Here is my post from Beujing:
Hey everyone! I'm here freezing my behind off in Beijing. The flight from LAX to Guangzhou was very uneventful. I sort of dozed off at LAX waiting for the boarding to begin. Fortunately, I had met a couple from LA adopting from Sichuan province and they made sure I was woken up to board the plane!Once we left I was able to stay awake until they served the dinner meal. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay awake much longer than that. I woke up after about 6 hours and found based on the monitors that tell you the time in the destination city, that it was 11:00pm in Guangzhou. Not good. I stayed up for an hour or so reading a book I had brought along and chatting with another couple on the flight adopting from Kunming. It is their second adoption and went straight to Kunming instead of continuing onto Beijing. So, I took 1 Tylenol PM and was out like a light again and woke up at 5:00am Guangzhou time. I felt fresh as a daisy but by no means looked it. All I wanted was to get to Beijing, shower and change clothes. Connecting in Guangzhou was no big deal as I had the leftover Chinese money sent to me by a couple of friends (Thanks Jennifer and Lisa H). On that flight I met a Chinese woman who was moving with her son to Germany. Her little boy was SOOOOO cute! He was four and spoke only Cantonese and Manderine and she was concerned they did not have any Chinese schools in Germany. She was very nice. When we hit a little turbulence, he asked his mom if she thought I was afraid. Too cute! By the way, I had the Chines meal they served on the plane and the woman (I wish I had gotten her name) said it is a Guangzhou specialty called Fun. It had a wider noodle type ingredient that sort of resembled Linguini but was rather transparent. It was FABULOUS! I will try to get some more of that when I return at the end of the trip. Cindy met me at the gate leaving the airport in Beijing and escorted me back to the hotel. Of course, the first thing I did was jump in the shower and then hit the streets. There are too many restaurants to figure out which one was the one the December gang ate at that everyone recommended. Unfortunately, no one had the name of it so when everyone gets here I think I am going to suggest the Hot Pot restaurant. It's close and easy to get to. Lisa H: It looks like I will be buying dinner. I asked Cindy our guide if she was able to arrange for us to get the babies on Sunday and she said yes. We will need to sign a "temporary custody agreement" type thing and go back on Monday to seal the deal and sign the papers. I haven't seen anyone else here yet so, I think I'll go try to see if anyone has checked in.Unfortuantely, we do not check in under our names so I need to track down Cindy and ask her. If anyone is interested, my room number at the Sino Swiss is 748. I'll try to get online again tomorrow after we tour but I am not sure how long the Business center is open. Later Gators!
Kim T (and soon to be Emmie) By the way, I picked up a quilted snow suit type outfit in a childrens clothing shop down the street for 18 Yuan (about $2.80 as there are 8 yuan in a dollar).
Then followed the emails of support!
From Carolyn: YIPPEEE!! I'm so glad you arrived safely. Enjoy the beds, they are the softest you will find on the whole trip. That down comforter was nice too. Again the nicest on the trip. You will have great meals no matter where you go in Bejing. If you can, try to go the Bahi(sp?) Park. It is beautiful. The Pearl market in town is where I got my pearls. If you can have a driver take you there. Come to think of it though, you are probably only going to have time to go to the Great Wall. We did get the group picture and the book, It is worth it. Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy. We can't wait to hear all about EmmaLi. Love you! Carolyn and Anna Mackenzie I thought it was dang cold in December. As much as I'd like to be with you right now, I'd do anything to stay out of the cold
From, Sarah: Kim, glad you are safely in Beijing! I suggested Hot Pot! You will love it. One of the best meals we had while in China. The Kesters went with us and we all enjoyed it! Carolyn mentioned Beihai Park. It was really interesting and Pearl Market is the place to get pearls. The cab drivers can take you to both. You can also go to an acrobat show if you are interested at night...again the concierge will arrange a cab for you. Enjoy!Sarah
From Jana: Hi Kim, Glad to hear from you in Beijing! Which children's shop did you go to? Sounds like a nice deal! Have fun doing the tours tomorrow and dress WARM :)Jana
Then I found out about Carol's nightmare. Oh Lord..Here is a snippet of it:
Kimbo!!!!!!If you happen to check in, I just wanted to let you know I AM alive......just stranded in MN right now. I set out early Thursday morning at o'dark thirty for the airport and have spent two days in the KC airport (held hostage) by bad weather and maintenance malfunctions of airplanes (I WILL NEVER FLY NW AIRLINES AGAIN!!!).I was able to get out on a flight this afternoon only to miss the Beijing flight by less than 5 minutes! Even though they knew we had landed at the gate next to the 747 we were to get on, they would not wait 5 minutes!! I couldn't believe it.....there were about 5 of us trying to catch that connection. I have so many stories to tell you in this so far "short" trip that I don't even know where to begin. To say the least it has not been uneventful, and I can't wait to fill you in! ......Anyway, if I make the flight out tomorrow, I'll get to Beijing and spend about 10 hours in the airport before catching the new flight I have to Shaanxi. There, I will have to find a taxi and ask them to take me to the office of Civil Affairs.....sure wish I knew how to say that in Chinese! Should be pretty exciting!! So, then after days without real sleep and more aggravation that I can possible describe, I will appear in the Civil Affairs office with my luggage, all haggard looking and half dead.....where I will meet my daughter......and the guide.....and all the other "fresh" families who've been touring and had a nice night's sleep with their new kids! Does this sound like a nightmare to anyone else? Somebody, PLEASE wake me up!!!Wow! This is one HELL of a trip and I don't think it's actually even started yet. I've been praying a lot these last few days. I told God that I think he must have for me one really special ANGEL at the end of this rainbow! Everyone keep your fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow......and NO MORE BROKEN AIRPLANES!!!!Carol"
Carol had many supportive posts from everyone as well. She is did finally get to her province and her guide met her at the airport. Rest assured once she arrived the rest of her journey was smooth sailing.
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