Looking out the window, I found myself feeling very closely related in some ways to our Continental Airlines jet, which was parked outside the terminal where our group was passing the time during our layover. There we both sat, stocking up on revisions for the long flight, and making sure we didn't forget anything as we anxiously sat listening for the voice of the boarding pass checker to start the boarding process.
It then occurred to me that this flight would be the furthest distance I'd ever traveled in a single sitting before, while the jet outside the window had probably made this journey, and ones even further, hundreds of times before. I then said a silent prayer to myself that our flight go smoothly as I prepared myself for the longest, furthest, and most exotic adventure I'd ever imagined.
As I looked around the terminal to check up on what my fellow Mojo'ers were up to, I noticed our Professor, Rob Williams, deeply engaged in multiple forms of media. I made the assumption in my head that he was most likely finishing up last minute tweets and facebook status updates before the Great Firewall of China, which we all came to find the real existence of at some point during our stay, restricted his online activities.
After a long layover our group was finally called to board the plane, and we all quickly lined up to eagerly find our seats once we had entered the plane. Once I had found my seat next to Andrew, and ironically my room mate for the trip, I realized it was going to be a very long and interesting flight due to the zombie-like state of the kid next to me.
As I tracked our route on the flight map of the screen in front of me, I realized that we were flying over some of the most desolate and uninhabited regions of the world. Once we came down out of the Arctic Circle, and over Russia and Mongolia, I decided to take a break from my Dexter Marathon and stretch my legs to find if I could see any sign of life out of the rear window of the plane yet.
After what seemed to be a full day of traveling and waiting in airports, we had finally touched down in Beijing, and It was just one more flight out to the "small" city of Wuhan, which ended up being the largest city I've ever visited, until we became familiar with Beijing later in the trip. The Beijing Airport was massive, and had corridors and terminals that seemed to go on forever. Here I use Katie as a sense of scale to the seemingly never-ending terminal behind her.
As we were once again waiting for our final flight of the day, I looked around the terminal to see what kinds of interactions were going on around me.
A Chinese man tries to find some horizontal comfort before having to sit-up in those uncomfortable airplane seats for another flight.
Rob starts to document his experience, using his brand new point and shoot to capture both video and still images.
The busy airport bustles behind us, within numerous terminals and gates that seem to go on forever.
Finally, it was time to board the plane, and try to endure our last flight for the day out to Wuhan, where we were all looking forward to a good nights sleep. luckily the flight that Mojo was on wasn't full, so I was able to snag a window seat at the back of the plane, where I could take a quick video, without the flight attendants noticing, of our plane taking off from the Beijing Airport. For some reason I've always wanted to take a video of a plane taking off out the window, and I thought to myself in this moment, "what better place to do this than China?"
The flight seemed very quick compared to the 13 hour flight we had just gotten off of only a couple hours before. I could feel our entire group breath a sigh of relief as we heard the pilot's voice over the P.A. system telling us that we would be landing soon, though he said it in Mandarin first we all understood the message before it was given in english. After reuniting with our luggage and finding our way through the airport, we were soon doing meet and greets with Steve Wilmarth and his guides, before heading off to our hotel for the night. Before we went to bed, Steve insisted that we walk with him into the downtown section of town so that we could see the city lights, the lighting from the neon signs and billboards was beautiful for pictures and was greatly appreciated, even by the over-fatigued Mojo students.
As we walk out of the hotel and down the dark streets, It begins to set in inside my mind where I am.
Almost immediately I feel as if I have entered a completely different world, I came to find that "Planet China" is possibly the single best way to describe traveling and spending time in China.
One of the first things many of our group members notice is the high level construction and infrastructure work going on all around the city.
On the way home from our walk in the night life, some hungry Mojo'ers convince the group to stop for a midnight snack of some hot dry noodles. While Steve talks with the shop owner, Rob takes a closer look at some more delicious rice and noodle dishes in large covered woks.
