We made it to Beijing!

We are officially in China!  After 28 hours of travelling, I can't believe that we're finally here.  We got off the plane last night and it was 11:45pm here.  We came to find out right when we stepped into the airport that everything we had heard about air pollution in Beijing was true.  There was a smoky haze in the baggage claim area and it didn't get any better when we stepped outside.  But besides that, we had a smooth transition off the plane and into China.  Our guide from our agency, George, met us at the airport and took us to our hotel, the Qianmen Jianguo Hotel.  As we drove through Beijing last night from the airport, we couldn't see much since it was so dark, but we could tell this was a huge city.  George said that there are 21 million people in the city of Beijing.  We saw lots of high rises and even some names on buildings that we recognized: Motel 8, Century 21, and of course a McDonalds.  After popping some sleeping pills (that we probably didn't need because I think we each probably slept a combined 3 hours during the last day), we went to sleep.  It's now 7:52am here (and 7:52pm in the States), and we're getting ready to go downstairs to eat breakfast and then meet George for a full day of sightseeing.  Beijing in the daylight- here we come!!