Well, for the moment anyway, we are back online. LOTS of stories to tell you. Although, I have been receiving some criticism for my grammer. I'm not sure if it is because I am so tired when I write these, because the blog software is so klunky, or because I am starting to adopt the broken English I have been hearing all week. In any case, I hope you at least get what I mean through my writing despite its flaws.
We just arrived in Xi 'amen. We can hardly recognize it from 13 years ago. It is a booming metropolis full of new high rises and tons of construction. Maggie noticed it is a lot liking being in Florida...all the palm trees, the humid weather and the sea.
When we arrived in Xi'amen, it was overcast and raining. On the bus ride to the hotel, the driver inquired of Lina what was the purpose of our trip. She explained that we brought Maggie back to visit the town she came from and that we were her adoptive parents. He told her that it had been very dry and that they had been hoping for rain. He said he was so glad we had come because it was clear that the heavens were so
moved that we came back that they began to weep.
When we arrived in Xi'amen, it was overcast and raining. On the bus ride to the hotel, the driver inquired of Lina what was the purpose of our trip. She explained that we brought Maggie back to visit the town she came from and that we were her adoptive parents. He told her that it had been very dry and that they had been hoping for rain. He said he was so glad we had come because it was clear that the heavens were so
moved that we came back that they began to weep.We are getting ready to go to mass. There are at least two catholic churches in town. We are going to try to get to Easter mass at 7:30. Tonight, I will get you all caught up on the fascinating trip we took to see the Terracotta soldiers in Xi'an. Also, I can't wait to tell you about the "real" Chinese Fire drill we experienced on our flight from Xi'an to Xi'amen! Bob...you'll love this one.
Also, we have a few more "Lina'isms" to share. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from our trip over today. I did want to share the picture of the "lounge" attached to our hotel. One of the things you have to love about China are the catchy names for their establishments. This joint was hopping with Karaoke until 3AM (I guess they must start at "half past eight")
The flight from Xi'an to Xi'amen wasn't bad. Here, you cannot carry on ANY liquids at all. Other than that, security wasn't much of a problem. We spent most of the morning, however
, making sure everyone of our checked bags was under 44lbs. That's tougher than you think. We made it though. I'm not sure if the scale at the airport was moving much...I could only see it from an angle...so I said to Sheri (our local guide) "we must of done OK, huh?" She just smiled and said they are very lenient at this airport.."
, making sure everyone of our checked bags was under 44lbs. That's tougher than you think. We made it though. I'm not sure if the scale at the airport was moving much...I could only see it from an angle...so I said to Sheri (our local guide) "we must of done OK, huh?" She just smiled and said they are very lenient at this airport.."The food on the flight was much better than what I remember from 13 years ago...we could recognize what this was. And, it was GOOD! It was a full lunch with rice, some kind of chicken a roll and an appetizer that came in a pouch (I think it was cabbage...we all passed on that one).
The kids are jumping in the shower, so I have a minute to tell my "Chinese Fire drill" story. So, we have a stop on the flight to Xi'amen, we stop over in Wuhan (about half way their). So we land in Wuhan right after finishing lunch. No, all the while, every instruction is in mandarin (Chinese). They do repeat it in English...but not anything we actually could understand. So we figured it would be a typical stop over. Wuhan passengers would deplane, we hang out for a little while on the plane until the local passengers bound for Xi'amen would board. So, we pull up on the tarmac (not to a jet way). A bunch of folks start getting off, lots of others are milling around (now mind you, about 80% of these passengers were through passengers to Xi'amen). So we watched as a number of passengers got off, and then more got off, and more and more. Then Lina, with a little bit of a panicked look on her face said we need to get off. We are going to have to wait in the Wuhan airport for a while. So we grabbed our things and got off the plane to a waiting bus that was SO FULL that peoples faces were pushed up against the windows. The girls were real troopers. We squished onto the bus and it headed for the terminal. We we got off the bus (or more accurately, the doors opened and we all fell out), Lina informed us we need our boarding pass! W
ho keeps their boarding pass!? Luckily we found all of ours. So some very official looking military types checked our boarding passes GOING INTO the terminal. They handed us a TEMPORARY boarding pass as we entered the waiting lounge. So I said to Lina...why did we get off, are we going on a different plane. She said, oh no, that is our plane. They want to get it ready for the next passengers. I am not exaggerating here. We could not have been in the terminal for 3 full minutes NOT EVEN ENOUGH TIME TO WALK TO A SEAT, and they called to re-board our plane!!! So we turned around, went back to the very same military looking dudes that gave us the temporary boarding pass about 300 seconds ago, squished back on the SAME bus, got back on the SAME plane in the SAME seats. That, lady's and gentlemen, is a "Chinese Fire drill." God be praised, we made it Xi'amen and cataloged another adv
enture in the travel log.
ho keeps their boarding pass!? Luckily we found all of ours. So some very official looking military types checked our boarding passes GOING INTO the terminal. They handed us a TEMPORARY boarding pass as we entered the waiting lounge. So I said to Lina...why did we get off, are we going on a different plane. She said, oh no, that is our plane. They want to get it ready for the next passengers. I am not exaggerating here. We could not have been in the terminal for 3 full minutes NOT EVEN ENOUGH TIME TO WALK TO A SEAT, and they called to re-board our plane!!! So we turned around, went back to the very same military looking dudes that gave us the temporary boarding pass about 300 seconds ago, squished back on the SAME bus, got back on the SAME plane in the SAME seats. That, lady's and gentlemen, is a "Chinese Fire drill." God be praised, we made it Xi'amen and cataloged another adv
enture in the travel log.Well, I'm going to get this posted so you know we're still doing OK. I will be back later tonight with the pictures and story from our day in Xi'an on Friday.
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