimes also see ruins of old buildings demolished; this contrast of old and new, of rich and poor were really standing out.

Lee Garden is practically at the center of universe here, we were very impressed. There was some fruit and drink prepared for us while we checked in; the process went relatively well. I’m situated on the 9th floor for now in an one-bedroom apartment. I know I have to move to a studio room in a few days. It’s beautiful; I get to enjoy having a living room and dining room before I move. The bed is super hard though! Not that it mattered much, by night time I hit the bed and passed out cold. I was so exhausted! Woke up at 2am and then every hour after that until 7am…