It’s a little more Gucci and a little less rickshaw than we thought, at least so far. Granted we have only been in the airports and westernized hotels. Today we venture to the Sichuan countryside and I expect to find a few more rickshaws and other more rural trappings (cows, villages, dirt roads, etc.)
It’s 6am and neither Melissa or I can sleep so we are just hanging out in bed and steeling ourselves for the 2+ hour ride out to the Dazu Rock Carvings later on this morning.
Chongqing is huge. The most populous city/municipality in all of China – 30 million strong. They are building skyscrapers everywhere. And the skyline is massive. The downtown area situated on a peninsula at the confluence of the Jailing with the Yangtze River, so there is a Manhattan-esque look to it from one side. But just like NYC the city spills across the rivers and pushes outwards from the downtown area in all directions
I have to post these blogs from the executive lounge on the 36th floor, where the wi-fi is free (it costs $12 a day from our room). So last night I ran up there to send out my blog and quick-check emails and found the view of downtown Chongqing to be both dizzying and breathtaking. The square I mentioned last night truly takes on a Times Square look at night with neon signs and giant big screen TV’s on the side of buildings. The river (one of them- don’t know which) can be glimpsed between the high rises crowding our hotel.
From our own room, the giant picture window reveals a rather bland but expansive view of skyscrapers and high-rise apartments as far as the eye can see. Which, I might add, is not very far. Chongqing is known as one of China’s “three ovens” that turn absolutely sweltering in the summer. The smog makes LA look as pristine as the Rocky Mountains on a crisp spring day. From the moment we set foot outside, the one thing that permeated all the other smells was auto exhaust. It hangs in the nostrils and clings to your clothes. Even the lobby and ground floor restaurants of our luxurious 5-star hotel are marred by tail pipe exhaust that floods in every time the sliding glass doors yawn open. It’s certainly something we will have to get used to.
We have yet to eat in a non-Western setting, something we will surely remedy on the road today with our guide. Charlie pointed out a few places last night that have English menus but he isn’t paid to baby-sit us every hour of the day so he left us in the city square a few blocks from our hotel and we were left to fend for ourselves. We braved the underground grocery store on our own; we bought water and some juice but will have to go back when we get a better grasp on what we really need.
Sooner or later we will have to get brave and venture out on our own to eat, especially when Tyson gets here, but it’s tough not to feel like Diane, Melis and myself are in this all alone. Everybody else is in Nanching with the agency guide with them every step of the way. We will be mostly on our own; so we better get tough and learn the local customs. Thank God we brought along Melissa’s mom – this would be really tough with just the two of us.
This is, of course, all a precursor to the main event. We go to get Tyson tomorrow! And our lives will be completely transformed into something else entirely. This could be the longest blog I post b/c after tomorrow, who knows what our days will look like or how much time I’ll have to collect my thoughts (you parents out there can stop laughing any time now).
Please pray our biological clocks get caught up to local time and that we all feel better today than we did yesterday – all of us were dizzy with exhaustion and I dozed off in the restaurant last night while waiting for our food to arrive. We have one more day to adjust before out Ty arrives, then we are on full mommy and daddy mode and God only knows what that will be like.
Love you guys. Blog you soon…
It’s 6am and neither Melissa or I can sleep so we are just hanging out in bed and steeling ourselves for the 2+ hour ride out to the Dazu Rock Carvings later on this morning.
Chongqing is huge. The most populous city/municipality in all of China – 30 million strong. They are building skyscrapers everywhere. And the skyline is massive. The downtown area situated on a peninsula at the confluence of the Jailing with the Yangtze River, so there is a Manhattan-esque look to it from one side. But just like NYC the city spills across the rivers and pushes outwards from the downtown area in all directions
I have to post these blogs from the executive lounge on the 36th floor, where the wi-fi is free (it costs $12 a day from our room). So last night I ran up there to send out my blog and quick-check emails and found the view of downtown Chongqing to be both dizzying and breathtaking. The square I mentioned last night truly takes on a Times Square look at night with neon signs and giant big screen TV’s on the side of buildings. The river (one of them- don’t know which) can be glimpsed between the high rises crowding our hotel.
From our own room, the giant picture window reveals a rather bland but expansive view of skyscrapers and high-rise apartments as far as the eye can see. Which, I might add, is not very far. Chongqing is known as one of China’s “three ovens” that turn absolutely sweltering in the summer. The smog makes LA look as pristine as the Rocky Mountains on a crisp spring day. From the moment we set foot outside, the one thing that permeated all the other smells was auto exhaust. It hangs in the nostrils and clings to your clothes. Even the lobby and ground floor restaurants of our luxurious 5-star hotel are marred by tail pipe exhaust that floods in every time the sliding glass doors yawn open. It’s certainly something we will have to get used to.We have yet to eat in a non-Western setting, something we will surely remedy on the road today with our guide. Charlie pointed out a few places last night that have English menus but he isn’t paid to baby-sit us every hour of the day so he left us in the city square a few blocks from our hotel and we were left to fend for ourselves. We braved the underground grocery store on our own; we bought water and some juice but will have to go back when we get a better grasp on what we really need.
Sooner or later we will have to get brave and venture out on our own to eat, especially when Tyson gets here, but it’s tough not to feel like Diane, Melis and myself are in this all alone. Everybody else is in Nanching with the agency guide with them every step of the way. We will be mostly on our own; so we better get tough and learn the local customs. Thank God we brought along Melissa’s mom – this would be really tough with just the two of us.
This is, of course, all a precursor to the main event. We go to get Tyson tomorrow! And our lives will be completely transformed into something else entirely. This could be the longest blog I post b/c after tomorrow, who knows what our days will look like or how much time I’ll have to collect my thoughts (you parents out there can stop laughing any time now).
Please pray our biological clocks get caught up to local time and that we all feel better today than we did yesterday – all of us were dizzy with exhaustion and I dozed off in the restaurant last night while waiting for our food to arrive. We have one more day to adjust before out Ty arrives, then we are on full mommy and daddy mode and God only knows what that will be like.
Love you guys. Blog you soon…
1 comment:
you guys are going to do great!!! you are going to be a fabulous mommy and daddy and even if he screams his head off (which he will, at some point...) you can rest in knowing that he is the little boy God picked out just for YOU!
thanks for keeping us updated! we are thinking of you every minute of the day!!!
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