During the descent into Beijing, I got my first taste of china, or rather smell... It must have making its way in via the air-con, but there was a really strong coal/soot smell, and once we landed in Beijing, there was smog so bad I could not see buildings a few hundred yards away.

That had to be my resounding OMG.. the pollution is terrible, but the 4million Beijing'ers seems happy with it, and they get brief respites when the Olympic commission come by, and the main factories are shut down to clear the air...

I have to say the culture shock was quite considerable, plus the heat, it hovers around the 36C mark, which can be drenching!

The first thing I noticed, having transferred in Moscow where they have no order just absolute chaos, Beijing airport runs like clockwork, nice queues people weren't pushing in, there was even a line to stand behind a guard patrolling it.

30 secuirty check-in desks, all with military men checking passports and visas. ..

Once had passed through there, It was onto baggage claim, my biggest fear was to lose my bag, but there it was, all in tack - cool.
The airport itself is ultra modern, it could have been anywhere in the world... typical granite stone floor, air-con.. Outside there was a guy whose job it was to wave down taxi's, another to organise their parking... Everything is done with maximum manpower, China is the ultimate service providing industry, their labour is so cheap, it really is cheaper to have several people doing a job, rather than modernise and put in a computer.

After a white-knuckle taxi ride to my hotel, I decided to head out to see what was about and get some water, before my Intrepid welcome meeting, I walked for about 40mins and sweated about 2 gallons... got stared at so much it was quite un-nerving, it was like I had dropped in from another planet. The Chinese just don't care they just stop and star with jaw literally dropped! I went into this little mini-mart on the way back to my hotel, where i bought 3lts of water and some 7up, I was quite pleased to find what i needed, but at the till, I was overcharged 10 kwai/Yuan and the bag packer boy said something in a hostile way.. I thought I would at least be welcome to spend my money, but aparantly not...

I headed back to the hotel, and blew all my mobile credit calling home... having a cry down the phone, I think the fact that I had 2hr sleep in the last 36 hours was a contributing factor, I was really homesick and I wasn't finding China very welcoming...

At this point I was ready to head home, I had the welcome meeting later that day, but I had decided, if I didn't like the people, I was out of here...