China: 2nd Round

View from the Beijing apartment balcony

I land for the third and last time in Beijing International Airport. A pleasantly smooth journey with quick transitions in the busy cities of San Francisco and Tokyo, each leg began and ended nearly on time. The time between these transitions passed without frustrations or inconveniences, but also without the time warp associated with sleeping for 8 hours on a 10-hour plane ride. Instead I adopted every possible position a narrow airplane seat might offer for 20-30 minute periods, like Goldilocks in military barracks painfully testing each of the 100 beds for the perfect one. The eight hours of sleep lost the night prior were thus not found.
The last leg, Tokyo to Beijing, sleep continued to elude me this time due to the speed of thoughts.

I’m about to be in China again.
I have just flown to the other side of the world—with my kayak—to traipse around new places in a country I never expected to love so much.
I’m about to see Adam and other friends again.
I have almost no idea where we will be going or when.
I can’t speak Mandarin.
I can pass the time however I please because this time in China, I’m on vacation.
The next meal I eat will be with chopsticks, as well as every other meal after that for 6 weeks.
And so on…

And now I'm here!