Quarantine? I Think Not

-NOTE: I haven’t had the internet until just recently, and this particular blogsite is blocked in China. But, I have just now found a way around it so that I can still keep you updated.-

Flying into Beijing was quite interesting.

I was able to sleep the first half of the 14-hour flight which was nice. At first I thought it was pretty weird flying straight from DC to Beijing but it made sense when I looked at the flight map and we were almost directly over the North Pole. I can’t even explain how bright it was from up there.

ATTENTION! VISITING CHINA RIGHT NOW MAY INVOLVE QUARANTINE OR EVEN WORSE: HILARIOUS ENCOUNTERS WITH HEALTH OFFICIALS. China is trying to maintain control over the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu)to save face over their big time mishap with SARS several years ago. As we arrived to our gate everyone was told to remain seated while these masked health officials came running onto the plane and “shot” everyone in the forehead with their thermometer guns. Luckily I passed the test. I found out later that on another plane nearly half the passengers were quarantined because they found 2-3 people who tested positive for Swine Flu. Apparently the quarantine could be for a night or even up to a week which could seriously ruin someone's travel plans in China. Thankfully the rest of my group members and I made it through relatively smoothly.

While waiting in the humongous Beijing airport for the rest of our CEI crew I grabbed an Ice Coffee at the nearby Starbucks. Talk about globalization. There was no difference at all between the Starbucks in the Beijing Airport and the one on Franklin St., even the Baristas spoke pretty good English. (Which I found out later is not the case for most people living in Beijing, or China for that matter)

Just as I had slurped up the final drops of my Ice Coffee I realized something:“OH NO, THE ICE!” In my sudden impulse to break my freshly converted Mao Zedong covered 100-Yuan note, I went with an Ice Coffee because, you know, it’s cold and refreshing. What I didn’t realize was that one piece of advice everyone tells you before traveling: “Whatever you do, don’t drink the tap water OR get drinks with ice in it because, yes, that too is tap water and no it won't be pretty.” While that particular batch of ice turned out to be "safe" (Thank you Starbucks), for the next 12 hours or so I awaited my falsely expected doom.