Beijing

As we were cruising through China and approaching Beijing, suddenly all kinds of alarms and alerts went off in the sleigh. I looked at the radar and saw 3 Chinese fighter jets closing in. Seconds later Jingle, based at the Flight Operations Center, was screaming at me over the radio warning me to prepare for defensive maneuvers. But the fact was, I could now see the jets... they zipped head on toward and past me... one overhead and one on each side. This was completely unexpected. There had been no formal communication. I was starting to get worried. Rudolph dropped us down in a near verticial descent... the toys shifting to the front so violently it almost knocked me out of the sleigh. He pulled up just 500 feet from the ground. And the jets, having circled back around followed. They pulled up beside and behind me. They were close enough I felt I could reach out and touch the wings and I certainly could see them. There was still no radio contact with the pilots but they were clearly motioning for me to land.

I informed Jingle of what was happening though he could observe most of it from the on-board cameras, satellite imagery, and radar. He advised that I land and informed me that he and some of the other senior staff would depart for Beijing within the half-hour to meet with Chinese officials to sort this out. He also told me that Mrs. Claus was already contacting heads of State to make them aware and ask that they stand by in case their help was need to help resolve the situation.

I landed just outside Beijing. I have to admit I was nervous. As we touched down, a local government official walked up to the sleigh, flanked by several army personnel. I sat in the sleigh, deciding it was best not to appear aggressive. "Merry Christmas" I said. He did not reply but the look he gave screamed "Bah Humbug" back at me. He started to lecture me in English (which by the way, his English was very good) but switched when I replied in Mandarin. It turns out we had forgotten to submit a two-page form granting air space rights for the evening. After some debate, he agreed to let me fill out the form and proceed. I had to radio back to the North Pole to have Jingle help me answer some of the questions on the form but I was able to complete it fairly quickly. Meanwhile, the soldiers at the airbase, obviously quite impressed and enamored by the reindeer, brought oats and fruit to the reindeer.

Once the form was complete, the official stormed back to his office building and we were given permission to depart. I didn't waste any time getting off the ground and making my way as quickly as possible through and out of Beijing.

The good news is we made up time and I still appear to be on-track. I will see the rest of you very soon!