10/5 - ATL to JFK and then JFK to Beijing on Air China. The flight is a quick 17 hours. I don't think I have ever spent 17 consecutive hours in one room, let alone in one seat. I plan to wander the plane extensively and watch a ton of movies with Kathy. Our iPad is loaded with about a dozen movies that we never got around to seeing in theaters. I still expect to be phenomenally bored during the flight.
10/6 - Beijing - We are scheduled to land at 6:20pm. After we clear customs they take us to the Beijing Ritz Carlton (Dukies travel in luxury!!) and then we have a group dinner. We then desperately attempt to sleep through the night. I plan to make copious use of medical products to trick my body into dealing with the 12 hour time change. 4pm is 4am... yeah, that'll be easy to handle.
10/7 - Beijing - Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and a big welcome dinner featuring legendary Peking Duck. This also happens to be the first night of Yom Kippur. I may fast for Yom Kippur, but my fast will most certainly begin after I have eaten my fill of Peking Duck!
10/8 - Beijing - We get a lecture from a Duke prof on US-China relations in the 20th century. We will also visit the Summer Palace in the afternoon. It is very possible we will break off from the group on this day to go to a Synagogue to see how Jews in Beijing celebrate Yom Kippur.
10/9 - Beijing - Visit the Great Wall and Olympic Village. Yeah, this day should suck ;)
10/10 - Fly from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet - The flight leaves at 9am and gets into Lhasa at 3pm. That's 6 hours. China is a biiig country and it takes a while to get around. They want us to rest when we get to the hotel to get used to the unreal altitude in Tibet.
10/11 - Tibet - We visit a museum and the summer palace of the Dalai Lama (who won't be there because he and China don't really get along). We also visit some 1300 year old temple (that's 6x as old as the United States, kids) and tour a Tibetian street market.
10/12 - Tibet - Visit one of the great architectural wonders of the world, the Potala Palace in the morning and then go to the Sera Monastery in the afternoon to see the monks praying. I am sure the 1000 rooms of the Potala Palace will all start to look the same at some point.
10/13 - Fly from Tibet to Chengdu, China - Once we arrive, in Chengdu, we have a free afternoon to explore the city.
10/14 - Chengdu - We have a lecture from the Duke prof in the morning and we go to the Giant Panda Breeding Center in the afternoon. Yawn, Giant Pandas... how dull.
10/15 - Chengdu and Xian - In the morning we explore a Flower and Bird market before flying to Xian.
10/16 - Xian - See the famous Terracotta Warriors. I am really hoping the day ends up like the Mummy: Part III movie where the Terracotta Warriors all came to life and attacked Brendan Frasier, because killing Brendan Frasier and preventing him from making any more movies would be a really good thing.
10/17 - Xian - We get another lecture about China (do we get course credit for this trip?) we visit some other cool spots around Xian including the Wild Goose Pagoda. I don't know what the WGP is, but it has a cool name and looks neat.
10/18 - Guilin - Cruise down the Li River with its beautiful limestone rock formations. We also shop in the market town of Yangshuo.
10/19 - Guilin and Shanghai - Tour Guilin and then late afternoon flight to Shanghai.
10/20 - Shanghai - Vist the Bund, the extraordinary Yu Garden, and the Shanghai Museum. We are going to try to see cousin Tommy who lives there, but our stay in Shanghai is jam packed. Our evening concludes with a farewell dinner that is supposed to be really memorable. I hope they serve Monkey brains or something like that.
10/21 - 2 hour flight from Shanghai to Beijing and then 17 hour flight back to JFK followed by 3 hour flight from JFK to Atlanta. If neither of us go postal on the airplanes, it will be a miracle.
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