We are so sorry that this update
is late. Thursday was a very stressful long day. We woke
up later than normal since today was a travel day. We had a
late breakfast and then we had to pack up since we were
meeting our tour guide Tom in the lobby at 10am. We made it
right on time and checked out of the Novatel Hotel. We had
a great stay and the service was wonderful. It took over an
hour to weave our way through the Beijing streets and
highways to get to the airport. The traffic was horrible?.
as usual. We made it to the airport and through customs
rather quickly. We then had to check in at DragonAir. It
was quite complicated to figure out where to go and what to
do since most of the signs were in Chinese. We figured it
out and checked in with no problem. This time it wasn't a
problem asking for seats together!!! It took forever to
make it through immigration as there were a number of large
traveling groups going through at the same time. To make
matters worse there was no air circulation of any kind so we
were boiling. We made it through immigration and straight
into security where we quickly discovered that I forgot to
take the camping silverware out of my carry-on backpack.
They were not happy to see that and confiscated the small
dinner knives. Oh well. We haven't had a problem with
finding American silverware so far so we didn't really
mind. We then made it to our gate where we found out the
flight was delayed 40 minutes. We were watching the planes
through the window when we saw that they were fiddling with
the right engine on our plane and many airline workers had
surrounded it and they were all talking on their radios
discussing it. Praying began immediately. We sat there
silently wondering if the Chinese had the same type of
airline regulations as the US!!!
We finally boarded the plane and
took off very late. Praying continued for the whole 3 hour
flight. We landed safely on the ground in Hong Kong after
4pm. It was by far the most turbulent flight we have
taken. The plane just couldn't seem to climb to an altitude
where turbulence was not an issue. Brandon tried to tell me
that we were going over mountain ranges so that was the
cause. Hello.... they display your exact position on the
little TVs on the plane so I could clearly see that there
were no mountain ranges after the first 20 minutes of the
flight. And at 39,500 feet... how many mountain ranges
affect you???? The food was great and the airline
attendants were very friendly. We were able to watch the
new Batman movie so the 3 hours "seemed" to go relatively
quickly until our butts fell asleep in the last hour. I was
happy until the Chinese man next to me dropped his orange
juice on the floor and it sprayed all over my ankles, shoes
and pants. I just smiled. What else could I do???
We were thrilled to meet
Victoria and Edward Deckard when we landed. They were on
our flight with their daughter Joy Song and Victoria's
sister Jess. We hung out with them the whole evening as we
had an hour to wait to be transported by shuttle to our
hotel. Hong Kong is absolutely beautiful with a very
tropical climate. Think Hawaii. We made the 50 minute ride
to the hotel chatting the whole time with the Deckards. We
checked into the hotel after 7pm and we were wiped out. We
went with the Deckards to dinner in the hotel restaurant
where we were hardpressed to find anything NORMAL on the
menu. Even the chicken was extra spicy. If I see one more
fish head I think I am going to scream!!! The only safe bet
was the white rice. Brandon has been much more adventurous
which is very surprising considering his stomach. I have
been taking it easy and popping my Pepto Bismol after every
meal. I don't want a repeat of the fiasco that occurred on
our 2nd trip to Russia where we were darting in
and out of the Russian pharmacies!!!
Our room at the Regal Riverside
is lovely and it is nice to have a King size bed compared to
the 2 twin beds we had in Beijing. This is a 5 star hotel
and is nice however everything costs!!! My dad would say
there were nickel and diming us!!! Due to all the traveling
stress I am unhappy to report that I finally had my
emotional crying breakdown yesterday evening. We are now
in a different country with a different monetary system and
we had just gotten use to everything in Beijing so this was
not a easy change. Since we are in Hong Kong the panda
phone does not work. This means we have to find a different
way to call home. No one could assist us at the hotel with
buying a phone card and the friendly (NOT!) worker at the
local 7-11 was not willing to assist us. So I was overtaken
with emotion as it seemed that we would be unable to find a
cheap solution to calling home. In tears I called our CCAI
Rep Joanne at 10:30pm. I was embarrassed but she was happy
to hear from us. She offered to use her cell phone right
then to make a 3-way call to our kids so I could talk to
them. I declined the offer as we normally call them at
night EST. After we hung up she called back about 15
minutes later and offered again. She is so nice and it is
so comforting to finally be with the group (read as:
finally have a 24 hr a day babysitter!!!)
We are considering a couple of
choices for outings tomorrow. Hong Kong Disney is about 15
minutes away as is Ocean Park which is Hong Kong's version
of Sea World. Tomorrow is a free day so we will see. About
5 families in our group come in tomorrow AM so it will be
nice to finally meet them.
Today's pics are all of Hong
Kong. We have included some of the hotel and one of a nice
little shop next to the hotel that was selling whole
chickens to eat?. including the attached heads all broiled
up and brown!!!! UM!!! UM!!! Another one is of the
lovely woodstick chairs in the lobby. They are made with
individual wood sticks that they weaved together. Oh the
craftsmanship!!!
I would also like to give a quick shout-out the wonderful
manufacturers of Ambien!!! Those little pills are worth
every penny we paid for them!!! Brandon is able to sleep
without them but they are my best friend right now.
We passed out at about 11pm. 2
days until Kiah. A little more than 2 weeks until we are
HOME. We miss everyone!!! Thank you for all of the
emails!!! We really appreciate it!!!!
WE LOVE YOU JACOB AND KATELYN!!!
Love to all from China,
-Nicole and Brandon
