Friday, June 30, 2006

Day One – Thursday/Friday

Well it’s actually 1:40am on Saturday but I was way too tired to sit down in front of the computer last night to write anything. I should really be sleeping as I’m sure the day will catch up to me way too early but once my eyes opened a half an hour ago, there was no going back to sleep

Wow, where do I start…..

The flight to Vancouver was a little over an hour and was very uneventful. But let me tell you, when we loaded the plane to Beijing, all I can say is WOW. Business class is the way to fly! I had my reservations when I first bought the tickets as they were just about double in price but it was definitely worth every penny!!! What did we do to pass the time on the 11 hour flight you ask? EAT!!! I swear they fed us straight for the first 3 hours of the ride, a 6 course meal!!! Then we watched “Match Point” (good when I fist saw it, not so good this second time around), and then we were offered a personal DVD player to watch. Gary watched “Four Brothers” and I watched a drama (can’t think of the name) but fell asleep half way through it. During this time, we had tea and snacks (Mr. Noodles and finger sandwiches). Then about 2 hours before landing, they fed us a full meal again! I’ve never experienced anything like it…..it was definitely a nice treat!

As soon as we got off the plane, the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks! I thought I was going to throw up until we reached the safety of the air conditioned terminal. We had to line up to get through customs and I think every plane coming in from every imaginable destination decided to arrive at the same time because the throngs of people just took my breath away…and that was only in customs! Nothing could prepare me for when we got out of the baggage claim area….there were literally hundreds of people waiting with signs. We managed to spot ours but people were pushing from every which direction to get to the other side of the ropes that it took us a bit to find her on the other side. We pushed our bags to the parkade where cars literally driving inches of other were fighting to get out. One thing I’ve learnt so far is that there is no such thing as line ups or waiting your turn. If you have the tiniest of room to squeeze by, go ahead, butt in. There is no need to make eye contact or to say excuse me, whether you’re in a car, or in line at the airport. I don’t think they’re being rude, that’s just the way it’s done here.

So then, we’re driving to the hotel and our guide is telling us all about Beijing….when suddenly, the driver pulls over to the side of the road because the van decided to quit on us. We waited a whole hour for another driver to pick us up. The heat was starting to stick to me like bees to honey and I was getting crankier by the minute (so Gary pointed out to me). What was supposed to take us 20 minutes took us almost 3 hours. We were exhausted. I told Gary that we should try to stay up later so that we could acclimatize to the time change but we could only hold out until about 8:00pm……that’s why I can’t sleep anymore! And the booming thunder is no help either.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with some pictures I’ve taken so far….most of which is our meals on the flight…….I’m all about the food baby!

(I can't seem to view my blog here but I have no problem adding posts.....)

(It seems I also can't post any pictures at this time....I'll try again later!)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you are safely there. Hey, it is only going to get hotter as you head south ; ) I will watch for the post of Jenna in your arms.
Laura (Mama to Annslee JiaNa)
lala28@comcast.net

Anonymous said...

Wow what a nice trip you had over there in First Class:) Glad you arrived safetly. Hope you get more adjusted to the weather.

Sonia said...

If I'm calculating this correctly, you are less than 24 hours away from meeting your precious daughter!! WOHOO!!! What a joyous day that will be!!