We Don't Think We Survived That!

Well, we're finally here. I know that I said Jon and I were actually looking forward to 15 hours on the plane with nothing to do. And we really were. That lasted about 6 hours. The 9 hours after that we're a bit tedious. We actually can't complain, though. Our flight was not full in economy plus so we had three seats together for the two of us. Our flight was also relatively on time and not too bumpy. We also had a nice selection of movies, TV shows, and games to preoccupy us. All said, not bad at all.

And then there was the 4 hour layover at Shanghai, the very bumpy 3 hour flight to Chongqing, and the ride at 12:30 am to our hotel. The city is decorated with lights making it quite the spectacle at night. Our guide, Eva, told us that Chongqing has experienced amazing growth both in terms of population and construction . Some of the areas now filled with new buildings were farm land only 12 years ago. With a population of 32 million, it's doubtful we'll ever be lonely.

We're suffering from a bit of culture shock at the moment but nothing we can't handle. Getting only 5 hours of sleep over the past two days might have something to do with that. The fact that Chongqing and the hotel remind us of our first trip to Nanning probably has more to do with our shock than anything else. We vividly remember walking the streets of Nanning feeling very lost, conspicuous, and nervous about meeting our first daughter, Hannah. Here we are three years later waiting to meet our third daughter who will turn 14 in just a couple of weeks. On top of that, the city has the look, feel, and smell of Nanning. We don't know where anything is at the moment. Our hotel, the Habour Plaza, is in many ways a carbon copy of the Majestic in Nanning. All a bit unnerving until we remember that we not only survived Hannah's trip but now look back on it fondly. So too is our hopes for Leah's trip.

Until we figure out captions on photos, I'll just have to explain. The flight screen shot is just about when we lost interest in the flight. The photo of Jon in the Shanghai airport is self explanatory.