BEIJING!!!

We're finally here! And with some help from Aline, she is entering this information until we can open our blog spot account.  There are some Internet issues here, and maybe we'll have better luck after we get to Hohhot today.

We spent a few hours in the Maple Leaf Lounge enjoying some free bar and lunch.  Although the flight was delayed by 45 minutes, we boarded quickly and had clearance to take off immediately, so as it turns out, we were only 10 minutes late arriving in China. Apparently, the entertainment system on board had a glitch, but thankfully, was repaired. Thirteen hours on a plane without tv? Could've been ugly.   We saved our pennies and booked executive class, and let me say, it was very nice, and worth every penny.  The only thing that would have made it perfect was my own pillow.  I may buy one for the plane ride home with Nevin.  He'll be sharing the seat with me so we'll need to be as comfortable as possible.

We arrived in Beijing and nearly fell over from the heat in the airport.  No air conditioning.  It was stifling.   We were met by our guide and the other couple from Renfrew and took a van to our hotel.  I was warned about the way people drive in China. Oh my goodness!  There is no room for error or manners for that matter when on the roads and highways.  No helmets for motorcycles, scooters, including the children riding on the back.  It was very hazy due to the smog.  Our guide pointed out key buildings on the way, including one large building that had just been rebuilt from a fire last year.  Apparently, during last year's moon festival, they lit fireworks inside the building.  Fireworks = fire, people...

After we checked in, and feeling completely turned around as this would be getting close to the time we'd be getting up with the kids, it was actually dinner time.  But we didn't feel hungry. So we took a walk around the corner to a large shopping mall (they're everywhere) and went to the drug store to pick up some water and two cokes.  There is free water in the hotel room but the bottle are small and we drank those through our eyes just by looking at them, we were so thirsty.  There are larger bottles in our room but they are 30 yuan a piece. Very expensive.  We got two large bottles of water and two cokes at the drugstore for 13 yuan.  Worth the walk.  People were flying these LED lit kites much higher than most of the big buildings.  Some of them had LED lights all the way up the string and the kites were glowing!  It was exciting to see.  The smells wafting up from the sewers is pretty strong every now and again.  But for the most part, I'm surprised how very clean everything looks for a city so big.  The airport specifically was very shiny-- mind you terminal 3 was the new terminal built for the Olympics.  The floors were so shiny it looked like polished granite.

So its nearly 7 am now.  We are going to shower up, head down for breakfast and head off to the airport this morning for 9am. Our flight is booked to leave for Hohhot at 11am and arrive at 12:05.  Then it off to the hotel where we will meet our Nevin.  My emotions have been fairly good, except when we were taking off from Toronto.  I cried down the runway and during take off-- the thought of actually leaving North America, leaving behind our two beautiful children, and the reality of going to China to get Nevin came over me like a Tsunami.

We maybe holding our new son in just six hours.  Hold on little man, we're almost there!