Blog had been moved to zixuanrulkens.waarbenjij.nu due to Chinese censorship.

We have arrived at the hotel

We have 'survived' the flight from Amsterdam to Beijing. We arrived 15 mins ahead of schedule. The setting of the seats in the Airbus 330 is in such a way that there is little room for us 'tall' europeans to sit comfortable during this night flight. We left at 20.55 and flew for 9 1/2 hours. During those hours I closed my eyes for an hour, but could not sleep. Fortunately Nina could get some shut eye, even if it was not much.

Arriving at the gate we got out of the plane and walked a mile and a half to go to the customs area, where we had to fill in a paper, which we had to hand in to the customer officer. He took a picture of each individual, by means of a digital camera. From there we walked to the luggage carousel to get our luggage (wouldn't you have guessed that?).

When we all got our luggage we went through the nothing to declare lane and saw that all the Chinese people had to scan their bags and the European people, could walk through without hassle.

After this we met our guide and helper in need Eric (his English name, as I can't pronounce his authentic Chinese name). He took us to the van and after trying to fit in all the luggage as well as the people into the van, the driver took us to the hotel in about 30 mins.

Now we are sitting in our room with wifi, working on the laptop and Nina is sleeping. I just realised I had not packed our webcam in, so I need to find a way to get hold of one.

In the mean time you can enjoy some pictures from yesterday and today.

These where taken yesterday at Schiphol:

And this one today at Beijing International Airport:

As you can see, the two litle girs (4 & 8) have bonded together allready !

Departure

We are now sitting in the airplane , waiting for departure. The plane, Airbus 330, is full with Chinese people. Go figure.....

In 25 minutes the plane will take off. Beijing bound. Thelma drove us to the airport in our car. We picked up Robine on the way from the daycare centre. At schiphol, where we arrived slightly on the late side we checked in. We had some drinks with Thelma, Robine, my mother, Janine and Yildiz.

After saying goodbye we had a quick bite and headed for the gate where we met up with the other two families. Now we are waiting...... And waiting......