All the Tea in China

Ni hao. I am writing this post from a hotel in Beijing with a newly acquired and deep admiration for Jack Bauer. I don't know how he does it. I was up for 23 hours, travelling, and for most of that time the biggest decision I had to make was chicken or pork when the steward on the plane asked me my meal preference. And in spite of that very low key mind power, by the time I hit 22 hours, I was fading and fading fast. However our hosts recommended that we try, as quickly as posible, to jump into local time so I dogged my way through conversation, got a few third and fourth spurts of energy and then drifted down again. I fell into bed thinking I would sleep for hours - 6 hours later - wide awake. So today will be another long day, but today we go to the Great Wall of China and a few other sights. I'm counting on the stimulation of being in this new and exciting place to keep me going, but most of all I'm figuring the shopping. Jack has his 'save civilization scenarios to keep him on his game, I'm going to count on bargaining to keep me up and going. For further bulletins, check out my own blog A Few Words in the Wind