Day 1 - Arrival in Xi'an

After 9 hours in Paris, flight departure to Beijing to #IBMCSC China.

Form to fill when arriving in China

It was a long flight 11 hours. I was really confused with different time zones, and my body did not know if it was morning, afternoon or evening. It was a long flight. I could not sleep in the initial 5 hours. I watched 2 movies during this time.

Arriving in Beijing, my first contact with Chinese culture. Asking for information, on where to take my connection flight I started to experience the language barriers. Either in the airport only a few people speak English.

The security process in Chinese airports is a little bit different. You are required to remove from the bag all electronic equipment's like External Hard Drives, Cameras and Computer charger.

During 2 hours in the airport waiting for my flight (my boarding gate changed 2 times), I could see some initial elements of Chinese culture:

1 - Chinese people eat a lot of Noodles. There are some water filters in the airport where you can get water to drink. It also allow you to get hot water to put in your cup noodles. I saw several people doing that.

Machine with Hot water and Cold water

2 - Beijing airport is really so big. Have you seen any airport with a gate with number 234?

3 - Several local flights inside China are operated with big airplanes. My flight from Beijing to Xi'an was in an Airbus A330 airplane.

Now time to go to Xi'an.

Arriving in Xi'an, my baggage arrived fine. Thanks god.

Going to the arrival gate I saw Shen Shuo, Paul and one gentleman from Sheraton Hotel waiting for me.

We waited around 30 minutes for Irena and Vincent arrival. I am so tired I need to sleep.

Arriving in the Hotel, the other teammates were having a drink with our interpreters and welcome us.