Guangzhou pre "GOTCHA!"

Well, it's Monday morning for us.  4 a.m. to be precise (noon yesterday to you back home).  I am still waking really early.  My clock just wont re-set.  I don't mind though, I kinda like being up when it's quiet and dark.  We flew into Guangzhou early yesterday evening.  Guangzhou is a lot more like Eugene, Oregon weather wise.  In Beijing it was COLD, usually below freezing and the stores and such don't seem to warm things up a whole lot.  GZ is warmer, wetter, and greener.  It's also much cleaner than Beijing.  We loved it in Beijing but it was dirty....I mean really dirty.  GZ so far is MUCH cleaner and has a totally different feel to it.  We found it very interesting that though most Chinese speak Mandarin, there are many dialects and they CAN NOT understand each other AT ALL.   If someone flys from Beijing to GZ they need a translator....strange.  

Our hotel, the White Swan, is on the Shamian Island in GZ.  Our room is mostly street side but we can see a bit of the river as well.  The architecture is different here, slightly more western than Beijing, and they love giant video screens on buildings and lights.  One building across from us is video on one whole side....and it's not a small building.  I tried to get a pic but didn't do it justice.   We have yet to explore the island as we were exhausted from our flight (China Air, old Boeing held together with bailing wire and J.B. Weld).  We probably wont explore much today because it's........

GOTCHA DAY!......in a few hours we meet in the lobby to head to Civil Affairs and go get Lisi.  Shell has reported she has butterflies in her stomach for the first time.  We really have no idea what to expect.  She will love me though.....eventually....I mean, how can she resist!?  O.K. so here are some pics....Sorry if I double post some I don't know what I left off with.

Orientation and The Great Wall.

After blogging yesterday morning Michelle and I decided to take a quick swim in the hotel pool.  It was refreshing and a good way to wake up a bit before breakfast.  We then headed to the breakfast buffet which was huge.  There were both western and Chinese style breakfast foods available.  I started with Waffles and something called an "Ocean" egg…???  It was kind of like a poached egg with some weird bit of sauce on it.  It was pretty good.  Then I headed back and got some eggs with mystery stuff in them and some good ol' fried american hash browns and some bacon and some fried noodles with veggies.   There were also pastries, smoothies, fruit, congee, and various cereals to eat.

The orientation was shortly after breakfast and we were given a red silk notebook with some new pictures of  Lisi and an update.  That was cool but all the pictures look like her first batch….like maybe they jerked her out of bed, thrust her into strange clothes, pointed a strange devise at her and said "SMILE!".  Grumpy face.  Ha Ha!….

The orientation lasted a couple of hours then we met up with a small group to go to The Great Wall.  We stopped for lunch at a huge restaurant/gift shop and had some very good Chinese food.  I suspect it was rather Americanized and a typical place to take tourist but it was better than most American Chinese food places.  I did get a surprise mouth full of fish bones though….ugh.  Spit….cough…but overall really good food.  Then we headed out for the wall.  It was really amazing and you cant really grasp what these people have done without standing on it and putting yourself in their shoes.  The area we went to had a very steep climb and some nice views.  Michelle decided to tackle the steepest section but I decided to stay back in the sunshine.  If I had my hoodie on I couldn't see to climb and if it was off my head would freeze.  Shell did great an made it up and back down again without tumbling down head over heals.  

On our way back we stopped at a silk museum.  It was pretty cool but it was about ½ tour and ½ "now that you've seen how we make silk please buy some of our silk products" .  They push pretty hard for you to buy stuff here.  Even at the restaurants.  If you slow down in front of one, someone comes out to drag you in….Beijing is very amazing, and HUGE.

Were in Beijing!

Well the flight was no problem.  I didn't even need happy pills.  Yay me.  We got off the plane and proceeded through the health inspection, and customs.  We then followed the baggage claim signs which ultimately led us to board a light rail train.  We were unsure that was the right thing to do but we jumped aboard....along with about 1000 other people (and they just keep packing on weather there is space or not.).  We rode the train and found the exit for baggage claim.  We found our bags without problem and zipped through customs. We found our guide at the baggage claim exit and soon boarded a passenger van with 2 other families and headed to the Novatel Peace Hotel.  After settling into our room I discovered the power adapter I purchased will not work with my laptop (so this might be the last update until we find a power adapter).  We then took a stroll down the street in front of our hotel and found a restaurant to eat a small dinner.  Shell and I shared a plate of pan fried chicken wings.  They were served on a bed of spicy crumbly stuff and were good.  The waitresses didn't speak any English but we figured everything out with lots of pointing and gestures.  Then our waitress stood by our table pretty much the whole time we were eating.  She was very cute and nice, but it was a bit uncomfortable.  On the way back to the hotel a lady followed us for almost a block trying to get money from me.  She was holding my sleeve and saying "hello....hello..." and various Chinese fraises I of course didn't understand.  We made it back to the hotel and cleaned up and finally went to bed around 1:00 a.m. our time.   My body told me "Time to get up, you've slept until 9 a.m.".  So at about 1:30 a.m. here I sit blogging in the hotel lobby with a near dead battery.   Beijing is cool.  Such an interesting blend of old and new.

Were in Beijing!

Well the flight was no problem.  I didn't even need happy pills.  Yay me.  We got off the plane and proceeded through the health inspection, and customs.  We then followed the baggage claim signs which ultimately led us to board a light rail train.  We were unsure that was the right thing to do but we jumped aboard....along with about 1000 other people (and they just keep packing on weather there is space or not.).  We rode the train and found the exit for baggage claim.  We found our bags without problem and zipped through customs. We found our guide at the baggage claim exit and soon boarded a passenger van with 2 other families and headed to the Novatel Peace Hotel.  After settling into our room I discovered the power adapter I purchased will not work with my laptop (so this might be the last update until we find a power adapter).  We then took a stroll down the street in front of our hotel and found a restaurant to eat a small dinner.  Shell and I shared a plate of pan fried chicken wings.  They were served on a bed of spicy crumbly stuff and were good.  The waitresses didn't speak any English but we figured everything out with lots of pointing and gestures.  Then our waitress stood by our table pretty much the whole time we were eating.  She was very cute and nice, but it was a bit uncomfortable.  On the way back to the hotel a lady followed us for almost a block trying to get money from me.  She was holding my sleeve and saying "hello....hello..." and various Chinese fraises I of course didn't understand.  We made it back to the hotel and cleaned up and finally went to bed around 1:00 a.m. our time.   My body told me "Time to get up, you've slept until 9 a.m.".  So at about 1:30 a.m. here I sit blogging in the hotel lobby with a near dead battery.   Beijing is cool.  Such an interesting blend of old and new.

So far...so good!

Yaaaawwwwn! It's Thursday morning. 5:07am in fact and we are happy to report that we are in the Eugene airport at our gate. Gate A4 waiting to board our flight to whatever is left of San Francisco. We have about a 4 hour layover there, then on to Beijing. I am trying no to down my Starbucks vanilla Frappuccino in one gulp and Shell is nose to kindle. Had our flight left yesterday as planned we would have landed in Beijing about 4 1/2 hours ago.....Alas, the flight is still ahead of us....still have those happy pills though. Wish me luck.

Delayed!

Awoke this a.m. ready to travel. Rolled out of bed said our goodbyes to the kids and drove to the Eugene airport in a daze. We grabbed our bags out of the van said further goodbye to my sister and headed to baggage check......at check in...."you're flight has been canceled due to:

Massive thunderstorm in San francisco. (sigh.) We are now re-scheduled to depart tomorrow a.m. unless our travel agent tells us otherwise.......stay tuned.

9 hours till departure!.....

It has seemed like the time would never get here. ....but here we are. It's about 9 hours till our flight leaves Eugene. We have packed (surprisingly light) and are ready to rock. I have happy pills for the flight so I don't claw my way out of the plane. I have my laptop and a few movies. I have reading material (Star Wars books I got for Christmas...Yippie!). Michelle has her kindle. We fly out of Eugene, connect in San Fransisco then on to Beijing. Stay tuned for our adventures in China. I should have some pics up....if I am ambitious I will post some the night we get into Beijing...unless I have consumed all of the happy pills then maybe not.