Not much to do today. We had to check out of our hotel room by noon, so
they set us up a "day use" room until it was time to go to the airport. We
didn't have to leave until 4pm, so that was going to be a long day. The day
use room ended up being OUR room, so that worked out rather well.
I finally talked Rob into taking me over to the pearl market which was about
two blocks from the hotel. This "market" was just a jewelry store, so no
excitement there. Holy s***! Those prices were OUTRAGEOUS! Granted, everything was beautiful, but very very pricey. I spotted (okay and tried on) this beautiful black pearl earring and necklace set. It was almost $1500! Owie. Not for me. I would be afraid to wear them!!!
It was very hot and humid so we didn't want to wander too far from the wonderful air conditioning at the hotel. We got to talk to the boys via instant message this morning so I felt a little better.
It came time to leave for the airport. I must say, our rep was just plain awesome. He handled every detail. We loaded our luggage and ourselves on to the bus and off to the airport we went. He helped us get checked in and told us which gate to find. (He even got us around that 44lb weight limit thing! COOL) Originally our flight was supposed to take off at 6:35 pm, but it had been moved to 7:15pm. So we waited at the gate. It was so funny to watch all of these "expectant" parents wait for a LATE plane. We were all antsy. Luckily, we found a Starbucks at the airport. That HELPED! Until they pushed the departure off again. To 7:30. Then again...to 8:00. We all were about to explode. Finally the time came to leave . I must say I have never before gotten on a plane via a bus ride to the tarmac. We climbed these funky steps and FINALLY we were on our way to Changsha! Let me tell you, this was not a pleasant flight. It was only an hour and ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Small plane. Small seats. And a smelly French man sitting next to us. Then they served us to poorest excuse for airport food ever! Oh well. We got off with only but a little nausea.
Customs and immigration was a little intimidating, but it was no problem. Everyone just smiled. Our rep (Daphne) in Changsha met us outside of customs with her sister. The airport in Changsha was much smaller, but not bad. There was a nice scuffle that broke out just before we left between some men and an older woman getting off the plane and some men at the gate. We thought for sure fists were going to fly. Very loud, heated argument. Whats worse is that I think they were all FAMILY!! Just another plain old family feud.
On the bus, Daphne gave us all a wet towel to clean up with (what a thoughtful thing), bottled water and OREOS! Definately what these cranky Americans needed! We got checked into our hotel about 10:30pm and got to bed about midnight. what a day. And tomorrow is the big day! Like we were going to sleep anyways!
Below are a couple pictures from today's endevours.
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