After a stressful day that included a weather-related four-hour delay in Detroit, we spent 12.5 more hours on the plane, this time actually in the air, en route to Tokyo. I slept for 30 minutes on and off, didn’t watch a single minute of the in-flight movies (on account of the fact that I’ve never heard of any of them), and made it through a quarter of Great Expectations.

Christmas lights in the lobby of the Hotel Nikko Narita

When we finally landed in Tokyo, at 8:30 local time, we were told, predictably, that we had missed our connecting flight, and the next available flight to Beijing won’t be until next morning. So a one-hour layover in Tokyo turned into an overnight stay, which meant spending another two hours getting our new flight information, clearing customs and immigration, and getting to our hotel for the night — the Hotel Nikko Narita. To our surprise, the hotel was totally decked out in Christmas lights, much more so than you would see in American hotels. It was to the point of overboard and almost gawdy. The hotel itself was very nice, with a beautiful lobby, although it was located in the middle of nowhere. The only place it was close to was the airport (it was an hour away from downtown Tokyo), so we didn’t really get to see much of Japan aside from its airport and adjoining interstates.

Our room was very cute. The feature that generated the most excitement was the bidet/toilet in the bathroom. It was the first time I had seen one. It just reminded me of the Simpsons episode where they go to Japan, and the toilet in their hotel room says, “I am honored to accept your waste,” at which point Homer says in amazement, “They are years ahead of us!”

Our flight the next morning was at 9 a.m., and we were told to get to the airport an hour beforehand. We got there at 7:30, and yet ended up having to dash to our gate minutes before takeoff. The airport was aesthetically pleasing enough, but seemed to have a real problem with crowd management. There were obscenely long lines at check-in, security, immigration, and customs. The thing was, there were extra counters at each of those points, but there were only a few workers manning the stations. We ended up having to convince someone at the front of the immigration line to let us cut in front of them, then ran like hell to our gate, which was displaying “Final Call” as we arrived.

Mount Fuji from however many feet cruising altitude was.

That flight, on a China Airlines jet, left half an hour late as well, and the flight itself took about four hours. Along the way, we caught a magnificent glimpse of Mount Fuji (I believe) and were treated to better service than anything we’ve seen on an American airline in a long, long time. There were multiple drink services, a lunch (yes, a lunch, on a four-hour flight) of beef noodles/fish with rice, a gingery cold dish of squid (which I love) and rice noodles, a tray of fresh fruit slices, and a Kit Kat bar. The attendants seemed to walk down the aisle offering coffee or tea every 30 minutes or so. Still, it seemed like a long flight, in part because we were so anxious to get to Beijing.

We’re in China!!

Finally, at 12:30 p.m. local time, we touched down in Beijing. One look and you can tell they built the airport to impress. It was HUGE! We took what felt like a 10-minute tram ride to get from the arrival terminal to the baggage claim. The airport seemed to be made almost entirely out of glass and virtually completely transparent (presenting tempting bait for political commentators). After getting our luggage, getting through customs and immigration, meeting our tour guide, and getting to our hotel, it was almost 4 p.m. — basically a whole day lost thanks to the delay in Detroit the day before. Again, a pox on thee, Motor City, or your airport, or your weather.

Undeterred by the late arrival and the frigid weather (it was 12 degrees F when we landed), we met up with a couple of my parents’ friends. We had planned a full day of activities with them before the delayed flights, which were obviously now dashed. Nonetheless, they tried to take us to one of the destinations we had planned — Jingshan Park, a hill that overlooks the Forbidden City. The attempt taught us one lesson: If you want to drive anywhere in Beijing, plan on spending at least an hour in traffic. We left the hotel at 4:30 and didn’t arrive at Jingshan Park until almost 6 p.m. By then, it was already dark (it happened to also be Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year), which made it even colder. We went into the park and soon discovered that the ascent to the top of the hill involved a lot of rock climbing. During the day, in decent weather, it was doable, but not under the circumstances we faced. So we called it quits and went instead to a restaurant, where we feasted on an excellent crispy duck and a host of other delicious food.

After dinner, we drove past the Water Cube, where we managed to get a couple pictures in just before they turned off the lights. Finally back at the hotel, we sat down on the bed and crashed within minutes. It wasn’t easy, but we were finally in Beijing. May tomorrow bring a better day.