Day 2.......
Hello Everyone!
I'm going to write these emails back as my online journal, if you care to follow along please do so, since our blog is officially blocked here in China. Did you know Google is also blocked! arg!
Well, we met our other travel mates yesterday in Beijing at the hotel. They spent the day touring as we did the last time we were here. O'Ree & Maria are from Troutdale, Oregon, and their son to be is also at Max's same orphanage in BaoTou. Jennifer & Carl, are from Washington, D.C., and their daughter is in the Hunan Province. We will meet up with them in Guangzhou, as we do our U.S. Consulate stuff there.
Our Beijing 2nd guide Cindy, helped us convert some of our money at the hotel, due to where we are going they do not covert over a certain amount. Credit cards are rarely used here, cash for everything! Cindy arranged for us to have a box breakfast as our flight for Hohhot leaves early.
We left Beijing without a hitch, I was concerned with our massive cart-rolling 4 american sized suitcases being overweight for a small domestic flight. But, sweet Cindy negotiated zero extra charges for us! Horray!
As we said goodbye and thanks to Cindy, and the family going to Hunan, us Hohhot peeps found our gate for China South Airlines. Since it was only an hour flight, we wondered if it was going to be a small plane, but it wasn't. However, they took us by bus right on the tarmac to board the plane. On the plane which was only 1/4 full (being 737) they gave us mongolian sweet meat sandwiches...kinda yummy.
We landed in the brand new Hohhot nice airport, and were pleased to see our guide Jessie (yes Jean, she's the same Jessie who guided your family while here!) with a big welcoming smile. Jessie arrived here in Hohhot earlier to prepare things, start paperwork, talk to the orphanage etc.
BURRR! It's -7 degrees C, about 10-12 degrees F. I'm glad we packed our scarves, gloves, etc. The air is way less smoggy than Beijing, and it seems cleaner here.
Hohhot is the capitol city of Inner Mongolia. Max's orphanage is in BaoTou, about 2 hrs from here. Hohhot means the "green city" I don't think for reasons in which "green" has become popular in the u.s. (sorry Heather) It is the green grass, pastures, etc, that give it's name. Curiosly, Inner Mongolia is 1 of 3 places in China that have their own language. Many of the signage is written in both the Mongolian characters and Chinese characters. It is distinctivly different looking, very slim and tall characters. The famous food here is "Mongolian Hot Pot" and no, I'm guessing it's not similar to the one on Commercial Street in south salem.
We arrived at our hotel via private little bus again. They hire these cute little white busses with lace doilies on the seat backs for groups. Kinda VIP like, or so I think. (not really) Our hotel is a Holiday Inn, the best one in town. Hooray! Wireless internet in the rooms, Western food, and a gym, were set. Jessie checked us in, and we had some rest time. Which translated to me, organizing all of our junk in a small room. As were heard a ring at the door (yes the rooms have doorbells) in came the housekeeping with a crib and tiny bathtub for Max! :)
We all rested a bit, and met in the lobby to walk to our lunch destination. Jessie let us know not to be alarmed by people staring at us, as the people here are very curious and do not see many Westerners on a regular basis. Infact after our little outing to lunch/shopping yesterday we did not see one other westerner. The city is very crowed as it is their Spring Festival right now coming off the Chinese New Year last week. Thus the spontaneous fireworks all over on the streets, many red lanterns decorating the roadways, so beautiful.
Our lunch place was very popular, which was a noodle type of restaurant. We grabbed a table (Maria and myself) while the boys ordered with Jessie. My soup looked a lot like Vietamese Pho (hello Tim and Long) it was really good! Plus I was freezing, and warm soup hits the spot.
We decided to go shopping (hooray) we were told that Max likes cars, and Sean (Maria & O'Ree's son) likes building blocks. We brought some toys, but, we just got some cute little matchbox types of cars for him. Then we went to the grocery store. One of my favorite types of places because of all of the awesome eye-candy from a graphical packaging nature. Bright colors, bins of who knows what, totally interesting.
We stocked up on water (still trying hard not to brush teeth from the tap), beer (for John) and I found some Coke Zero (tee hee) and we purchased Max some of the crackers we were told he likes. Just for reference we purchased 4 huge 2 liter bottles of h20, beer, crackers, and my soda, for about $5. Our soup at the restaurant for two people was $2. The RMB (yuan) is about 7 to our $1. And their money is so colorful, and fake looking (not fake in a bad way, just the feel of the paper)
So, we headed back and I realized my camera was not in my pocket. Silly me for keeping it there, as I was taking pictures of the cool things in the store. My purse is glued across my chest, but, it seems that I it may have dropped out or I may have been pick-pocketed. I've never lost or had anything stolen. Drat! Yep. That stinks. So, Jessie and I went to the security office, and they looked at the tapes. No sign of the camera. The good news is that it wasn't our money, or passports, etc, and Jessie helped me get a new camera before our big day. Eek!
So, with the day behind us, it's time for some shut-eye, hard to do when you are on salem time, but, we are exhausted. John fell asleep as his head hit the pillow. :)
Our big day to meet Max is Monday (today)!
More to come soon!
:)
Beth & John
Hohhot Time
Portland Time