A better night last night - Zhen up once for a bottle, right back to sleep. Up before 6 to do the final packing for the trip to Beijing, and get Zhen ready. We went down to the restaurant for our last Nanjing breakfast, with most of our group. Onto the bus, and off to the airport in good time. However, the bus driver took us to the wrong terminal. By this time there was a lot of traffic, and we took some time to get to the proper check-in. Cherry was great, sticking with us all the way. The bags were weighed as a group, and although we were a little over limit, they did not charge us extra. This was a surprise. Although most of us held off major shopping because of weight limits, most were well over weight. However, Cherry only had a light bag, and they counted Samantha as one person, so we were near the limit.
We marched down the terminal as best we could for quite a distance. When we arrived at the gate, we found that most of the plane had boarded and the announcer was giving an urgent final last call. When we strode up to the gate I was getting frantic. I ran to the ticket counter, and realized that Andy was no longer behind me! Andy, remaining true to his relaxed, casual and friendly nature, had become engaged with another Canadian traveler who stopped him for a long conversation about everything from B.C. rain to fishing in Newfoundland. It was all I could do remain calm, and (nicely) prod Andy and Zhen to get going. We were the last to board, but we made it!
Zhen and all the babies were great on their first flight ever. No crying or fussing. Zhen is so happy - she responded to other passengers, and they back to her, with smiles. If hungry or tired or wet, give her something interesting to see or do, and she is in rapt attention. No ear trouble, with a bottle on the way up, and half asleep on the way down. In between, she enjoyed seeing the pictures in magazines, scrabbling her hand on pictures of faces, and tilting her head, as if trying to figure out the difference from the real thing.
We had a snack on the way, a package of "Nutlets", and on the back it stated that it had "The Power Of Five Spiccs". We landed without incident, and found our way through the Beijing airport to the bus, again with the help of Cherry. A one and a half hour bus ride took us to our next hotel, the Jianguo in Beijing. What a great bunch of babies - they took it all in stride.
Some confusion at the check in was soon resolved (again thank goodness for Cherry). While waiting in the crowded lobby we met other groups that were adopting babies - 4 couples from Denmark, 2 from England, and ten couples from Quebec, all in the same hotel. The ones from Denmark told us that they only had to spend a few days in China with the adoption process, compared to our two weeks.
Beijing is quite different from Nanjing. It is being modernized from the center out, with wide ring roads. Old (and ancient) neighborhoods are being torn down, and replaced with lots of steel glass and chrome buildings. In the last 5 years, 80% of the buildings in central Beijing are new! We were surprised that there are hardly any bicycles on the roads. This was not the case just 5 years ago. Now, many can afford cars, and many use the government or private buses to get to work. Another factor is that much of the central population has been forcefully relocated to the suburbs, at a great distance, making commuting by bicycle difficult.
They told us that we would feel spoiled in the Nanjing hotel in comparison to the Beijing one, and they were right. Some of the rooms were not clean, and generally it was much smaller and crowded. The staff, with a few welcome exceptions, was not as friendly and much less helpful. Buses were allowed to idle outside the restaurant, filling it with fumes. This was corrected after we complained. The food was generally OK, but the variety was not as wide. Much of the food was not out early enough for us, and when some stations ran out, there were no refills. It was poorly planned (bread and buns in a corner where only one person could get in at a time). On the other hand, Andy and I had little to complain about - we just enjoyed being there with our new little one.
We went out with the group for a "hot pot" Chinese dinner. "How To" help was provided by Cherry, as well as by Nina, whose parents are Chinese (from Vietnam), Claude, and Nina's co-worker from China, Ivan. We were served raw veggies, tofu, pork, thin slices of beef, dumplings, fish balls, and small chicken chunks. We speared each piece, and dipped it into the boiling broth in the hot pot embedded in the middle of the table. Great new tastes. Some had a split hot pot, with mild broth on one side, spicy broth on the other. Zhen sat in her first high chair, and entertained everyone with her squeals of delight at the food. The waitresses were quite taken with the babies, and our waitress was quite delighted to receive a Canadian "Year of the Monkey" stamp from us.
Read More About Beijing Style Food Here
As in Nanjing, there were underpasses to get from one side of the street to the other. To do this, we had to cross a bike/taxi lane first - and they have the right of way it seems. We went across as a bunch, and one taxi was forced to stop for us. The streets were very wide, about 14 lanes across in total, and always filled with traffic.
Back in our room, it hit home that this hotel is not as high class as our previous one. We were used to the luxury of the Jinling Hotel in Nanjing. The Beijing Jianguo is adequate, more on the status of a Days Inn, rather than the Park Plaza. We hear clunking noises from taps in other rooms, footsteps from above, and traffic noises from the balcony. It may not matter, since we will all hopefully zonk out for the night after such a busy day.
Andy read Zhen her new book "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes". She loved it and wanted to turn the pages. I taped it for the future! She soon fell asleep with Andy on the bed.
More Day 6 Pictures Here
A better night last night - Zhen up once for a bottle, right back to sleep. Up before 6 to do the final packing for the trip to Beijing, and get Zhen ready. We went down to the restaurant for our last Nanjing breakfast, with most of our group. Onto the bus, and off to the airport in good time. However, the bus driver took us to the wrong terminal. By this time there was a lot of traffic, and we took some time to get to the proper check-in. Cherry was great, sticking with us all the way. The bags were weighed as a group, and although we were a little over limit, they did not charge us extra. This was a surprise. Although most of us held off major shopping because of weight limits, most were well over weight. However, Cherry only had a light bag, and they counted Samantha as one person, so we were near the limit.
We marched down the terminal as best we could for quite a distance. When we arrived at the gate, we found that most of the plane had boarded and the announcer was giving an urgent final last call. When we strode up to the gate I was getting frantic. I ran to the ticket counter, and realized that Andy was no longer behind me! Andy, remaining true to his relaxed, casual and friendly nature, had become engaged with another Canadian traveler who stopped him for a long conversation about everything from B.C. rain to fishing in Newfoundland. It was all I could do remain calm, and (nicely) prod Andy and Zhen to get going. We were the last to board, but we made it!
