Half way around the world.

Yesterday evening we arrived in Beijing after a quick visit in Vancouver BC to see Checkers and their family. In the plane, we noticed that the path started on a Great Circle, shortest distance between points on the surface of a sphere. But as we went further west toward Asia, we deviated off the circle. It seemed we were avoiding flying over the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula by angling south. Another small deviation seemed to avoid North Korea. Neither of us knew how long such air traffic deviations have been occurring. Data from past flights appears to show that this is routine for this route.

Crossing the International Date Line was fun to watch on the phone. Suddenly, Saturday disappeared into Sunday! Or, more accurately, the date changed from 6 to 7 in a flash. This happened after the 12.5 hour flight.

We took a train part way then walked about 40 minutes to our hotel and had dinner at the hotel. So far, understanding English with Chinese accents shortly after weeks of French accents has been bemusing. Our ears will surely improve.

Later, we noticed there is no fourth floor in our hotel. In Chinese the pronunciation of the number 4 resembles that for death so it is avoided. Tetraphobia shapes everyday life in China..

In the morning, we followed a walking tour here in downtown Beijing.

Outside St Joseph’s, we met two teachers who spoke English well. One taught English and both taught art. They took our picture in front of the church and told us many things about Beijing. They brought us to an exhibition by their students and teachers from their school. The original artwork, paintings, calligraphy, embroideries and glassware painted on the inside were for sale. We felt welcomed to China.

We liked that the Earthly father (rather than the mother) of Jesus was honored here. After we toured the church area, another teacher started talking to us. He, too, was informative, telling us what we were looking at (otherwise many photos would not be labeled) and walked with us along the tour we had planned. One fact, in front of St Joseph’s Church was that this church symbolized Eastern Christianity rather than Western.

This pedestrian mall has many smaller indoor malls on both sides. The entrances can be ornate.

Then we walked towards the Forbidden City, which was closed for the day. The huge police presence around that famous place stopped us twice just for walking by. We had to show ID (electronic picture of passport worked) and the small backpack was searched. Police tents were on almost every corner on the wide street where an entrance was located.

So we turned onto a small street and parallel the edge of the Forbidden City. This street featured many tiny stalls selling trinkets or food.

Lunch was at Siji Minfu, a fabulous restaurant famous for roast duck; we ate half a duck with bean sauce wrapped in rice pancakes. A server showed us how to eat this delicious dish. Later, we learned that there can be hours long lines to eat here.

“Peking Duck” is not the same as you might find in the U.S.

• China