Sunday, June 24, 2007

Everybody Nanchang tonight

And that title works, because it is pronounced Nan-Chung.

4pm according to my new Hello Kitty watch while a storm rages outside the 11th floor of the Gloria Plaza hotel. We have an end unit. The room is huge! We have a view of the river, too.

Today we got up, got some breakfast and headed to the airport. International travel means standing in lots o lines, which we did. Go to our gate and it was nothing but adopting families flying into Nanchang.

I got on the plane and snoozed for the hour we were stuck on the runway. No clue why, but we did move. During our hour long flight, we were served lunch. Whereas on our 15 hour United flight, we were barely served dinner. Cup of Ramen, come on!

Got to Nanchang and we were in another world. The airport was humid and mosquito filled. The ladies restrooms only has squattie potties. Again, more forms to fill out requested by people who do not speak a word of English. That's ok, we just went with the flow.

We found our guide from the agency waiting for us. The other members of the travel group arrived a half hour beforehand, since their plane wasn't delayed. That means we had to rush out of the airport and dash through the parkinglot to the bus in INCREDIBLE heat and humidity. Much worse than in Hong Kong.

The bus ride to the hotel was sobering. Nanchang is not a wealthy city. Poverty is quite evident.

We are in a lovely hotel, tho. Highrise hotel filled with staff that barely speak English, but it's a lot of fun to mine to them.

For example, we arrived to find a cot in the room, not a crib. They sent housekeeping to fix the situation but she brought us towels. We tried to explain but she did not know. Matt drew a picture, she still did not know. She got someone on the phone who explained. She kept nodding and smiling and backing out of the room. Five mins later, she had a crib. Then I had to go and confuse her more by asking for a fan. The room was incredibly hot and I knew I had to snag a fan before someone else did, heh. We drew a picture and set it on the table and I made fan noises while waving my arms. It worked. Five mins later, she brought a fan.

Requisite hard bed? Check! Harder than in Hong Kong. But huge.

It was total chaos when we arrived. I threw open every suitcase and unpacked as fast as I could. I assembled the nanny gift bags while Matt packed the diaper bag. We then made a baby station on the available table. Learned to use the hot pot. Got bottles set up.

Then Matt exchanged money, bought a honking huge bottle of water, some snacks, and we are chillin until 430. That's when we go downstairs to the bus that will take us to the babies.

THE BABIES!

The only downer is that I am sick. I have a cold. It was bound to happen and thankfully I have tons of medication. It's the stress and the lack of sleep. I passed out cold last night at 8pm. Woke up at 1am and could not get back to sleep.

Alright, time to go chill on the bed before it's BABY TIME! I'll post soon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi,Mae,it's so glad to see your every step in this jouney,I am looking at you and I can't wait to meet you in GZ! :D

Anonymous said...

I hope you feel better soon. Good luck on the rest of the trip with the heat. I'll be praying for a cold front to come through for you. Starknight's wife