China is Big

Arrived at the new terminal 3 at Beijing, which is ridiculously huge
and apparently not getting much use yet. Giant, giant new building
though that alone is bigger that probably 90% of the airports in the
world. You could have a runway inside of it.

First impressions of China can be summed up in a word: big. Everything
just seems to be created on an incredible scale. Once again the taxi
driver from the airport had no idea where/what the hotel was so the
adventure contiues in that sense. I did make it without much trouble
though. I'm initially impressed with Beijing. I was expecting sinister
dirty Moscow but instead it feels sort of like vegas a little, though
not nearly as fun to look at. It does smell like a freeway everywhere
and the air is just a constant haze, as everyone's read by now. I'm
conveniently located with the hotel and will explore some of the
ancient places today, wall tomorrow and then the new Olympic stuff
Thursday.

China is way different from Japan already though. Things have a very
mechanical feel and the people, while friendly at the hotel, are
clearly a little less patient and more go, go, go. The comparison as I
continue through these cities/countries should be interesting to follow.