Fri 1 Jan 2010
It’s hard to describe what this part of the world looks like from the air, but beautiful isolation would fit the bill. Here at 36,000 feet I am comfortably typing away on my iPhone after having had breakfast courtesy China Air. We’ve just crossed into the 2nd decade of the 21st century, a moment in my life I’ll have to reflect on in a later post, but I still find it fascinating to be flying in an American-built Boeing 747, owned by the Chinese communist government, over the former USSR. Although I am traveling to Australia on my German passport, the American in me wonders what it was like for Gary Powers to be so high over this remarkable part of the world in his U-2 spy plane.
We’re two hours from Beijing now and the sun is finally shining on the snow-covered expanse of the Chinese mainland. We’ve been flying along the trans-Siberian railway ever since we flew over Moscow, another city I would have loved to visit on this trip, and from up here it’s pretty clear how this place works, either you’re near the railroad or you’re a polar bear — I jest, but once we crossed the Ural mountain range into Asia, it was remarkable to still see signs of human life — apparently able to cling everywhere on this blue marble of ours. This ‘fly-over country’ isn’t so different from the way parts of the US look in the winter, but just to the south of us are the Himalayas — oh why did we have to fly so far north. No worries, surely I’ll get an opportunity to pilot an airplane around the peak of Everest one day.
In a few moments we’ll be touching down at Beijing’s new Olympics-inspired airport, unfortunately there’s cloud cover so I won’t get a chance to catch a glimpse of the Great Wall — that too will have to wait for another trip. For now I’ll have to be content with the history-making nature of this brief stay. Just yesterday my 98-year old grandfather told me that ever since my great-great-great-grandfather served as a German missionary in China, no one from my family has been in China since the 19th Century! I’m not planning to preach to anyone, in case you’re wondering. What incredible mountains so close to the city.
Looking down on the city now, I realize where I’ve seen this place before. I designed this exact city-grid in SimCity 2000 — everything is so symmetric and even the little cars move just like in the game.
Finally, on what seemed like the longest straight-in approach in history, with the Jumbo Jet’s slats deployed, must have been 15 minutes, flying at a mere 255 mph, is that normal?, we are sitting at the gate. The air is oh so smoggy, giving the text on the catering van pulling up to my aircraft “Beijing Air Catering” an ironic - yet promising - meaning.
Here I am for four hours and then it’s off to Sydney!