russellviii

This airport is huge.

When I arrived in Beijing we had to wait for about two hours to get through immigration. For some reason the immigration line is not well laid out, like it is at other airports.

There is no real “line” to stand in to wait your turn. People just bunch up into a big mass and just sort of “squeeze out” one at a time to go through immigration.

It’s a very slow process, and very frustrating as you watch other people who came in after you did manage to make it through way ahead of you. It’s also very hot waiting in line with hundreds of other people jammed together.

I know that it’s only an airport. The thing that I like about Memphis is that it’s not been too terribly crowded the two times that I’ve been there. But the thing that I like most about it is that it has a great place to get some pretty good barbecue. When passing though Memphis I try to remember to arrive hungry.

One of the teachers at R9’s high school takes a group of students, parents, and whomever on various trips around the world. This summer the trip is to China. We’re going to go to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

I’ll be going with R9 and one of my daughters. It will be about 10 days in June.