After a couple weeks of sun and surf in Mexico and Maui, Charlie and I arrived safely in Beijing last night (We had a pretty good flight on Air China). What we've observed so far in the last 12 hours:

- First things we saw as we exited Customs at the airport: Starbucks and KFC
- Bad traffic. People drive their cars like they ride their bikes. Vehicles on the road consist of a mix of autos, bicycles and horse-drawn carts.
- A very nice hotel room at the Rennaisance courtesy of my hotel points from the Oracle days.
- At least 12 construction cranes in sight from our 7th floor window.
- It was 91 degrees out at 6pm and it's only June...but at least it's not humid.

Today we'll move to my friend Aaron's flat for a few nights' stay before we secure our own place. And it's June 4th - the 16th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square ordeal. We'll probably go check out the square to see if there is any kind of memorial activity going on.

note added 7/1/05: Duh, of course there were no memorial activities. We didn't make it to the square but have heard that there is extra security on June 4th and I read that they try to get all potential 'trouble makers' out of town around this time of the year. There is not a mention of the event whatsoever anywhere. And, as a colleague of mine has learned, it's not always a good subject to bring up, even at a workplace like mine.