I may have mentioned in passing that I had been invited to China. Sure! Why notgo?So we leave our home in Utah at 4 a.m. on Friday, flying to L.A. where later in the day we board Eastern China Air in L.A. and head--whoa!--north?! We blow north along the California coast until we are past Mendocino, then make a sweeping left turn out over the vast Pacific and into the west. We have been warned to prepare for a grueling 15 hour flight to Shanghai, then 3 more hours on to Beijing. We chase the sun, flying through an infinite Friday, which has no night. It isalways day, more day, day again, still day as various curious passengers peekthrough the sliding brilliance of their window shades. Dazzling day. The oceanbelow looks like sky, dappled with clouds. The water is wide. We settle in. We wait. Watch. Read. Eat. Doze.Pace.Drink. Eat. Rest. Walk. Watch. Sleep. Eat again. Three meals and a snackpass through our alimentary canals. Still day. At times this Airbus feels as if it's not moving. Time goes all haywire. Itbecomes Saturday without finishing Friday. We fly on into an endless day.It some point it ceases being a journey and becomes an existence; separate,distinct. This is all there is, all there ever was, will be.A scruffily bearded teen asks how much longer. I tell him, "140years." He smiles and accepts this. Fourteen hours into the flight we have caught up with Earth's shadow as themurky sky darkens. Turbulence has us captive in our seats once again. I fallinto a brief discontinuous sleep as we descend into Shanghai's bleary evening.A rushed capture of our luggage precedes a long queue through...customs? We must have gone through customs. I do remember asevere security inspection... and into the next aircraft for our final leg,a devastatingly tiresome 3 hour 'hop' to Beijing in the north. We leave the aircraft in Beijing and embark upon a forced march, following ourimpeccably uniformed and groomed airline representative. He is unaware of ordisinterested in our complete exhaustion, bursting bladders anddehydration-induced stupidity. It's 11:30 p.m. on Saturday in Beijing. We feel we've been awake for days on end, and our appearances bear out that belief. A beautiful woman appears in front of us, with her sign of welcome: SB2. SB2??Oh. Yes. SB2! In our previous existence, there was a little label telling us whereto muster. We obligingly put on our name tags like a bunch of kindergartenerson their first field trip. "Come now. Stay together. I will help you, I amyour family in China," Ana tells us. I just want to sleep now. My brain has left me. Oh no. A bus. Not a bus!It's a short ride and Ana has already picked up our roomkeys, handing them to us on the way. Our organized, merciful angel delivers. Express elevator, here I come! Oh dread. I have luggage to schlep and I need a shower. Will this day never end?I have reposted this so I could add this cross-pollination:(photos)http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=59446786434#/album.php?aid=2018763&id=1391473512&ref=mfDon't tell Tom!