No April Fool's Joke

My mom and brother (Mike) are in China for 12 days. No joke. They've been planning the trip for some months now and finally arrived today. It's just the two of them on this visit -- it's their spring break and my dad has other obligations with our local American Cancer Society's annual Telethon event. He'll be visiting in the spring.

I arrived at the airport early and waited near the arrival area. As I predicted, my mom had tears in her eyes before we even started to hug. My brother looked like he grew again (he's already taller than me). We took the airport express train back to Dongzhimen where I live. They're staying in a hotel across the street/highway from where I live.

Before they even unpacked their clothes or decided what we'd be doing that weekend, we went to one of the local markets to have a suit made for my brother. Recall, over the summer I told him I'd get him an "Armani" suit. Now that I've been here a while, I've discovered an even better type of suit -- tailor made. We had to negotiate a bit -- three tailors wouldn't accept my price and my brother just happened to pick the most expensive fabric -- but eventually we found our tailor. For a little over $100 my brother had a suit and a shirt made.

We ate a restaurant near the hotel; Western food since my brother was feeling sick from the plane food. We have a big day ahead tomorrow: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park. I've been to all these places numerous times, but I'm looking forward to playing tour guide for a day or two.


AIRPORT ARRIVAL: My brother Michael and I ride the slow moving escalator to the train depot at Beijing International Airport before heading back to the city