Breakfast in Halifax
Halifax Departures
Toronto 777
Welcome to Shanghai!
Shanghai Pearl Tower
July 12th (yesterday was the 10th - go figure...)
4am in Shanghai
We made it! The flight that I suspected may never end actually did. We got on the ground in Shanghai pretty much on time.
As soon as the plane reached the terminal, we were asked to remain seated as we were "met" (I think that's the right term) by
some folks in hazmat suits who checked everyone's temperature on the plane. I guess (!) everyone passed the test since they
let us all off the plane. That said though, we had to fill out health declaration forms that detailed our China itinery, so
its noted that they know where to find us later if anything were to show up. We are confident and faithful that this hurdle
is behind us however.
The initial shock in Shanghai was the heat and the humidity. As I walked through the jetway from the plane to the terminal,
I was (naively, I guess) wondering why they kept the jetways so hot, before it occurred to me this was just ambient heat. I
was wrong on that front too, since the airport terminal is still air conditioned... once we stepped outside the terminal, it
was like walking into a wall of heat. Still, coming from Canada I can't say I have anything against some warm weather.
We met up with our guide, Shirley, who helped us find our bus which we took all the way to our hotel which is in downtown-ish
Shanghai - about an hour long ride. We got to see some great sights of downtown Shanghai from the bus, most of which will
have to remain in our memories - I'm sure everyone knows how hard it is to land a decent scenery picture from a moving bus.
Incidentally, all pictures from the bus were snapped with one hand, the other hand was supporting Angelina, who after
snoozing for an hour here and there on the flight, finally gave up the fight and conked out on the bus.
The hotel seems just fine. We got ourselves checked in, actually put up a solid display of "gusto" and took Angelina
swimming in the pool for 1/2 hour or so. Back at the rooms, energy levels were fading fast, so we called it a night...
probably around 8:30 or so.
Woke up around 1:30am and appear to be up for the day. Still, it was nice to get even a few hours of solid sleep, and at
least waking up this early gave us some extra time to get some things organized. Oh, and to write blog entries.
On the agenda for today... breakfast opens downstairs in 1 hour 53 mins (my priorities are so transparent). After that, we
check out of here around 9am, head to the airport for a 2 hour plane ride to Guangzhou, which will be our "home" for the next
week or so. Also, the place we will meet Miah. Which will happen tomorrow morning (still can't quite get my head around
that fact).
One more thing... if anyone has any comments that they need us to see, or do something about, try sending them to our gmail address... looks like its not easy to access blogspot from here.
Love to all.
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July 10th
Waaaaah!!
Typing this, in the dark, 36000 feet over... I dunno... western Canada? Feeling a bit of a wimp, in truth. The flight to
Toronto was good - relatively on time and uneventful. We had a quick "standard Toronto airport" lunch (sandwiches were $9 at
a cafeteria and $12 at Starbucks - we retreated to the safety of Tim Hortons but apparently they dont make sandwiches at the
Toronto airport) we had just enough time to get over to our departure gate to Shanghai. I thought that was good news too -
who wants to sit in Toronto Departures for hours?
So, we get settled on the gargantuan 777 to Shanghai and away we go. Initially things were a bit bumpy - we were flying
through this high altitude hazy cloud cover which kept us bouncing around for maybe the first half hour until we got out of
it.
We settled down, but still can't quite seem to grasp the enormity of a 14 hour flight. Last time we flew Vancouver to
Beijing which really didn't seem so bad, but then we were able to sleep away a chunk of the time. I suspect the principal
difference is the 4 year old sitting to my left.
I spent some time reading but then most folks closed up the window screens to manufacture a "night" so folks can get some
sleep. I don't really sleep on planes as a rule (wish I could) and can't read in the dark, so sought other ways to kill
time. I watched "Coach Carter" on the entertainment system - actually that DID burn some time since with Angelina beside me
I ended up pausing every minute or so, so it took the best part of 3 hours to get through it all.
Let's see... I have 8pm Halifax time which makes it... 7am in China, which means we have about 8 hours to go. Ick.
So, to remove some of the "whine" from this entry, we decided to list some ways in which we are blessed:
- After waiting for Miah since 2006, we are now days away from meeting her. God is faithful and provident.
- From communications with some of the folks who have cared for Miah thus far, we have already struck up relationships with a few folks in China. I look forward to meeting them, thanking them, and praying with them.
- As we left our local church on Sunday, we said our goodbyes and felt more love from more people, than I can remember in
quite a while. We feel so much like a small "representative" travel group, with our "family" firmly back in Nova Scotia.
- So far we have run into no problems on this trip.
- Angelina, despite getting a bit fidgety (aren't we all?) has behaved impeccably.
- As we head toward a country that is extremely conscious of the health of western visitors
right now, we are all fit and healthy.
- I have made plans with Angelina to get to Shanghai, go to the hotel, then change into our bathing suits and go swimming.
That sounds just beautiful, right now.
