Got into Pu Dong Airport somewhat late last night, partly because it was a late flight, and partly because the flight was delayed. My friend Ken, who’s putting me up in his spare bed and acting as my tour guide for the week, was patiently waiting as I came in at 9:30, and was even more patient as I got in a long line to change money. I had tried changing yen to Yuan in Tachikawa Citibank back in Japan, but they couldn’t do it. No problem, I though, I’ll change it in Narita, plenty of time. But at Narita, they couldn’t change to Yuan either. I’m thinking maybe it’s some political thing, some monetary restriction due to friction somewhere, something like that. Either way, it got me worried–if I didn’t get Yuan at Pu Dong Airport, I was afraid I’d never get it at all.

But my worries were unfounded–the airport bank clerk said I could change yen to yuan in town, but still, it was good to get local money in my pocket. And I really have to get used to the local currency–8 Yuan to the dollar, roughly. And the biggest denomination is 100 Yuan, or about $12. Makes for a big stack if you’re carrying hundreds of dollars.

In addition, many things are dirt cheap here. After getting into town by bus (Y18, $1.50), we had dinner at a small noodle place (beef noodles with a licorice-flavored broth!), and then as it was raining and taking the train/bus/walk would be a hassle, I agreed to spring for the taxi ride–which took more than half an hour. That kind of taxi ride would cost easily ¥5000 in Japan, or about $45, but here it was just 100 Yuan, or about $12, or not too much more than I pay for the 4-minute taxi ride from my apartment to the local train station in Japan.

On the way in, we had the driver stop so I could jump out and get some water, and Ken asked me to get a few “cold ones” for him. I thought he meant beer. He meant water, but I got enough of that too (trying to avoid tap water here as much as I can). But the beers were pretty cheap, 6 Yuan (75 cents?) for a 640 ml bottle which would have cost 4 or 5 times more in Tokyo. I got a few smaller cans which I thought were beer, but wasn’t sure–they were in the same section of the cooler, but with a strange English brand name and the rest in Chinese, I could not identify them as beer. Until later, that is, when Ken pointed out that the brand name “REEB” was “beer” backwards. Ah. Okay.

No photos yet, but you can’t snap many at night (unless you wanted to see Ken slurping noodles). I’m not able to connect to the Internet just yet, and may not be able to today–it’s still tentative–but I’ve decided that if access is limited, then I’ll just blog offline, add the entries when I get a chance, and then backdate them to the right time and day.

In the meantime, I am in the relative lap of luxury in China–Ken’s place is in a dormitory for foreign teachers, and they get special amenities that most people here don’t, like hot water and air conditioning. Cool. Literally. ‘Cause outside it’s rather hot and humid.

Ken has made an arrangement with one of his students out in the countryside so that we can get shown around a small village on the outskirts of the city today–probably a big photo op as well as a nice time. The photos may have to wait, though–if I can’t eventually get to a Starbucks and make the WiFi connection work, then photos will be harder to upload.