Home to Beijing

I'm back in Beijing. My flight arrived a half hour early to a beautiful spring day, and I am now sitting in my new home getting ready to go buy some water and fruit for tomorrow - both because they are needed and to keep me awake until 9pm. I'm exhausted.

The in-flight entertainment system made it way too easy to watch films the entire flight, which meant that I only slept for about an hour on the flight. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

My arrival back to Beijing was quick and relatively painless. The one nerve-wracking moment was when I was going through the immigration line and the official took my passport, decided it didn't look like me, and asked for an id card. I quickly dug my driver's license out of my wallet, explaining that it is my only other identification, even thought it's not an official identification document here. Apparently that didn't look like me either. I put my bags down and used my hands to pull my hair back off of my face, similar to the way it looks in a ponytail, as it was in my passport photo. That did the trick, he nodded his head and picked up the stamp.

After that I was able to give the cabdriver my address in a manner which he understood and he drove me to my complex. I waved to the guards to open the gates to let the car in and they did it, so the cab was able to drop me directly in front of the steps to my building and I didn't have to carry my bags all the way from the curb.

It's good to be back.