DJ - Ni Hau (pronounced knee hau) - Welcome to China. Ni Hau being the Chinese expression for good afternoon. Here's the update from Don and Carl in Peking, China. We're here and the trip is beginning to look like it's really going to happen. I guess maybe we'll be as surprised as anybody. I'll tell you about some of the developments here in Peking. It's the first day of school on Monday. While Americans are enjoying a holiday, all of the primary schools, middle schools and universities are resuming the school term. That's a major event in the lives of the 1.2 billion people here in mainland China. All is well on this end. We've had the first meeting of the drivers - the first opportunity for everyone from both continents, Europe and North America and I should include southeast Asia, to come together. And as a group of people, people of all ages, young adults and some folks here in their 70s. Looks to be like quite a mixture of folks in terms of age. It's going to be fun to get to know everybody. There are about 200 people, all total. The next function for the drivers is on Wednesday. To travel as a group to the port city where the cars have arrived and been off loaded in containers on the ships and are safely stored in warehouses The cars are to be driven in a caravan from the port city to an agriculture exhibition grounds here in the city of Peking on Wednesday. On Wednesday night, the drivers have been invited by one of the teams sponsored by the Hard Rock Cafe to a party, and the British Embassy is hosting a party and reception for them. Part of the social intermingling of people is beginning to happen. The major briefing for the forthcoming trip occurs on Thursday evening and the trip itself begins very early on Saturday morning at the Great Wall of China.

Here in Peking we get to observe the culture and the economy and over the next few days, I'll be sharing my personal insights and experiences which range over a period of 20 years. My first trip to China was when I was in my early 30s in 1978 and my recollection both from my memory and from photographs that I dug out recalling that experience, was that China in 1978 was sort of a colorless and somber place, sort of impoverish. The people have always been known for their hospitality and their kindness, but the physical characteristics of China in the 70's were really quite stark and rather unpleasant by North American standards. The contrast to today is startling. China in Peking appears to prosperous, colorful, vibrant, a lot of construction and modern buildings, a lot of large satellite antenna systems on tops of buildings, just like in North America. In fact, Peking would appear to be as exciting as any major capital city anywhere in the world and 20 years ago, Peking was sort of a backward, harsh place. The people are today as gregarious and cordial and jovial and appear, in the city of Peking, to feel good about life and about their circumstances. It will be interesting to contrast that observation as we travel over the next two and a half weeks across all of China to see if there is a consistency in the China of today. China is a very diverse place of 52 separate nationalities, in fact I believe it is 56 different nationalities. Here in Peking, looking for signs of trends and technical adaptation, I've spoken about the buildings - very modern buildings, very handsome buildings, some completed, some under construction. Cannot help but notice that most young people, most professional young people, typically under the age of 30, all have pagers. Pagers on people's belts is a very common sight. The use of cellular telephones is pretty common. These are just extraordinary shifts from what China was like in the 60s and 70s. I would use the world prosperous. I would use the word vibrant to describe what I'm seeing here in the 90s in Peking, China. With respect to being so far away and traveling and feeling connected, or disconnected from home, with the use of cable television here in Peking there are 30 channels of television and on those channels, one is the International CNN news service and by way of watching the CNN news we were able to follow all of the sad and tragic developments involving the automobile accident and the death of Princess Di and her companions. That was something from its very earliest reports we were able to stay up with in complete detail and felt just as informed as anyone in North America or Europe. We also were able to watch the Milwaukee Open, the PGA tournament. We watched the third round in which two of the players tied, to I believe 13 under par. One of the players, Southerland, finished that round and we saw later in the final championship round missed a putt to come in second place to the player who eventually won the tournament. I must say to be sitting in a hotel in Peking, China and to see the Milwaukee County flag, which was part of the video scene, was quite an intellectual connection and experience to realize how communications made it possible for all of us to be closer and more aware and to see the lush green grass of the Wisconsin countryside on the Milwaukee Country Club golf course was quite marvelous. And even as I speak to do this update, a major event is occurring in Wisconsin and that is the Monday Night Football game between Green Bay and da infamous Chicago Bears.

Carl and his wife, Narcelle, and two of their daughters, Liz and Suzy, are here in Peking to see us off and they have a side trip to Xian to see the terra-cotta soldiers of the Qin Shi Huangdi dynasty. They're in good health and report that to all of the Schneider family and friends. Carl also received a very important E-Mail message here this morning from his granddaughter Christy in Bellevue, Washington who asked that he be on the lookout for a panda bear, as she would like to have one. In a few days, we understand, it will be her birthday.

Well the weather here is very pleasant as I report to you now. Fall like, the air is crisp, it's a nice clear day and it's a very pleasant. When you travel, people often ask, "How's the weather and how was your trip?" A few days ago we had hot and muggy weather, sort of like Houston, Texas or New Orleans, but that seems to have cleared out now. Our travel to China was uneventful and right on schedule. United Airlines provided service to Tokyo Narita Airport that was two minutes ahead of schedule and the flight from Tokyo to Peking left on time and arrived a little ahead of schedule as well. A very relaxed atmosphere at the Peking airport with regard to customs processing. Again quite a contrast with my three previous trips to China. Passing through the airport often can be intimidating, very militaristic and a lot of oversight. Again a contrast to the current situation which was the very perfunctory processing of passports and visa and absolutely no customs control and one could credit that to the very strong and very positive GDP, gross national balance of trades that China has with the rest of the world. That is to say that no longer is China impoverish and concerned about things being imported into their economy. They have such a strong balance of trade that they don't seem to be at all focused or worried about that.

I've learned a couple of words that I'll share with you. We're going to collect words and pass them on as we procure them on the trip here. Today I learned about the word FETTLE. The English say they are going to fettle with their cars tomorrow and that means to tinker or to tune-up or to get the car in good running condition. Then we're probably going to need to take the cars to the BOWSER and the bowser, according to the English is the fuel tanker truck which is scheduled to service the cars with petrol. So bowser and fettle have been added to my vocabulary and now to yours. Our update news service to friends and family seems to be working well. We're able to access the telephone here, at least in Peking, without any difficulty thanks to AT&T International Service. Really feel good that it's possible for us to make this journey and to keep everybody informed. Were it not for that I think we'd feel disassociated and feel badly that we were taking an inordinate amount of time from our family responsibilities, but through the update reports, which incidentally is a service that's available at the modest cost of $7 a month, we're able to keep you informed and we're also able to get E-Mail and information onto our Web Site.

That's kind of an overview of how things are going. We seem to be right on schedule and the activities will get more hectic as the motor challenge from Peking to Paris gets underway on Saturday. We'll be in China for a total of three weeks from the date that we arrived and we'll be traveling across China for two weeks as part of the motor challenge. So we're certainly going to simulate and experience China in a way that a normal visitor probably would not. There is a rigidity about the way things are done here. You must conform to what the expectations and rules are. We're not allowed to, for example, drive our cars around Peking, even though we have our own cars here, we're not allowed to drive them and one encounters this conformity and rigidity in how things are done in China, probably out of necessity in trying to have a culture and civilization with as many people as there are here. That's my thoughts and my report and I'll say good-bye and be well until the next time.