Arrived in Beijing after an overnight flight from Bangkok. Culture shock! I can no longer access FaceBook or many various internet sites, courtesy of the internet restrictions place by the Chinese government. From the air, Beijing looks like a board game. All the buildings are symmetrical, identical in shape, like Monopoly hotels. There is not much variety; it's like they came up with a few building designs and built them over and over. And several buildings have the same blue roof. I asked about those and found out the buildings with the blue roofs are warehouses. All warehouses have blue roofs. No reason given. The air quality is much better than what I was told it would be, I haven't felt the need for a mask.....yet. I was out walking around the hotel and it hit me, "holy cow, I'm walking down the street in Beijing, China, wow." I'm excited about our itinerary and the things we will see and do: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Terracotta soldiers, the 2008 Olympic Stadium and Olympic Village and the historical palaces and archaeological sites of various dynasties. It's going to be an amazing visit to China!