Have Luggage, Will Travel...and Travel...and Travel

The following is a post I started yesterday in Japan but was unable to post last night in Beijing. After that is today’s post.

Friday, August 22
435pm, Tokyo Airport

I am drafting this post from Tokyo Airport. It is 435pm local time, 335am by my biological clock. We have survived the longest leg of our journey and await a final 4 hour hop to Beijing on another mammoth 747. The flight here was pretty grueling and we are bone tired. I wouldn’t say exhausted yet but when I figure we will be arriving in Beijing in about 6 hours, I can see we are going to be at our limit. Sleep on the plane was impossible. It was plenty dark and quiet but very cramped. Our flight from Norfolk to Detroit had more leg and hip room than the trans-pacific flight. Seriously considering paying the $50 a seat on the way back to get an exit row seat.

The craziest thing about the trip was that it stayed daylight for the whole trip. All the shades were down for most of the flight but if you peeked out the window – daylight. I had suspected it would be like this but seeing it in actuality was a bit creepy. Like time was standing still and we were stuck in the cramped plane forever. So your body is telling you it’s 2 in the morning but the plane won’t let you get comfortable enough to sleep – peek out the window and it’s clear sunny skies. Outside air temp BTW was 59 degrees below zero – Fahrenheit. Brrrr!

For those that want to know, Tokyo airport is just like I thought it would be – tidy and user friendly. Nicest airport bathrooms I’ve ever been in.

I’m praying for engineering mercy this flight. Some leg room so we can get a measure of shut eye. I’ll finish this up once we get settled into our room in Beijing – but since we are only staying one night there and will be up by the crack of dawn it’s possible I may not be able to post this until we get to Chongqing. Blog you soon…

The view from our room in Beijing

Saturday, August 23
752pm, Chongqing

Sure enough we got to our room last night at about 11pm completely exhausted. I was barely coherent enough to type the short blog below. We got a decent night’s sleep and were drifting awake at 5am, pushed it to about 6 and were eyes-wide-open by the time of our wake up call. We were dropped off at Terminal 3 of the Beijing Airport (the largest single terminal in the world – I mean this thing is HUGE) and made our way to Chongqing on China Air. The only Caucasians on the flight, we created quite a stir. The rest of the group went off together to Nanching with the guide from the agency Alison.

Charlie, our guide in Chongqing met us at baggage, piled us into a minivan and took us to tour an ancient manor smack in the middle of Chonqing on our way to the hotel. We finally made it to the hotel, settled in for a few minutes then went out with Charlie to scout the territory surrounding our hotel. We are situated about a block from Chongqing’s version of Times Square; food., department stores, skyscrapers, underground grocery stores, jewelers, multinational banking, this place has it all. Quite a lot for our tired brains to take in.

And then there is the hotel! We are staying at the Marriott on the 34th floor – the executive level. Our adjoining rooms are HUGE with plenty of space for Tyson to play without us tripping over him! I’ll try to post a picture sometime. Right now we are absolutely beat. After an overly expensive dinner in the main restaurant we have retired to the room to unpack and try to get some shuteye. I’ll try to post this then it’s lights out for me. Tomorrow we go to see the Dazu Rock Carvings.

Please pray for good nights sleep and recovery from the tedium of the four flights we endured to get here. We want to be rested and refreshed when we meet Tyson for the first time and right now we can barely function.

Blog you later…