BEIJING - They had ideas of what it would be like when they arrived.

The dreamers imagined a vanguard of commerce and industry. The wary, a riot of pollution, scattered with vestiges of muted civil rights.

So far, Beijing is a little bit of both.

From what the North Idaho travelers have seen, the capital of the People's Republic of China is gritty. Dense. A sea of clustered office buildings, apartment towers and mega malls in a zig-zagging skyline clouded in smog.

That doesn't tarnish the wonder for some.

"I can't get over all the high-rises, even as we were flying in," said Coeur d'Alene resident Carol Payne. "I expected it to be like Minneapolis, like to have a downtown section. But like she (our tour guide) said, 'There's no downtown. It's all downtown, it's so big.'"

Bleary eyed and weary they came, the horde of Idaho and other Inland Northwest travelers. On Tuesday their bodies were resistant to feeling landed, their minds still in transit after the 12-hour flight from Seattle to Beijing. They continued on smiling, gawking, tacitly absorbing the city rising on all sides of their tour buses.

"It's like we're really in China now, isn't it? It's finally real," said Spokane retiree Judy Blankenship, after the buses passed the glowing red Crow's Nest stadium constructed for the 2008 Olympics.

The group of 60, the fourth of five groups to visit China through tours arranged by the Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls chambers of commerce, is two-thirds from Kootenai County, the others friends and family from out of state.

For the most part, these aren't entrepreneurs seeking connections to global trade. Those with such interests were on earlier trips, according to Todd Christensen, CEO and president of the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, these are a motley assortment of stay-at-home moms, retirees, bankers and transfer station workers who come to cross an item off their bucket lists. Many are tenderfoot travelers who have never had a chance to visit a foreign country swelling to become a heavyweight in the global market.

"I know a lot of people wouldn't go to this country. I've told people we're going and they ask, 'Why would you want to go there, instead of some other place?'" said Post Falls resident David Garnsey, a transfer station employee for Shoshone County. "But I've never been to a communist country. I'd like to see a diversification of people. When you're surrounded by people who don't speak your language ... We like to jump in and do things spur of the moment."

They haven't seen much yet.

The flight from the Seattle airport deposited the group in Beijing, or Peking, at roughly 5 p.m. (about 2 a.m. Coeur d'Alene time).

The sky already dark once they exited customs, the globetrotters had only a glimpse of the metropolis as they were bused by their tour guides to Jianghenshui restaurant for a dinner of various Chinese dishes. Then it was on to Pullman Hotel to nurture their jet lag.

The city is warm, humid.

It's also immense. Through the bus windows, an endless thread of windows gleam up to the sky in office towers fronting the highway. Whole blocks are consumed by shopping districts akin to Vegas, with buildings traced in neon and replete with mammoth advertisements and mega-screen displays.

It's smoggy. Mountains were visible from the arriving airplane, but no longer on the ground. That wasn't due so much to the setting sun as to the opaque curtain of pollution enveloping the city.

Few of the travelers know what to expect from here on out.

Most touched down with raw knowledge of the country, some admitting they briefly tried language CDs before giving up.

"This is one of those places you have on your list to go someday, somewhere. We just didn't expect it to be so soon," said Ligia Magnus of Coeur d'Alene, traveling with her husband, Lee.

Lee, an entrepreneur, can't ignore the business potential China holds, he said.

"From the government's perspective, they're doing a lot of capitalism, sponsoring and taking part of these tours for chambers of commerce," Lee said. "It seems they're really trying to engage in business."

It's something the owner of a sporting goods store hopes to take a shot at.

"I'd like to maybe set up a meeting while we're here," he said. "It would be good to import directly, to create an exclusive relationship to import and sell."

Sharon Henry, retired from the medical field, spoke of the fabled attractions she has dreamt of seeing, like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

But she's curious about the people, she says. About how their daily lives compare to hers, with a few less freedoms, a lot more crowds and a history that dwarfs that of her native country.

"All the political upheaval over (in China) ... All the suffering the people have gone through and how the mind can be controlled by propaganda," she mused. "It can happen anywhere, if done right."

Recent North Idaho College grad Mykkel Mensching, accompanying his grandmother, Elizabeth Middlewood, said he isn't worried about crime in the city.

His first time out of the U.S., the 21-year-old is just looking for a chance to broaden his worldview, he said.

"They've got about 5,000 years of culture. I'm looking forward to a lot of things," he said. "I'd like to see how they blend culture and industry."

He also wants to bring back a valid perspective to those who have raised cynical concerns, he added.

"I've gotten so many answers," Mensching said of folks who gave him their two cents on China. "Many from people who don't care for what's made in China. I've had a lot of people say, 'I'd like to see how much they appreciate their own country, if at all.'"

Roland Curtis said Africa and China have been on his list of places to see all his life.

"When I was a little boy, there were three neighborhood kids who were digging a hole to China," the Coeur d'Alene retiree explained. "They were scheduled to come out on the 12th, so I'm going to meet up with them."

He wouldn't mind learning about the vast shifts the country has undergone, too, he said.

"It wasn't a communist country when those boys left," he said. "Boy will they be in for a surprise."

On Tuesday evening, these folks were beat.

The first day of sightseeing was to commence at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, and the travelers were crashing early to prepare for strolling Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

Veronica Garnsey, a Post Falls banker, said she and her husband, David, expect to learn as they go, whether about language, culture or anything else that comes up.

"I think life is an adventure," Veronica said. "If you don't jump off every now and then, it gets stagnant. We're just looking forward to looking and seeing everything."