Tuesday-Wednesday,
May 11-12, 2010
TRAVEL TO CHINA . . . THRU ATLANTA, L.A.,
GUANGZHOU . . . DESTINATION GUILIN
I
drove to Knoxville on Monday and dropped Ellie Lu off and then
the final preparations began in “supersonic” mode. Lot’s of last
minute details and before I knew it the clock had struck 4 am on
May 11th departure day. Where was Mel…at work the usual right
before we leave on a trip…work ALL night. Amazingly I woke up on
my own at 7 am and headed out to have my nails done…noticed the
walk in clinic had know one there and ran by as I was totally
without voice and feeling like bronchitis was setting into my
chest. I was in and out fairly quickly despite the doctors need
to quiz me on all things China including communism. After a few
more last minute errands…
I met Mel back at the house and we loaded the car…without a
moment to spare and were off to the airport. Our flight was at
2:10 pm and we got to the airport about an hour before
departure. I drove and Mel was in panic mode the entire way….we
made it and before we knew it we were scrunched into a mini jet
on our way to Atlanta. My word, closest I have felt to being a
sardine and thanked my lucky stars we are in business class for
our China flight.
In Atlanta we had to go from terminal D to A and the electric
cars were not running very quickly so we starting walking, Mel
was leery but just kept following me and in like 25 minutes we
walked from terminal D to A with no time to spare…they were
boarding. Treat of all treats for me I noticed “Ruby” the gal
who has lost a ton a weight and has a show about weight loss. So
you ask was I that crazy fan that goes up and talks to her…yes I
was…she was a hoot and wanted to follow our adoption of Emma so
we exchanged cards. Our flight was loaded jammed packed again
and we were off to LA. Mind you Mel and I have only been away
from Ellie Lu 1 day in nearly 2 years…we were like crazy newly
dating folks…we ordered movies to watch and a nice lunch and Mel
had a beer and although we were on a plane it felt like a date.
We joked about how flying now seems a bit like hitch
hiking…dollar for this…few more dollars for that and my word not
too long ago in coach you were served on linens and with real
silverware….times have changed.
We talked about Ellie Lu and Emma and how we look so forward to
seeing them together for the first time. Our flight was
uneventful and we arrived in LA on time and then “hiked” outside
in the cold to the International terminal sat awhile and had
dinner until the counter opened for China Southern and then
checked in. It was then that we realized our luggage was only
checked to Guangzhou and not Guilin and apparently know one
could fix it…I began to picture large overweight charges and
difficulties communicating why our luggage was huge and heavy
and why we shouldn’t be charged…..more to come.
The International terminal was interesting mostly Asians a few
Germans and some folks from down under, wall to wall people and
6 outlets to charge all the electronic gizmos we all use…OMG I
walked the terminal no less than 6 times trying to find my spot
as all my electronics were out of juice. I perched outside the
ladies room and charged my cell phone enough to send a text or 2
and check email, and then the time had come to board. Side
note…you can’t mail anything from LAX so all the last minute
cards, bills and whatever that I completed on the plane will now
travel to China and not be sent until we arrive home…how funny
is that…oh well I tried!
All of the sudden people started this random line and Mel got in
it…it was huge. I began to recon suspecting a shorter line for
business and first or club members. We queue up and Mr. Surfer
man 4 feet 11 with what appear to be shark bites is in front of
me. He tells me everything as he is the most seasoned traveler
to China one might meet…interesting dude commutes to China and
is at home 10 days out of the month. Then behind us is “Barbie
fashion designer” who wants to know why we are going to China
apparently we did not fit the “business person” mold, we
explained our trip and then of course “Barbie” wanted to know
how she can adopt…over 40 and single and oh yeah forgot she also
commutes to China and is gone 2 to 3 weeks each month…not sure
how children would fit into that….later we realize why she is
single…she was “mean Barbie” nothing absolutely nothing suited
her. We settle into our comfy big seats and feel like Cheshire
cats that won the lottery, awesome seats except they are right
behind mean Barbie…close to lavatory yeah for me….since Mel
reports I had at least 12 visits…who was counting. Smooth
flight….slept about 75 percent of the 15.5 hours used the
awesome eye mask, booties and all the other goodies they gave
us…best of all Mel does not snore when he is sitting up to
sleep, so we both rested well. If there was a downside to flying
an Asian airline…the entertainment choices were limited, mostly
in Chinese and mostly 40 years old…we just heehawed as we
flipped thru them and the little bit of watching we did was the
channel that showed our flight progress. On one of my trips to
the lavatory I was gargling some Scope and choked and omg blue
scope went everywhere… the ceiling, mirror, my white shirt….I
was afraid to wipe the ceiling as it said do not touch something
about sprinkler and smoke. So I left my mark of blue scope on
the ceiling. One more funny the flight attendants had very
broken English and so when I asked for Congee as they were
serving breakfast I got milk in a bowl, then I asked again and I
got Raisin Bran, then I asked again and they brought Mel hot tea
and then I asked again and pointed and finally got a bowl for us
to try. Mel said it was okay I thought it was too mushy.
After breakfast we both rested more until we landed in
Guangzhou. We cleared customs and were able to get our bags all
of them and still huge…we put them on a cart and begin to
navigate our way to recheck them and get boarding passes…to say
it was hot is mild the heat was stifling…at 5 am to be sweating
like you are competing in a world class sporting even is not
normal. Most of the people in the already crowded airport had on
long sleeves too, so maybe you get acclimated and the warm heat
actually feels like winter, we had the fewest close on, that is
except for a few young girls that had on stockings, shorts and
high heals a unique combination for sure. We found the China
Southern check in and waited our turn, I put up our first
smaller back and she said “next bag”, then our 2 ton huge one,
her comment “overweight”, “bag overweight” I am sure the “heavy”
bag tag did not help right! She kept saying overweight as if I
could jiggle my nose and something would change so I said it has
to go, what do we do….she said “pay money”, of course how
much…so then she says “only 2 bags you have 3”, um mmmmm well we
have to take them all, so then she scribbles on my e-ticket “300
rmb” or about $50 us dollars, I say fine where to pay, ummmmm
“over there”. So after paying we now have to stand in the mile
long again to getting our boarding passes and give her the
receipt, but I decided to do what everyone else does….break line
well technically it was not breaking I had already stood in it
and miraculously I was not arrested or beating and was able to
get our boarding passes.
At this point we still have like 4 hours until our flight so we
find a coffee shop and order Mel some special coffee…”Carmel
macchiato” and me a Sprite, no chai tea latte in China so
far…boo hoo and 2 ham and egg sandwiches….we place bets on
whether they will arrive with cucumber….and they did. The funny
thing they brought one sandwich cut up into four parts and we
didn’t know if this was 1 sandwich with 2 halves or what so Mel
calls it a “snack” and we devour it. Then as we are feeling less
than hungry but not full another one arrives and we laugh so
hard we almost toss our cookies. After the 2nd sandwich we felt
full and headed toward security on our way to our gate.
We literally are the only Caucasians in an airport with hundreds
if not thousands of people…everyone looking at us wondering why
we are here…we did not get this feeling on our first trip as we
had our group, but this is an interesting feeling…of course they
select me to go thru my bag and Mel to, they went thru his 2 or
3 times. While I was waiting some gal “swabs’ me with something
and says “do you mind” what do you say yes I mind and find
yourself locked up so she then needed my passport and boarding
card to log my “swab”. Finally we made it thru and had to repack
our bags they took so much out and then another 2 mile trek to
our gate…there were lots of lovely shops to look thru on the way
and we had so much time, but I myself was getting just a bit
green feeling after nearly 37 hours of traveling at this point.
We finally are called for boarding and find our seats and have a
pleasant flight to Guilin. Driving from the airport to our hotel
a truck hauling pigs passed us…I had to take a photo as both
Ellie Lu and Emma are born in the year of the pig based on the
Chinese zodiac…Our guide is lovely and her name is Lily and we
have a driver Mr. Young who is amazing and can navigate all the
craziness that is traffic here. Lily had all sorts of great
things we could do and we thought prior to meeting her we would
have a free day…aka rest. She was not pushy but thought
considering Emma Lynn is from Guilin that we would want to make
as many memories as possible to share with her one day. On our
way to the hotel she made reservations for an evening show, a
private tour at the South China Sea Pearl Museum and several
other extra things to make our trip memorable.
The drive was really beautiful with palm tree lined streets, and
lots of new construction. The sun was out and the mountains
literally encircle the area…we must find some art that depicts
our beautiful it is here. Lily checked us in and before we knew
it we were relaxing for a few in our room having lunch…me club
sandwich and Mel a burger…the fries here are pretty great too.
We freshened up and then it was time to explore Guilin….. |
Checking in ...
Check in complete...we are on our way...
We're off...from LA to Guangzhou
Our Breakfast...including Congee
Tracking our flight
Ham and Egg with Cucumber
Mel with our gigunda luggage
Our Guide Lily
The Mountains are stunning
Guilin Aiport
Truck of Pigs
Our Room |
