The cultural experience began before I left the US.  Upon arriving at the Cathay Pacific gate at JFK international airport, I met the indigenous people of China - individuals that represented the local culture despite being in a foreign land.  Mandarin was the common tongue and I had become an outsider before my trip had begun.

The plane was nearly as foreign to me as the native tongue of its passengers.  Bright colored pleather seats created the fashion forward plastic aesthetic that the Asian cultures have both created and mastered. 

The ultra modern plan offered some noteworthy improvements: power outlets, a personal TV screen and a more space efficient cabin.  However, the designer sacrificed some standard conveniences, including the pouch on the back of the seat in front of me (which was relocated to the inaccessible bottom front of my seat by my heels).  After being forced to stow a book, headset and other essentials under a leg and tucked around my seat, I realized that the pouch was a small amenity that I had taken for granted for decades.

Eight thousand miles, fifteen hours, four and a half movies and one book later, I arrived in Hong Kong.  Navigating the Hong Kong airport and finding passage to Shenzen, a Mainland airport where I would connect to Beijing, was easy, reminding me that it is a privilege to be a native of a country that was once a member of the British colonial system.  In the remnants of the Empire everyone speaks English.

A bus propelled us through this cluster of islands that resides just a bridge away from the Mainland.  The bus window framed the physical manifestation of innovative architectural dreams.  The roads were smooth and spotless, the bridges visions of artistic awe and the skyscrapers thoughtful complements to the lush hills that ascend and decline around them.  In Hong Kong man has merged a metropolis with nature, achieving harmony.

When I arrived in Mainland Chain, I knew I had made it to the other side of the world because everything was up-side-down.  The Shenzen airport was very run down, ticketing was done without the aide of computers and the operational system required me to visit seven ticket counters (and wait in seven separate lines) in order to be re-booked after my original flight was secretly canceled.

I arrived at my gate to the comfort of seeing a handwritten sign confirming that my flight was on time.  Unfortunately, the adjacent TV screen that listed the terminal's flights in no coherent order indicated that I was at the wrong gate, contradicting the sign.  By asking a few locals for clarification, I set an otherwise still group of fifty people lounging by this gate into motion and we walked en mass to the new location.

After several delays I was shuttled to my plant - a 1990's Boeing with a lot of seats and only a few bodies.

I awoke to find that we had taken off successfully but that we were re-routing to another airport to avoid a tempest passing over our destination.  Our charming flight crew mentioned that we would park on the tarmac of another airport until the weather permitted us to proceed to Beijing.  It was as if the plan was our hired limo and the pilot our personal driver.  Schedules were disregarded; rather than being routed through other flights at the stop-over airport, it was handled as if we were simply stopping for gas while we waited for traffic to clear.

After completing a majority of the our descent, we pulled up sharply and began a steep incline.  Our bodies were glued to our seats the way that they are when a roller coaster cranks up the first hill and prepares from the plunge into exhilaration.  Thoughts of dodging incoming flights jetted through my head.  However, our wait staff eventually told us the weather had cleared up and we were heading to the Capitol City.  We landed safely.

Like an old house Beijing is being renovated.  The posh airport rivals its Hong Kong counterpart, prepared to welcome scores of Olympic competitors and spectators.

After pulling my bags from a conveyor belt evenly peppered with normal luggage and poorly sealed cardboard boxes, I headed off to meet my host.  He escorted me to a lovely hotel in the city center, where I promptly took a short nap before transforming into a tourist.