There's No Place Like Guangzhou...

Say it with me. "There's no place like Guangzhou..." Yes, not quite home but getting closer. The location that we are staying is very quiet and not very crowded. Compared to the places we've been so far. And since we are staying at the same location and hotel we were at with Anna Lin our surroundings are very familiar and feel like an old friend. We know where everything is at that we need and don't feel handicapped when getting around. The trip here did not start off so good though. We got to the airport in Hangzhou ready to move on and it was very rainy. We checked our luggage and waited at the gate we were supposed to be at. Then the bottom dropped out and it was a torrential downpour. We were thinking that's it, our flight will be delayed. It still looked like a go until the last minute when we heard an announcement that said "flight xxxx has been delayed due to aircraft delay, please see the customer service desk for meal box." Uh oh, that doesn't sound promising. So I went up to the desk to find out what the deal was and sure enough, they handed me some food and a bottle of water. No information about the flight though. So everyone sat down to eat white rice, some pork looking thing, shrimp (whole), and lettuce? Oh, and something that Angi said were potatoes. Finally they posted our new departure time as 9:50 PM and that's what it ended up being. It was initially supposed to leave at 6:40 PM. We waited for about 5 hours total in the airport, with the kids. Not fun. Luckily Alex, Michelle, and Lei were there too so we were able to comiserate together. The flight was successful,(obviously), and we got into Gaungzhou and checked into our hotel around 1:00 AM. Needless to say we were VERY TIRED! We have a nice big suite though so we can't complain now. The kids have some room to get around on rainy days, which is probably going to be everyday, and we are comfortable. Autumn had her medical examination this morning which was crazy with a lot of families doing the same thing but it went well. As I sit here typing this Anna Lin and Aumn are eating ice cream cones. And life is good. We had lunch at Lucy's which serves some western style food like burgers, fries, and quesadillas. I had a cheesburger and fries which although not quite a Steak N Shake burger it was good. Everyday with Autumn is better. The language barrier is nto a problem and she is very easy going but very sneaky. The boys (ZSN) will have to be fast to keep up with her. She is very shy and quiet when out and about with strangers but in the room she will get animated. I have some video of her and Anna Lin chasing each other around acting like monsters giggling like mad the whole time. Oh, interesting thing with the plane ride. This was a domestic flight in China and the movie they showed was "Alvin and the Chipmunks." It was in English with Chinese subtitles. I thought that was an interseting choice. Well, that's your news update for now...

zài jiàn ！


- Ric