A Glitch

The journey had in fact began as schedule but there was a supprise waiting for us on the other side. For some reason, this site became in accessible from any locations in China where the Internet was available. I guess the right to Internet access was not equal after all.

Let the Adventure Begin

Today is the big day. Ten of us (7 students + 3 faculty members) left Greenville in two vans at around 6:45 am. Paul helped us out by driving a university van. The other van is a one way rental from Avis. Five students will meet up with us at Raleigh Airport and one will be waiting for us in DC.

The day started out great. No one showed up late. We got a chance to stop at Sheetz before headed out and arrived at the airport on time. Guys in Raleigh and DC didn't have any problem either. But our luck run out when we made it to the boarding gate.

First of all, the flight to DC was delayed because of the bad weather, which cut our transfer time in Washington Dulles from 1 hour to 15 minutes. We called Bryan in DC and ask him to “hold” the flight for us and don’t let go. He was probably a little bit concerned as well because he may have to fly to Beijing alone if we couldn’t make it to DC on time. So we called Dr. Wang in Beijing and made sure he know what’s happening. The airline realized the problem too and contacted the boarding gate in DC, which is probably the real reason why the team (part of it anyway) eventually made it onto that airplane.

Then we found that whoever getting a boarding pass with no seat number may get “bumped” because airlines routinely oversell their seats. Four of us got left behind. United rebooked us onto a flight tomorrow out of Chicago to Beijing, made sure we all have our boarding pass, with seat numbers on them, and put us in a hotel.

So here we are. All four of us, Mike, Chris, Valarie, and I (Dr. Lu), are stranded in Hilton RTP, with only our carryon bags. The bright side is, everyone else went on their trip on schedule. Dr. Wang has made arrangement for all activities in Beijing, which covers the first week of our trip. The team will spend most of their days tomorrow adjusting to jetlag and meet with faculty and students in Tsinghua University. As of this moment, they must be having a lot of fun on their trans-pacific flights. Hopefully we can be on our way as well tomorrow morning.

Transportation in Beijing (Field Report from Dr. Wang)

Dr. Wang reports: "Traffic in Beijing is very busy. However, public transit is very convenient. Subway is inexpensive - 2 Chinese Yuan per ticket to anywhere, including transfer. The closest subway station to where we stay is Wu-Dao-Kou station. (see yellow color line in the attached photo, Tsinghua University is located in northwest of Beijing City). Downtown Beijing includes Tian-An-Men, Wang-Fu-Jing, Qian-Men, Xi-Dan etc.

Taxi is inexpensive either - 2 Yuan per kilometer, minimum charge is 10 Yuan. (no need to tip). But the problem is that the surface transportation sometimes is very slow, specially in rush hours, sometimes non-rush hours. So the first choice should be subway - if possible. Most taxi drivers can understand some English - required by the government because of Olympic Games."

Border Control at Beijing Airport (Field Report from Dr. Wang)

Dr. Wang went to Beijing a few days earlier to make travel arrangement. He has been sending back travel tips along the way. He took this photo while passing through the custom.

From Dr. Wang: You will be given a yellow form - "Chinese Immigration Entry Card" - by your flight attendant. In the section of "Address Staying in China", just simply fill in "Tsinghua University". In the purposes of the trip section, tick the box of "Visit". No other forms are needed. You always go through "No Claim" (Green) channel when you push your luggage cart pass through "China Customs Gates"...

Last Orientation

We did our last orientation before the trip starts. 12 students and 2 faculty member attended. Issues discussed are, course requirements and assignment, arrangement to get to the airport, and hardhat exchange program. See the PowerPoint Presentation posted on the Blackboard. We did order some North Carolina Barbeque from Boss Hogs. Some brave souls tried out the legendary “1000 year” egg.

Welcome

Yes we are going to China!