Flying to Chongqing

Today we had to get up at 4 a.m. and be ready to leave the hotel by 6 a.m., for the airport and our flight to Chongqing. I took a look out the window to find out if it was still raining, so we could dress appropriately. It wasn’t raining, it was snowing! We all got dressed as warmly as we could and headed to the lobby. We loaded on the bus and headed for the airport; the snow kept falling and falling. Got to the airport, unloaded at the Air China terminal, which was 3 times busier than Orlando International at its busiest times, not too mention we all felt like fish in a tank being the only fair haired, fair skinned people in an ocean of Chinese people. Our group, which is 30 people, made our way through security and headed to the gate. We then boarded a bus and headed out on the runway to our plane which we had to walk through the snow and up some stairs to get on the plane, there are a limited amount of gates and a ton of planes here so you board ON the runways. Due to the weather, we had to wait for our plane to be de-iced, which delayed us by 2 ½ hours, it was so uncomfortable, the plane was hot and we were all anxious to get to Chongqing.
We landed in Chongqing 2 hours later and got out to 60 degree, sunny weather. I almost felt like I was back home, except for the fact that I was surrounded by mountains. Chongqing is huge! 14 million people live here, and we saw all of them walking the streets, it’s so crowded, people walking, riding bikes, motorcycles, buses and taxis. We and finally got to settle in a bit, we’ve been on the go since we arrived. Looked out our 12th floor window, our view is the city skyline just across the Yangtze River, it’s really nice. We all met up with Michael, our tour guide, to go get some groceries, what an adventure that was! We walked over 4 blocks through the ghetto, although all the housing seems to be what we would consider ghetto, people peddling pineapple, chicken’s feet, hot pots, men playing a form of cards, kids peeing on the street, all part of daily living here. Once again, so many people! We got to the grocery store, which was underground and worse than any Wal-Mart in regards to how busy it was, the only good thing was all the registers were open, unlike our stores back home!

We picked up bottled water, soda, and chips. You have to pay attention to the chips because the bags are similar looking, but the flavors are not even close. A bag that looked like sour cream was actually shrimp chips! Our grocery total was 100 Chinese, which is about $12 U.S. We ventured back to the room, back through the ghetto and unpacked our luggage. We decided to be adventurous and go into the city for dinner.

We were recommended to go to the J.W. Marriott for some much needed western food, so we got 2 cabs, which are the tiniest cars I’ve ever been in, and headed out on our 10 minute thrill ride. The drivers here are CRAZY, that’s all I can say, they don’t yield to anyone, pedestrians, buses, or other cars! Eyes forward and weaving in and out until they get you to your destination. The good thing is, it’s cheap. Three people in a cab, to our destination @ 6 miles away was 8.60, or $1.25 U.S.

We all had a nice dinner in a beautiful hotel, we wish we were staying there, and made our way back, risking life in another taxi ride. On our way back, people were lining the streets for the last day of Chinese New Year and the fireworks celebration over the river. The fireworks started @ 8 p.m. while we were still in the cab and didn’t end until after 10 p.m.! And the show wasn’t 1 firework at a time, it was equal to a finale’ at a Disney firework show, nonstop for over two hours and in two places down the river. We had a great view from our room and we were all amazed. We all went to bed to get ready for today, WE GET ALI TODAY!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to go take a shower and get ready, it’s 6:30 a.m. / 5:30 p.m. yesterday back home. We miss and love you all! Blog you again tonight, with pictures of the baby!!!!!!