6/1 - Seoul to Beijing

after a frantic morning of last minute packing (we both just fell asleep last night) and getting ready, we were off to the airport and beijing. though we were sad to leave korea, pauline and i were also excited to be going to china for the first time. pauline has 2 cousins there right now and i have 1 in shanghai. we also have many friends there.

upon arriving at the airport in beijing, you could already see how much is being done in preparation for the olympics. the airport was very nice and HUGE! i heard it was either just renovated or newly opened a few months ago.



once we got through customs, we were greeted by a lot of press (as this is the 35th anniversary of the orchestra's first concerts in china and because of our earthquake relief efforts).



on our way to the hotel, i was struck at how big everything was. the buildings were massive and there was one still under construction that i think would be scary to work at.



we thought we would be meeting pauline's cousins for dinner but eventually decided to meet the next day. so we went next door to the attached mall and had some thai food and then one of pauline's favorites, ice cream from cold stone.