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Greetings From Beijing

Two flights, two films, three airports and countless glasses of red wine and coffee, and I'd finally made it to my destination. China, my home for the next three months.

By Citizen Correspondent Nick Axford

Date Posted: 07/07/08

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I stepped off the plane in Beijing airport, and looked around. 22 hours since I left my flat, 24 hours since I last slept. Two flights, two films, three airports and countless glasses of red wine and coffee, and I'd finally made it to my destination. China, my home for the next three months.

I arrived yesterday at 11am (4am UK time). I'm writing this 36 hours later. So what have I been doing in this day and a half? Well the first step is getting to know the 25 other people on my trip.

OK, so I had the plane journey to do that, but not much space to move around, which led to me watching 21 (rubbish) and The Other Boleyn Girl (not quite as rubbish, but still poor).

We've had inductions, conferences, football and beer, and tried our best to get used to the intense height (horrific yesterday, but a thunderstorm last night has calmed the climate a fair bit). Having spent much of the past couple of days in a hotel room, university room and conference room, I've not too many experiences to write back about so far, although I will say that parts of the city look breath-taking.

The trip begins proper tomorrow with a tour of the city, so check back later for more updates.