Auntie and Mun came early the next morning to take the four of us and Kathy to the airport.  We were going to fly to Xi’an today.  This is where the history major in me takes over…  Xi’an has a long historic past; it was the capital for a number of different dynasties in Chinese History, including the Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties.  The Qin Dynasty was the first dynasty where all of China was ruled by one Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, he is the guy that decided he needed company after he died and had a whole terra cotta army made.  The Tang Dynasty is extremely significant in Chinese History; so much that Chinese people still call themselves Tong Yun (Tang Ren in mandarin) meaning person of Tang.  Technology, literature, medicine and science flourished during the Tang Dynasty and were way ahead of other countries at the time.

I was extremely surprised at the differences in security and procedures at the airports in China.  First, we HAD to check-in at the counter because there are discounted tickets for children and since they discount the tickets, they must see the children to make sure they are children. At check-in everyone had to show their IDs.  We checked one of our suitcases, the rest were left behind in Guangzhou at Auntie’s house.  We were allowed and it is actually recommended that you lock all suitcases.  Again we had to show ID and boarding passes at a security check point.  Our bags were put through an x-ray machine, we kept our shoes on and walked through a metal detector and we were then checked again with wands.  We then walked to our gate, which turned out to be a bus stop.  We waited at the gate, as we had some time before our flight was to board.  Smoking is still allowed everywhere in China and cigarettes are all over the place, including the airport.  As lighters are not allowed through security, they have cigarette lighting machines/water machines at the gates.  Soon, the buses started arriving to take us to the boarding area for our place.  We waited for the crowds to thin out and ended up on the 3^rd bus out.  The ride to the plane took almost five minutes. 

A little while after the plane took off, we were offered beverages.  I thought that all we were getting during the flight was the drink, so to my surprise, the food cart came out next and we were offered noodles or sweet dim sum.  The noodles and dim sum came in little aluminum trays and we were also given cardboard boxes.  Inside the cardboard box, I found a plastic bag with a spoon, fork and napkin, a tangerine and a package of cookies.  We were offered a second round of beverages after the all the food was handed out.

We arrived in Xi’an after a 2½ hour plane ride and it was pouring out.  The Xi’an airport was extremely small compared to the other airports that we had visited during this trip.  There were less than 30 gates and we quickly got to the baggage claim and collected our luggage.  The first thing we saw upon walking out the exit was the Airport Shuttle; the bus ride was $25 per adult (kids under a certain height were free) for the trip into the center of Xi’an, which has THE Bell Tower as a landmark.  My research told me that I could get a cab for around 150RMB ($22US) to 200RMB ($30).  However, the cabs were located across the road and it would be easier to just get on the bus, so, on the bus we went and we would just catch a cab when we got into the city.  The bus ride took about 45 minutes.  We were standing by the bus stop when we pulled out the hotel information to get an address for a cab, when I looked up to see that the street we were looking for was right there.  So, we walked in the rain about 1,000 feet to the Citadines Hotel.  Citadines is a hotel with a bunch of suites, kitchen and all.  I reserved a studio, which actually had a sliding door to separate the living room with a pull out couch and the bedroom with a queen size bed.

Check-in was relatively painless, the guy at the front desk did try to sell a car on us for the next day to go see the Terra Cotta Warriors, and we were quoted a fee of 350RMB ($52US).  We decided to wait until we had a chance to see what our options were, so we told the guy at the desk we would let him know.  Another front desk clerk took us up to our room on the 12^th Floor (room 1206), the hotel elevator was glass and we could see the center of the hotel from the 3^rd floor up.  The front desk clerk not only took us and our luggage up to the room, but he set up the pullout couch, brought us extra towels, soaps and pillows and explained how to use everything in the room.  FYI – tipping is not required in most of China, as a tip is considered to be a bribe.

We then headed downstairs to find some food, after looking at a map; it looked like KFC was quite close to the hotel and we just wanted something quick.  We went downstairs and asked the front desk where KFC was and were told down the street, to the left.  We walked out of the hotel when one of the other front desk clerks was talking to a man outside.  The front desk clerk told us that the man was available for hire for the next day for 350RMB ($52US) to take us to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  We told them we would think about it and started to walk off.  As we got to the corner, the guy caught up with us and told us that if we wanted, he could take us for 260RMB ($39US) the next day, if we met him at that location instead because he wouldn’t have to give the hotel a commission.  In the end, we agreed to pay him 240RMB ($35US) and he would meet us at 8:00 AM the next morning at that corner.

KFC ended up being further than we thought it was and it took us a while to get there.  We quickly ate lunch and decided it was too late to go to the Shaanxi History Museum and we opted to go to the Little Wild Goose Pagoda instead.  We tried to flag down a taxi in front of KFC, but we were told to go across the street because taxi drivers did not like to circle around the city.  HUH?  We soon found out why taxi drivers did not want to circle around, it was because taxis start at 6RMB (90¢ US) and each time the meter goes up, it went up by 1.50 RMB (22¢ US) and the meter barely moves.  We went about 3 kilometers and the meter went up once.  So, for a taxi driver to make more money, it is just easier for them to get as many fares as they can instead of driving around.

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda is not quite as famous as it’s big brother the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.  The Small Wild Goose pagoda was built in the early 700s and is 15 stories high.  We paid the 30 RMB admission, thinking it was pretty expensive for the smaller of the two pagodas, then found that the ticket included admission to the Xi’an Museum.  We got to the pagoda and my mom saw the steps and decided she did not want to climb up it.  Kathy, the kids and I started climbing up and after the first flight of steps, the kids decided they wanted to head back down.  After taking the kids down the stairs, Kathy and I started back up again and Izz decided she was up for the trek, so she came along.  As we started up the stairs, we noted that the windows to the outside as well as the ceiling got lower and lower.  By the time we got to the top level, the window was about half the size of Izz.  We trekked back down after looking at the view from the top, however because of the rain, we couldn’t really see too far.

We then headed to the museum, which had this really cool tile map of the area in the atrium.  Additionally, there were some really amazing scale models of old cities.  We also saw some historic pottery and models of carts from the Qin Dynasty.  The museum was OK, but not overly interesting.

As we left the museum, it was still raining and we decided it would be easiest to take a cab again, since it was so cheap.  We stood on the street for about 15 minutes trying to flag down a cab and people in front of us would either get to it before us or someone would be in the cab.  We finally decided to walk down to the bus stop to see if we could figure out where the bus went.  As we approached to the bus stop, a cab drove up and the passenger got off, so we quickly go on.  The cab took us back to our hotel and my mom and the kids decided they had enough, so Kathy and I went out in search for food to bring back to them.

We headed to the main drag, as the guy at check-in told us we could find some authentic Xi’an food across the road.  We went in and were told that they did not have any take out.  We them walked further down to find what is supposed to be a very famous dumpling restaurant a little further down.  We went in and they had on display a number of very pretty looking dumpling dishes.  There were dumplings in the shape of frogs, turtles and flowers.  However, we figured that these dumplings would not be good if we took them back to the hotel.  We saw a busy street back the way we came, so we headed over to see what they had.  The street was located right behind this huge imposing drum tower.  The Bell Tower and the Drum Tower were both previously used for defensive purposes.  This street was full of vendors making all sorts of kabobs.  There were noodle kabobs, I asked for one that was no spicy and my mouth was burning when I tried it.  We also saw lamb and beef kabobs, as well as chicken kabobs and all sorts of giblet kabobs.  Note that I did not mention any pork, it turns out this street was in the Muslim Quarter of Xi’an, so pork was forbidden.  We finally walked into a somewhat clean looking restaurant and ordered what is called Pow Mor.  Pow Mor is rice noodles in broth with slices of beef or lamb, additionally, a piece of flat bread comes with it and you rip the flat bread into pieces and put it into the soup to soak up the fat from the broth.  I enjoyed the noodles and the meat, but did not care for the bread.  These two dishes were a little spicy, so I ordered some wings to bring back to the kids.  The wings came out and there were hot chili peppers everywhere!  I tried a piece of what looked like french fries from the top of the dish and my mouth was on fire from just biting into it.

I was pretty much done with my meal at this time and it was getting late, so Kathy continued to stay behind and finish eating while I went to get McD’s for my mom and the kids.  I went to the McD’s and tried with my broken Mandarin to order two Happy Meals and two McChickens (which I was told was not spicy).  Order kids’ meals seemed to always cause confusion, I don’t know why, I was even pointing to the English/Chinese menu at the time.  I was finally able to get my order and begged for four extra packets of ketchup (getting ketchup from these people is like pulling teeth).  I brought the food back to my mom and the kids and my mom promptly told me that the McChicken was spicy. 

Let me back track a bit here.  When we were planning the trip, I was trying to decide what hotel to book in Guangzhou, my mom had previously stayed at the 63-floor Guangzhou International Hotel, which had a rotating restaurant.  The Asia International Hotel is a building with 45 floors; which also has a rotating restaurant on the top floor.  This added to the confusion while making reservations. 

My mom wanted to eat at the rotating restaurant, which makes one circle in 2½ hours.  This morning Auntie, Uncle and Hang Hang came to the hotel to meet us for breakfast.  We went up to the rotating restaurant, but Auntie and Uncle quickly ushered us out, as they felt the 68RMB ($10 US) breakfast buffet is too expensive.  Their mentality is that it is all about the food; ambiance is not worth a penny.  We went downstairs to the Chinese restaurant and had dim sum instead. The dim sum was not spectacular and again overpriced in their opinion. 

By this time, all of Auntie’s family was waiting for us to go with us to Pan Yu for lunch.  Didn’t we just eat breakfast?  One of Auntie’s sons-in-law works for the government in Pan Yu, so he knows the area very well.  Today he reserved a bunch of fresh seafood for us for lunch.  We arrived at the restaurant located across the water from what is one of the most well known landmarks of Pan Yu, the gold statue of Kuan Yin looking at the sea (to protect those at sea).  Again, we had a couple of pounds of giant shrimp and some small shrimp, we also had the usual veggies, some delicious deep friend spare ribs, roast pig, goose and the dish of the day… waterbugs!!  Did I try the waterbugs?  Yes I did!  I was instructed on how to eat them, pull off the legs, pull off the head, pull off the wings and proceed to eat.  Out of the new things that I tried, this was the hardest to swallow.  I chewed a little bit and then drank a nice big gulp of soda to wash it down.  I was able to talk both kids into trying them too!  And, they did not enjoy it any more than I did.

Afterwards, we were taken on a quick tour of a couple of ancestral temples in the area.  These old temples were pretty interesting in architecture; the first one had beams that were completely carved. 

Then we were taken to eat again!  This time we had dessert, we had double skin milk, which is sort of a custard made with buffalo milk.  The taste was OK, it was not very sweet, but it was very thick.  There is a plain version and a version made with ginger, additionally various toppings can be added to it.

We got back into the car and when we stopped, I found us at yet another restaurant!  I was totally stuffed at this point.  Luckily, we only had a couple of dishes of veggies, the main item for this meal were the biggest steamed roast pork buns (cha siu bow) that I had ever seen.  These buns were probably 3 times as big as the usual buns and they were very delicious.  The only problem was I was so full from the earlier meals, I could only eat one.  L

We had a late start this morning and we were going to take it easy for the most part, as we would have a late night.  We were going to the Chime Long International Circus today.  The circus is run by the same company as the Zoo.  Additionally, the same corporation runs an amusement park and a water park in the area.

Per Izz’s request, we went back to the noodle shop for more noodles for breakfast; we then went to some stores to look for martial arts weapons for Izz and myself.

We then went to have sushi for lunch.  Wow, was the sushi cheap, two pieces of sushi averaged about $7RMB ($1.05), with 20% off if you get a membership card.  We had sushi, fried calamari, grilled calamari, jellyfish and eel.

We had a somewhat relaxing afternoon, just walking around various shops; afterwards it was back to Auntie’s house to wait for the rest of the family for our evening’s activities.  We were going to the Chime Long Circus.

The last time I went to a circus was probably about 10 years ago.  I don’t remember them being all that great.  However, I really enjoyed our evening at the circus, even though we were sitting in 90 degree heat and it was also humid.  As, the Chime Long Circus and the Xiang Jiang Safari Zoo, the animals that were in the circus were extremely amazing, there are lions, tigers, kangaroos, monkeys, bears, giraffes and many more.  There was a high wire act, motorcycles in a ball, acrobats on spinning rings, bareback horse riders.  I was amazed at the entire show and after days, the kids are still talking about it. 

After the circus, we were driven to a little dive of a restaurant in Pan Yu (I think we ate at least 1 meal a day in Pan Yu).  This particular restaurant specializes in snake congee.  Congee or jook for those who do not know is rice porridge, think really thick rice soup.  All we ordered were a couple of vegetable dishes, goose, and two huge pots of congee (one snake and one frog).  The frog (which I have had in the past and really like) was really good.  I tried a couple of pieces of snake and again found it chewy and there was not much meat.  I am not sure that I would order snake on my own…

Today, my mom’s friends were going to take her to dim sum.  The kids and I tagged along.  Mun came to pick us up this morning and we were going to sneak away from our mom’s today for what is the first of many interesting meals to come.  We got to the dim sum restaurant where the friends had booked a private room.  The kids, Mun and I sat at a separate small table, so we would be able to do as we pleased.  We planned on sticking around for a little while and then leaving to pick up Mun’s sister (Hung), Wah and Kathy and go eat lunch.

At this point, I had come to realize that people in China never really seem to work.  They get three hours for lunch!  This is a drawback to the day when most people used to ride bicycles and would ride home of lunch, take a nap and then ride back to work.  Although these days most people no longer ride bicycles, they still get three hours for lunch.  Additionally, most of the people that I have met that are still working (retirement age is 50) attend multiple meetings every day.  So, Mun, Hung (who works next to the restaurant), the kids and I went to pick up Wah, then Kathy and we headed for the outskirts (at least it was the outskirts to me) of the city.  I still have no idea how the streets in this city work.

We drove and we drove until we got to this area under a bridge.  We drove under the bridge for a bit and came to this clearing.  Mun pulls into this clearing and there was a building with a bunch of tables inside and outside.  We sit at the table outside and they start ordering food while I take the kids to see what we are eating today. 

They waitress brings out a cart with a bunch of raw stuff on it; chunks of emu meat, slices of emu gizzards, pieces of emu intestines, emu meatballs and some emu vegetables (OK, so it was just plain lettuceJ).  They then brought out a pot of hot soup and put it on a burner and we started cooking everything in the soup.  When the soup started to boil back up, I had my first bite of emu gizzard and emu meat.  And wow, was it good!!!  Does emu taste like chicken?  No!  I felt that the meat was more like a tender steak than poultry.  The kids ran around freely in the area around the restaurant and would not eat when I told them that we were eating a friend of one of the emus that we saw in the pens.  However, after some negotiations, they both agreed that if they got to run around, each time they came back to the table, they would have to eat one piece of meat.  Both kids tried the emu and thought it was really good too.

As we were heading back to city center, the others started discussing a trip to Macau.  They were planning on going to Macau on the 18^th, the day we were scheduled to return from Beijing.  I had always wanted to go to Macau was never had the chance to.  So, we decided that we could go to Macau on the 19^th of September and head to Hong Kong directly from there.

That evening we went to a restaurant in Pan Yu, which is an area in the outskirts of Guangzhou.  Pan Yu is surrounded by rivers that branch from the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang). The food in Pan Yu is more interesting that the food that one gets in the city.  The restaurant we went to today had tanks and tanks of fresh seafood, fished daily from the waters surrounding the restaurant itself, talk about fresh.  The taste test item for me at this meal was snake.  The snake had a chewy texture (no, it did not taste like chicken), there was really little meat on each piece of snake and there was more bone and spine.  Additionally, we ordered 3 types of shrimp, fish, eel and goose.  The three types of shrimp ranged from tiny river shrimp, medium sized shrimp (what we would usually get at a supermarket) to large shrimp (about the size of a crawfish).  The shrimp was totally amazing and yes, I was stuffed.  The eel was the smallest one available and it weighed closed to 5 pounds.

The beds at the hotel were extremely firm, as a lot of Chinese people still sleep on wood boards.  Since I was sharing the bed with one of the kids, I found myself sleeping on my side a lot and during this night, I woke to find that I had a bruise on my right hip L.

Mood:  surprised

I suppose at this time, I should introduce another person, who has been pretty prominent in our adventures; he is Hang Hang, Kathy and Mun’s son.  Hang Hang is a 2½ year old little boy, who quickly made friends with Izz and Chubba, even though they have no idea what the other person is saying.  This morning, Auntie, her son-in-law (Wah), Jessie, her son (Ga Ga) and Hang Hang came to pick us up at the hotel for our trip to Xiangjian Safari Park. 

Wah took us to a noodle shop for breakfast.  We were told that the noodles and wontons at this place were really good.  Really good is an understatement.  In addition to shrimp and pork, these wontons had a little bit of roe in it.  The noodles were the best consistency and the soup was really good.  Izz and Chubba shared one bowl of plain noodles and I had my own.  My mom had noodles with shrimp roe, which I found a little strange.  After breakfast we were on the road to the zoo again.

At this time, I noticed that there was a strange smell in my nose.  After smelling the air in China for a couple of days, this weird stench is now stuck in my nose. 

Kathy ordered tickets for us on-line.  She found a place that sells group tickets to people who don’t have enough people to form their own group and charge less than the regular admissions price, but more than the group price.  A representative meets you at the front gate and you wait for the entire “group” to be present before you enter the park.  We were to meet the rep between 10 and 10:30.  We got to the parking lot around 10:15 and did not see the rep.  After some phone calls, we found that we were at the wrong entrance.  We drove over to the other entrance and found that we were still missing two people.  The other two people showed up a little while later and we entered the zoo.  Admissions into most places in China are based on height and not age, at the zoo if one is less than 1.2 meters tall (47 inches) admission is free, as long as there was one paying adult.

As soon as the rep got us into the park, she left.  We had to walk to the other entrance of the zoo to get to the safari (similar to the one at Six Flags Great Adventure).  We started walking around the zoo and it seemed like any normal zoo in the U.S.  We saw monkeys and flamingos and cows, then we walked a little further and there was an area where one could take pictures with parrots, vultures, eagles and toucans (pictures with vultures, eagles and toucans?  This zoo is starting to get a little interesting).  We didn’t stop for the pictures, as one of us (thanks to Alfred Hitchcock) is scared of birds. 

We continued to walk and came to this area where people were getting their photos taken with a baby Bengal tiger and lion.  (OK, now this zoo has become very cool).  Apparently zoos are much more interesting and cool when you can take pictures, ride and feed animals.  As we continued through the zoo, we found an area where we could buy peanuts to feed monkeys.  Auntie brought a bunch of bananas with her and we tossed a couple over to these monkeys (I have no idea what kind they are) and apparently only the alpha male was allowed to eat these special treats.  The kids then got their photos taken with a baby chimpanzee!!  Then it was onto the lions and tigers (big ones in cages this time) and giraffes.  Even giraffes turn more interesting when you can feed them.  There was a little stand next to the giraffes selling leaves for the giraffes.  Izz went around and picked up a bunch that other people had dropped on the floor and started feeding one of the giraffes.  Next, we went to see Koalas.  I don’t remember ever seeing a koala before.  Unfortunately, koalas are nocturnal, so we saw a bunch of them sleeping. 

We then stopped for some ice cream as it was close to 100 degrees that day and it was humid (Is it possible that there is some place worse than Orlando?).  After this quick break, Wah and I took Hang Hang, Izz and Chubba to see the elephants, while the others continued to sit and rest.  Oddly enough, they were selling bananas to feed the elephants.  Peanuts for monkeys and bananas for elephants?  Weird.  We fed the rest of the bananas that Auntie brought along to the elephants and a bit further down, there were people riding on an elephant!   Across from the elephant ride was a small amusement park for kids.  However, as attendance was extremely low that day, the amusement park was closed.  We then went to see the pandas.  This was a first for the kids, however with the excitement of taking pictures with and feeding the animals, the pandas could not hold their own.

We then went to the safari area of the zoo.  We caught the “train” about 2 minutes before it started.  This part of the zoo was rather disappointing, as it is very similar to the safari at Great Adventure.  However, for everyone else, this seemed to be the highlight of the zoo.

We went back to the same noodle restaurant for late lunch after the zoo.  Izz said these were the best noodles ever and she could eat them every day.

After eating noodles again, we left to head back to City Central.  Congestion in Guangzhou has gotten to the point where it takes forever to get anywhere.  We drove around the city for a while, picking up various members of Auntie’s family to head for dinner.  By the time we got everyone there, it was close to 7:30.  Dinner tonight included the usual chicken, goose, veggies, beef short ribs (beef tends to be rare (as in hard to find) since cows are usually used for farming and tend to be tough by the time they are slaughtered for food, as well as what will become a norm at every meal shrimp.

I will try to add pictures to this post soon.

ABC

When we got there, I found both kids still sleeping.  They would not wake up for dinner and slept through the entire meal.  The kids continued to sleep after we got back to the hotel.  Auntie and the others would meet us at the hotel the next day around 9:00 and we were going to go to Xiangjiang safari park, which is the top zoo in china.  However, the kids woke up at 3, after sleeping for 10 hours.  In order for them to hopefully adjust to the time difference quicker and so I could get some sleep, I gave them each ½ of a Dramamine. 

The Dramamine knocked them both out sufficiently so that we all slept until about 7:30.

ABC

The next morning, my mom’s friend (hence forth referred to as Auntie), her husband (Uncle), his sister, her husband and their grandson were supposed to come to our hotel in the morning and take us for dim sum.  However, we did not expect that three of us would be wide awake by 5:30 in the morning, waking the 4^th person (me) up as well.  We hung around the hotel room, waiting for Auntie and the others to call.  Finally at 7:30, I decided to take a walk to get us some food.  I walked to the 7-11 down the street and picked up a couple of buns, a container of plain cheurng fun (rice noodles that are used to make chow fun) and dumplings and coffee for $21HK ($2.75 US).  The food was much better than I would expect from 7-11.  After eating the quick breakfast we continued to wait.

Auntie and the others finally came around 9:30 and we went to a restaurant that was actually attached to our hotel.  I don’t know if it was because I was hungry or what, but the food was so good.  We ordered a couple of crock pots of rice steamed with spareribs, har gow (shrimp dumplings), sui mai (pork and shrimp dumplings), cheurng fun with shrimp, veggies and some other stuff.  The har gows were my main focus, as Hong Kong’s har gows are the best I have ever had.  These har gows had two whole shrimp in each one.  The sui mai were amazing as well.  I am drooling just thinking about it.

Auntie’s sister-in-law called the man with the van from the night before and had him come pick us up from the hotel to drive us to the train station.  Taxis in Hong Kong have a limit of seating 5 people and charging for additional luggage.  Therefore, for $100HK ($13), it was much easier to use the van again. 

We got to the train station 15 minutes before the next train was due to leave, which left us 5 minutes to get the luggage checked and to the train before the gate closed.  We opted to wait for the next train, since we also didn’t have the cash to pay for the train tickets (credit cards are not excepted!).  There was a money exchanger about 20 feet from the ticket window and a bank a bit further down.  We walked around the train station a bit after checking the luggage in.  We then walked around the station for a bit before we were allowed to get to the train gate.  We took the escalator down to the train tracks and there sat a double decker train.  We were assigned seats on the top deck of the first car.  The guy selling the train tickets gave us 4 seats with a table in between.  The kids did not require tickets. 

The train ride took about 2 hours, with 1 stop.  We went through immigration and collected out luggage right after that.  We then went through an area with a x-ray machine to scan small bags and there was a dog there to sniff out items that are not allowed into the country, including fruits and vegetables.  Auntie and Uncle’s son (Mun) came to pick us up in his minivan. 

Mun drove us to what he thought was our hotel, Guangdong International Hotel and we were told that it was closed for renovations.  The security guard there said that maybe we were booked at the Asia International Hotel, across the street (talk about confusing).  We checked into our hotel, booked through www.agoda.com, which again was a simple process.  They gave us room 3208 and again asked for a $500 RMB ($74 US) deposit and for the passports of all adults staying in the room.  The room is pretty big, again with two oversized twin beds, a closet, a minibar, desk and two chairs.  My only complaint is the moldy mat in the bathtub.  However, since there is a separate shower in the bathroom, I can live with it.

After resting in the room for about 20 minutes, we were supposed to go to dinner with all of my mother’s old schoolmates. After 2 minutes after we got into the van, both kids fell asleep.  Mun drove me to meet his wife Kathy, who was going to take me to the supermarket, so I could get some fruits and drinks.   I was not going to pay the $3.75 US for the cans of coke from the minibar, when I could get a can for 37 cents at the supermarket.  I had talked to Kathy many times before our trip; she will be joining us and helped us book plane tickets to Xi’an and Beijing.  Mun took the others with the kids to the restaurant first.   Kathy and I went to a Japanese supermarket which was supposed to have quality stuff.  After getting some fruits and drinks, we met up with Kathy’s mother and sister (Jessie) who were joining us for dinner.  Mun came back and picked us up to take us to the restaurant. 

ABC

The hotel we stayed at was BP International located on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.  The man dropped us off around the corner from the hotel, as he could not park in front of the hotel.  I went to the hotel and asked for a bellhop to follow me to the car.  We got the luggage into the hotel and I went to check-in.  I booked the hotel through 1800Hotels and check-in was really quick and simple.  They asked for the passports of all adults staying in the room and for a $500HK ($65 US) deposit or a credit card.  The whole process probably took about 5 minutes.  We were assigned a room 2116 on the 21^st floor.  The hotel room was extremely small; there were two oversized twin beds, a closet a mini fridge, a desk by the window and a bathroom with a shower. The closet held one of our suitcases and not much else.  The room was simple and clean, no complaints, since most hotel rooms in Hong Kong are similar in size.  We went across the street for a quick meal.

 ABC

Mood:  chillin'

This is the go to blog..  Facebook and Blogger are banned in China...  If someone sees this, please update my Facebook and let others know.

I will update more probably tomorrow.

ABC

Mood:  a-ok

Living in New Jersey, I always try to be early when I go somewhere, especially since you never know when you will get stuck in traffic for hours.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:15 and when I checked flight information, the flight was supposed to be on time.  We packed up the car with the 4 check-in suitcases, 5 carry-ons, 4 passengers and our chauffer (Steve) for the ride to the airport. 

My mother started packing for the trip the day after we bought our plane tickets.  She has a lifelong friend in Guangzhou, who has a grandson a year younger than Chubba, so she packed all his old clothes for this little boy.  You have to understand that when you ask my mother how much stuff she is bringing, she will tell you nothing and then have 20 bags.  To her, if the bag is under 100 pounds, it really doesn’t count.  My mother has not flown on a plane since all the regulations regarding liquids and paying for checking bags, etc have been in place.  For this trip, we were each allowed 2-50 pound bags.  Last week, I went into my mother’s room and saw 2 big suitcases sitting in her room.  Out of curiosity, I tried to lift the bigger one and found that I could not lift in more than 2 inches.  I went to the bathroom and grabbed the scale and went back to weigh the bags.  Bag number 1 weighed in at 58 pounds and bag 2 weighed in at 54 pounds.  Upon opening her bags for inspection, I started pulling out bags of granola bars, coffee and other items.  After checking both bags, I realized that there was no clothing in them for her to wear.  Upon questioning, there was a third bag to be brought on the plane in addition to her backpack and her purse.  After pulling items out of bags 1 and 2, she decided to put these items into bag 3 and bag 3 would be checked as well.  I finally packed for myself and the kids this past Thursday, I ended up with 1 medium suitcase (my mother had commandeered my large suitcase (bag 1) and my small suitcase (bag 3)).  I also have two carry-ons in the form of a backpack and a small duffle.  The kids each have a small backpack with a stuffed animal and their leapsters.

We left for the airport around 11:15 figuring we would get to Newark around 12:00-12:15 on the early side.  We got to the airport around 12:15 and were told by the agent at the check-in that we had to go two flights down to the domestic check-in area to check-in…  We took the elevator 2 flights down, got checked in in about 10 minutes, at this time I noted that we would actually board the plane at 2:25, giving us about 2 hours to wait around.  As we were on an international flight, we had to have our passports checked at check-in.  We then headed to the gate as we reached the gate, we were surprised by a one hour delay.  We sat for a while and then decided to get something to eat.  We ate at a place called Ruby’s diner, the food was average airport food.  We then went back to sitting.  Everyone boarding the plane had to have their passports checked again at the podium.  We went back to sitting and sitting some more.  Izz started talking to a airplane maintenance man as well as the pilot while we were waiting.  The maintenance man told the pilot that the original plane we were supposed to be one was having mechanical difficulties, therefore we were waiting for another plane.  The plane did not show up at the gate until 3:50.  After cleaning and everything else, we did not get on the plane until 4:15.  We got on the plane and were pleasantly surprised by the fact that we have 6 seats for the 4 of us.  The plane finally took off around 4:50 and we were now scheduled to land at 8:45.  We would fly over the Montreal, Canada, Greenland, the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Beijing, China and finally landing in Hong Kong in just over 15 hours.  Before taking off, we were handed menus in Chinese and English, telling us what we would be eating on the flight.  Right after take-off, we were served pretzels and beverages.  Before I even started the bag of pretzels, we were served dinner.  Three of us had the steak and Izz had the fish.  The food was pretty decent, the rice reminded me more of Japanese rice, where the rice was

stickier than Chinese rice.  After dinner, the kids tried to figure out the video system.  We had movies, games and music right at our fingers.  Everyone on the plane started dozing after dinner time, the flight was pretty quiet.  Mid-flight, at around midnight east coast time, we were served turkey dogs on croissants and ice cream.  We then slept until about 5:00 when I wanted to wake the kids up so that they would sleep when we landed.  Around 6:00, we were fed again; we were given a choice of cheddar cheese omelet or dim sum.  We all picked dim sum.  There was one piece of dim sum (siu mai (a pork dumpling)), a Chinese bun of some sort and some noodles, some cantaloupe, honey dew and grapes.  The food was not appetizing at all and I did not eat anything.  After we finished eating, we were handed papers to fill out for immigration.  We then landed about half an hour later. 

Our plane finally landed at around 8:30.  There were free mini luggage carts available by the gate, we grabbed one and headed towards the exit.  After going past 3 people movers, we had to relinquish the luggage cart and walk the rest of the way.  We then went through a health check (thanks to swine flu) and immigration.  Then we headed to baggage claim.  (That’s right, immigration before luggage claim)  My mother took the kids to the bathroom while I waited by our carry-ons.  As they walked back past the carousel, our luggage appeared on the belt and I quickly pulled them off one by one and I grabbed a free luggage cart and we were headed out of the airport.  The time was just past 9:00 PM local time.  My mom’s friend and her husband came from Guangzhou to meet us at the airport and the husband’s sister (who lives in Hong Kong) came with them as well. A man came by and asked if we needed a ride somewhere, after some discussion, he charged us $250 HK ($32.50 US) for the ride from the airport to the city, where our hotel is located.

More later…