We arrived here in Beijing, China after a horribly long 12-hour turbulent flight, but we made it! First impressions of the Chinese capital city? I am struck as it being a combination of European style and design (even the freeway signs are the same) and third-world (ala Nicaragua) climate and squalor. Beautiful new high-rise glass and steel buildings next to decrepit old apartments with rubble on the roof and grey tatters of what used to be window awnings. Historical thousands of years old buildings (that some has been dry walled and textured to look old) and shopping malls that make the one in Boise or Newport Beach look second-rate. We had an interesting discussion with our tour-guide for our trip to the great wall on everything from history to politics to religion to education to leisure time to salaries and cost of living. Wonderful, friendly people that would think nothing of being courteous and helpful one minute, and then shoving you out of the way as they try to get a glimpse of a reproduced ancient throne room the next. It is everything that I had heard and more.