trip journal #2

Trip Journal #2
2/21/08
Local time 11:05 pm

We are here. We made it by the most amazing of ways.

As I wrote earlier, our first clue that it would be an exciting day was the fact that we found out our last leg of travel with NWA was cancelled due to a lack of crew. They put us on a flight with All Nippon Airways – ANA- which one of the attendants with NWA had let me know that they were a top notch flight. No problem. Except that then we realized that the tickets they gave us had no seat assignments on them. OK…and although they initially said the winds were favorable and we would get in early, we came in JUST on time, which meant that we would have to have a small miracle to get to the gate in the 20 minutes allotted….in a strange airport, no less.

And we doubted, SERIOUSLY doubted, that our 2 checked bags would make it at all….oh well. It’s all a part of the great adventure, and not a relaxing walk in the park!

We hit the ground at Tokyo and exited the plane to hear our name being called out – really- and the smallest of professional NWA reps seeking 3 of us from the flight…all re-routed to the ANA flight to G. Se told us to “hurry, no time to make flight” and sent Mark and I ahead while she found that 3rd passenger (a young Thai MBA student who had just finished her degree at Northwestern in Chicago, and was headed to G for a year of language). Well, that NWA rep hustled us through at least a mile of walkways, glancing back on occasion to make sure we were following her…you can bet we were staying close on her heels! She stayed on the “walking” side of the moving walkways (on the right there!) and not only put us in the VIP area for our security check (they did it between each terminal there) but then cut us in line too! I couldn’t tell you how many people looked at us oddly as she pushed the barrier aside, muttered words to the security screener (the youngest one I’d ever seen, in full uniform, including hat) and got us through the screening process. All along her little voice chattering “so sorry…” or something else apologetically….to us, as well as to those she had us moving through so quickly.

That in itself was amazing too…EVERYONE was so nice…kind…no angry glares or upset people.

We made it (in a full sweat) to the terminal and were issued our seat assignments and had our passports cleared again. They had not started boarding, and the plane actually ended up being only ½ full! Surprising!

Our rushing travel partner let us know that there were several other passengers that were to be on the bumped flight, but only the 3 of us were assigned to this one, as the others (6 or so?) were put on the next day’s flight with NWA. Apparently, at $895.90 U.S.D. per ticket, NWA wasn’t willing to let all of us fly ANA. That ticket alone, from Tokyo to G, was more expensive than our original ticket round trip from the US to G.

ANA IS a top notch airline. Although not the 747 of the longer flight, it was a 767 with all the bells and whistles, including seat back screens with movies on demand and video games, and a camera mounted on the bottom of the plane that showed on screens in our aisles what was going on down below. One of the most amazing (and fun) things, was that as we were on the plane backing our of the terminal, a row of ground crew lined up and waved to us! Then they did a traditional low bow – very classy. It set the stage for the last of our 19 hours in the air today, this last 5 hour flight….the most relaxing and spacious. The most fun, too. Most restful, and since the plane was so empty, Mark was able to find a 3 seat center row to stretch out on, which made it nice for both of us.

We got to G without at hitch, watching the fireworks being shot from the ground into the air, still far below us. It was the last night of their 15 day celebration for New Year’s, and there was still plenty of celebrating going on.

Once on the ground, we pulled smoothly into the gate. As people on board started rushing to their feet to get their carry on bags, an attendant told them to stay seated…that we all had to keep the aisles clear and remain in our seats until we were approved to leave the plane. For the time being we were being quarantined on the plane, as a young passenger had been ill on board and had a fever, and the medical authorities had to come on board to clear us to be allowed off the plane.

Once the medics (or doctors?) came on board and checked her out, took her temperature, and gave the ok, we were all able to leave the plane. We were a bit surprised to find an empty airport…only the employees to staff the customs gates, a few police or security staff, and it was up to us to find out way out to the baggage claim area (where BOTH our bags made it!!) and then out to the main check in area again to prepare for tomorrow’s flight into Guiyang.

We got to the check in area for our airline, but no one was there. We had passed a McDonalds on our way in, so I waited with the luggage and Mark headed off to find a ATM or place to convert some money so we could get at least a bottle of water to put us over through the night. Sadly, the 2 he found first were broken (or out of money) and although McDonalds was closed by then, he found a little shop that had bottles of water. They wouldn’t take any of his money, or allow us to use our debit or credit card, so we weren’t going to have anything to drink over the night in the terminal. That’s ok.

He also found a pay phone, and was able to call J to let them know we had, at least, arrived that far. We had our snacks packed up (way too much…but we were glad we had it along for times like this), and waited till morning.

Well….we thought we were waiting till morning. We fell asleep in the terminal, looped our bags together near us, and passed out cold. Sleep at last. Sort of. Shortly after falling asleep, I awoke to find a guard/policeman standing over me, speaking to me in a language I didn’t understand. I was stunned….a little scared (I was SO disoriented)…and Mark woke up which helped. He pointed to another area for us to go to, apparently just wanting all of us over-nighter’s to sleep in one area. We found our way, bags in tow, and settled in again. With more people, there was more noise, but we both managed to get a few hours of sleep before morning.

Mark was then able to explore more, finding a working ATM and getting some cash for us to use.

The woman at our airline ticket counter was helpful, without speaking a word to us, and although we expected to have to pay for over weight on our bags, she wasn’t up to trying to explain to us why or how much….so she ushered us on. Then we went to McDonalds for breakfast…pancakes and sausage…and we got water bottles too. Life is good.

We made our way to the gate after breakfast, went back through security AGAIN, and waited for the flight to our final destination. Finally we were going to get to see J and J!!

trip journal #3

It's Saturday here, and although the plan was not to have a plan, we've been running most of the day. :)

One thing I did, because I didn't get to journal yesterday after we arrived, was to make a list of things that we have done...I may go into details later...or if anyone has questions....ask them of me and I'll try to answer them....

Friday:

J/J met us at the airport, they had hired a driver (taxi van) and he had waited with them for our flight to come in....which was late (of course!).

Our bags arrived with us.

I got to use a "squatty potty" at this airport (the other one had both SQ's and "western style" toilets....for which I was grateful....but no toilet paper....but J said that they don't use it here, so that was common).

If the Mississippi River is "ole muddy" then this is the city of mud. It was foggy/smoggy and there is mud everywhere. Not like thick mud, but similar to how it is after a snow...just sort of covered in yuck. There's a lot of pollution in the air on the roadways...and so much traffic.

Our driver is incredible...maneuvering in and out of traffic like a pro (well, he IS a pro!). I can't get over how it moves so quickly, yet so slowly, and how bumper to bumper it is.

Our van is really small...probably not much larger than our Focus at home! The seats have no padding, and you feel every bump or dip in the road. I'm both too tired and exhilarated to care. :)

I'm amazed at how there are gardens of vegetables growing on the sides of the road, as if they tiered the land up to the homes/apartments and just leveled it off and started planting. With all the ice and snow they had, I'm amazed to see anything growing at all.

We got to their home without incident. :)

After getting things up, unpacked a bit, and us oriented, we decided to go for a walk to get lunch. We went to the local noodle place they like to go to for "Muslim Noodles"....actually just Lan Zhou style noodles, which is a province with a high Muslim population, so that's how they've nicknamed them. Tasty noodles, handmade right there, with roast beef shaved off into them, served with beef broth, and cilantro (Chinese Parsley) and maybe green onion too. Mark and J2 also mix red pepper paste into theirs...I'll play it safe.

I'm amazed at how hilly the area is...they say that's why there are not many people on bicycles here.

There's more mud everywhere...not always thick, or deep, but covering everything. The fact that there is constant construction doesn't help.

We walk to the actual campus where they attend school, although it is closed for break still.

We also walk by one of the local parks, and to a friend's apartment to feed their cats.

On one of the streets by their house there is a street market (the morning market) where you can buy fruits and vegetables nearby. There's also people selling seeds (sunflower, etc) to snack on, and other wares.

Where we ate at is in a row of shops near where they live, not far past where the market street is. There is a real mod podge of sites, smells, and WE seem to be the oddest thing around!

We went to a little eating place on campus for dinner, they call it Gong Yu, sort of like a restaurant for the students. The building it's in used to house the foreign students, but then they built a different housing place for them. We ate some of their favorite dishes like miziqiezi: egg plant prepared with ground pork and chopped peppers and pepper sauce; ying jiang rousi: Peking duck style pork (little pieces) served with slivers of green onion; tang cu liji: sweet and sour pork; and tu dou ni: mashed potatoes prepared with onions, bell peppers and bacon. This was all served "family style" with white rice.

Yes, we've been using chop sticks to eat with!! Even the noodle dishes!! :)

TODAY - Saturday

Our "plan to have no plans" day consisted of going to lunch, and then going to market, and then coming home. For lunch we went to the city market and getting "jaozi", or dumplings, and we chose to go for fried ones rather than steamed ones. J1 is not a big dumpling fan, so we also went around the corner and got some fried chicken (REALLY!) on a stick!! J2 says that they can pretty much put anything on a stick here...and they do...and sell it on the street. It was funny at the dumpling place they give you a little plate with chopped green onion in it, and you can mix your own sauce to dip them in (think PF Chang's) with soy sauce (in a tea pot to serve), rice vinegar, sesame oil, and on a table across the way other seasonings that you can add to it (red pepper flakes). They were incredibly good....really yummy. The chicken was good too!

Going to market is crazy!! The large city market is full of people, in every imaginable kind of clothes. Women wear high heeled boots with everything. really. everything. People are in the street with every type of clothing, Sunday best, pj's, ethnic clothing. Lots of people smoke, and because it's so busy today there are a lot of cars on the road too...which means lots of pollution. There are many cars, large and small buses, carts, and motor bikes on the road. It's really busy, and even more so since the sun has come out. It got into the 50's, really nice for being outside, but since it was cool when we left the house, I've got my down coat on and long johns too!

J1 bought chicken and vegetables at the market, and then we looked in some other stores too, including a supermarket (not walmart), and an ethnic store that was really neat. We'll go back there (or to another ethnic store) to do some shopping before coming home.

Once we got home, we put up the groceries, and Mark and J2 worked on getting our laptop on line (it's not, so I have to borrow theirs), then Mark and J1 went to feed the cats and buy some milk (the only thing they didn't get earlier). I guess they got some fruit too, but I haven't seen it yet.

Now J1 is getting dinner ready (broccoli, chicken, rice in a skillet type meal), and Mark is grinding coffee for tomorrow morning (by hand).

Looking back at today, I'm amazed at what we have seen, and how empty the faces are around us have looked. People stare, and I can't blame them, but when I smile at them, rarely do they smile back. Even children seem like they are empty inside...there is no joy, or little joy, in their eyes.

Tomorrow we'll meet up with friends, and it seems that it will be another long day....so exciting and new!!

Until later....

Monday, 2/25/2008

I'm actually writing this on Tues 2/26, but only because I was too tired to write last night after a really busy day!

Although the weather was cooler, we opted to go out to one of the scenic spots on "the list" that J1 had compiled of places to go (and what to eat, where). T H T is an area of beautiful waterfalls and great caves. We thought that the waterfalls would be larger, since there had just been rain, but they were actually significantly smaller....which allowed us to see how the falls (and later we saw the cave formations) were "enhanced" by people there (walls built up to extend the area of the falls, water control, glitter on the formations in the caves, and possible even formations made!). No less, it was amazing, and a beautiful site to see.

One of the highlights (for me) was the freezing cold boat rides we took up the river, which went by one of the minority villages on the river. I took lots of photos, but I'm sure it does not give credence to the sites we saw there....old houses, ladies washing clothes along the river, water buffalo on every turn, school children pointing at us and yelling "lao wai" (foreigner), while others waved or hid from us!

The young woman who gave the cave tour to us did a great job of communicating to J1, and then she would turn and give us a brief synopsis of what the guide said. Between the tour facts, J1 learned a bit about her (and she, of J1), and by the end of the tour they were exchanging cell numbers. J1 said that occasionally they will meet locals that want to have their numbers and "be their friend", although they don't always give it out unless there is a sincerity on the part of the people. Sometimes they are not sure of the motives of the people, and sometimes it's just plain creepy...like a man on the bus who stalked them by phone for a while. The guide, going by the name Seven, seemed to genuinely hit it off with J1, and goes to college to study nursing a bit away from there. Keep her in mind.

I thought that Mark would likely say that his favorite part was the LONG zip line that he had J2 took at the end of the day....but he didn't....he said he couldn't choose a favorite part. I'm sure he's saving it for later....

:)

Today it's extremely cold again, and although I slept in and missed it, the others said that there had already been snow showers and sleet coming down. When I look out the window all seems well, it's still cloudy (always cloudy?) and muddy down the streets, although the parts that are pavement look like they had been wet earlier. The clearest sign that it's so much colder outside is that there is so much condensation on the windows inside.

We'll run out for a quick, light lunch ("G burritos" a common local food, that just happens to look like a burrito) and meet up with friends later for a big dinner, and then games tonight back at the house.

Updating pictures....so check there too!

~marina

wednesday, 2/27/2008

Oops...I had lost a day!
I know that this day we went into G2, to Pizza Fun, to the American Coffee House, and to the underground Walmart.....If I come up with other memorable things from this excursion I'll make note of it here....

there are photos too...I'll need to locate them and post them....

sorry!

Sunday, 3/2/2008

This is going to be my last post from J's house. We are starting to pack up and get things ready to go, as we'll leave from here tomorrow early afternoon...rent the same taxi bus to the airport, and then fly back to G....try to find a hotel, and then leave for Japan in the morning on Tuesday for the LONG flight back home.

Today we had a great meeting and lunch with a group of friends of theirs, a blend of students and teachers. They are a really neat group of people, from many different places, and have been here for different lengths of time, so it was fun to meet them all and hear their stories.

After lunch we went to go to the minority store in HX, but it was closed, so we walked back to the campus and then took some photos in the park on campus, then went and got ice cream bars (yum) and headed back to the apt. It's been SO warm, in the 60's each day, so none of us wanted to stay indoors (where it's colder!) and we wanted to enjoy the sunshine. :)

J1 is feeling a bit better, and I'm feeling a bit worse. sigh. I'll sneak some of her meds for the trip home. Nothing worse than flying with a head cold....ugh.

Mark and J1 are spending the afternoon figuring out sudoku puzzles :) together, and J2 is working on the details of sending his computer in for service work (which we'll handle for him in the states). We're all winding down, and I'm not sure what dinner will be tonight...where we'll walk to for our last dinner in town.

The kids have a meeting in the morning on campus for the start of their classes, and Mark and I will finalize the packing up then. After a quick bite of lunch, we'll pile back into the taxi van and head out....it seems like yesterday that we were piling into it for the first time to come to their town.....it's gone by so fast.

All in all, it's been amazing. I'll work on a few posts, top 10's and final thoughts while we are flying home....and will post them once we are home again.

Thanks for coming on this journey with us!!

.....marina....

Home again, home again....

We're home now. :)

As much as I miss J and J ALREADY, I do not miss:
1. the smog; it makes a smog alert in L.A. look like blue sky : p
2. traffic; amazing what it's like when there is not bumper to bumper traffic (with everyone using their horns)
3. the noise from all the horns :)
4. msg (I can't wait to see how much body weight I'll lose from getting it out of my system! my legs are so swollen now they look disfigured, despite my getting up and walking often while on the planes)
5. dust; see #1, as I don't know if the black stuff that would come out of my nose was from the smog or the dust (or the smoke...we saw several fires burning in the hills as we were flying out)
6. getting stared at ALL the time
7. having to use the bottled water to brush my teeth (but don't get me wrong...I'm so grateful that there WAS bottled water to brush my teeth!!)

Things I learned....about me, and their life there:
1. I'm in horrible shape!
2. I don't mind being stared at if the person staring smiles and says "hello" (no matter how badly it comes out!)
3. J/J have grown a lot, and I'm really happy for them and the life they have there.
4. I like their friends, and wish we had more time to hang out.
5. I hate stairs (see #1) Going up OR down!!
6. Toilet paper is optional. You might get it in a public bathroom, but probably not. You might get it on a cafe table, instead of napkins, to use on your hands. You'll likely get it in a private bathroom, but no matter where you get it, it does NOT get flushed in the toilet!!
7. Horns are not used there in anger to say "get out of my way", and we didn't see any road rage for as crowded as the roads were. Horns are used to say "I'm here, so don't hit me".
8. The lines on the roads are optional. ALL of them. Even the ones to determine what direction you are traveling in.
9. Traffic signals are optional too....which makes it interesting.
10. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way there....which makes #8 and #9 quite interesting.
11. Food sold on the side of the road/sidewalk is usually tasty. I don't know how they keep the grit of the road dust off of it, but it's good.
12. I love the people there...not just my kids, but the ones that only know that as home. Despite the icky things, I think I'd go back sometime...even if my kids weren't there....which surprises me....

The N Hotel at G Airport was incredible....we got a king, business class room, with a tub and a shower, for about $100 US. It seemed very luxurious in comparison to all we had seen all week long, but we were thankful to sleep in a bed (and not the airport, like on the way in). Sadly, this cold had my taste buds out of whack so I couldn't really take advantage of the buffet we ate at there, but it looked really good, and what I did eat tasted great. Someone needs to teach the C how to do desserts though....nothing is sweet enough! LOL

The plane rides were all pretty uneventful in good ways....well, we left G late (sat on the plane at the gate for an hour), and sat at XNA for 20 minutes before coming in too. We went through security points at EVERY airport (which seemed weird), and each one had their own standards (i.e.; take off shoes/leave them on, ok to bring water/ or not, etc). Thankfully, all our luggage arrived with us. That's always a good thing.

There was snow on the ground at home, but most of it had melted off, so the roads were fine (although there was still an abundance in the fields). Flying over the remnants of the storms made for a bumpy last leg of flying from Detroit to XNA....but I still slept!

I'm so tired. I took cold meds the entire time in the plane (dayquil, then nyquil) and I slept most of the fly time, but I'm still tired. This cold has me wiped out, so I'm really hoping to rebound quickly now that we're home. We'll see...

It's good to be home. There's a lot to do, but it feels good to be here. I'll always miss ALL my kids company, but there is some level of contentment to be home....wherever it happens to be.

~marina