"I am sending an
angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I
have prepared."
Travel
Day 2
Friday, November 5, 2004 - Arriving in Beijing
Hello From China -- finally
As I sit down to write to you it is just after midnight Friday night in China
and 11:15AM Friday morning back home. Home, the place we awoke to at 2:45AM
Thursday morning. Thus, making us awake now for 33 1/2 -hours. We did sleep
about 20 minutes on one flight and about 30 on another, but it has been a long,
long, long day. But, I want to write. I want to document this journey while it
is fresh in my memory even if neither mind nor body is working so greatly right
now.
We left Tampa airport on time at 7:25 for our just over 3hr flight to Denver.
Arrived a few minutes early in Denver, hungry since no food was served. We had
McDonald's and boarded our next flight to San Fran. The pilot soon announced
there were mechanical issues and we'd be departing 30 min late. The part could
not be found (a battery pack for the runway lights) so they asked us that were
connecting to Beijing to de-board and catch another plane, so we'd not miss our
flight to China. When we boarded our next plane, they were just about to leave
when San Fran closed the runway due to fog, and so we'd not be able to land
there. Another delay. Our 2-hour flight would put us in San Fran at 1:45 and our
connection left at 1:50. Not good since we'd still have to transport over to the
International Terminal. From what we've heard, the unheard of occurred, and that
was they held the Beijing plane for us, for over 1 hour.
The flight to Beijing was 12 hours, a very long and tight-fitting 12 hours.
We had 3 movies: Alamo, Spider Man 2 & iRobot. I couldn't pay attention and
I couldn't really sleep. I walked around the plane some and spoke to the other
15 or so families on the flight with our agency. Some going for their first
daughter, some for their second and 1 couple for their 3rd child and I think a
boy this time. At all times people were just standing and talking, anything not
to sit in those seats. We had two dinners and a snack/lunch on the flight.
We flew over the outer skirts of Alaska, the Barren Straights, through the
International Date Line, over the outer banks of Russia or the Ukraine (not sure
which) and then over Japan and into China. We were able to see the Golden Gate
Bridge and Alcatraz when landing in San Fran. The Barren Straights were
INCREDIBLE…not a word to describe it. The animated movie Ice Age is the best
example I can give, and there is no way you could over sensationalize the
awesomeness the mountains of ice or snow. All you could see was mounds of white
and then larger mounds of white -wisped though, like a painting. It looked like
the ice age had just occurred and we were the only survivors. It was beautiful
beyond imagination. Then there was a bright red/orange glow and it was the sun
setting possibly somewhere around the North Pole.
We landed here sometime around 6:15 pm Beijing time, 5:15 am at home. It was
very dark already. The airport is beautiful. Our guides from our agency where
there to meet us after baggage claim and take us to our bus. We drove 40 minutes
through Beijing to our hotel. On the way we passed Tiananmen Square and their
*White House* (so to speak). We passed the main business district and I wondered
if the Franklin office was tucked back in their somewhere. Our friend Bill put
it best "looks like Jersey but I can't read the signs". It's very lit
up here with bright light billboards and for some reason is decorated like
Christmas almost. The hotel is very nice. The agency had already checked us in
and had put a beautiful bouquet of flowers in a room, orchids, roses and some
other exotics that are really pretty. We settled in the room a bit and wondered
down for a bite to eat at the 24 hour lobby restaurant, which turns out to be
Western. We shared the most unique club sandwich…some kind of meat, maybe
bologna, maybe some turkey or chicken or something. It did have bacon though and
a fried egg, of all things and very bitter pickles. Two Coke Lights and a yummy
black forest cake…131 Yuan. (That's about $15.50). Everywhere else is cheaper
but it was 11pm and we were tired. We'll have the $2 and $3 meals of local food
tomorrow.
We are now showered and ready for bed. The things I learned today: (1) They
turn the AC off in the fall and winter, so if you turn it on, you actually get
heat. Talk about a hot room! We are doing better now that we've let all the heat
out (2) To turn the lights on you must put your room key card in a slot and
leave it there or the lights go out. So, what to do at bed time? I guess take
the key card out. Do all the lights in the room work off of that? I still don't
know. (3) The water smells like sewer. If we walked in a public bathroom and
smelled something like this, we would assume there was a plumbing problem. Now,
after showering, I assume that is also what we smell like. (4) I miss home
already. I hope it's just from the long flight and that after a good nights
rest, I'll be back to my normal flexible, traveling self taking it all in.
More tomorrow, on Beijing. (Two more days and we get our baby girl!)
Dawn
Our AWAA guides,
Maggie & Rosa
In front of our hotel
& flowers from our adoption agency
