Off to the Orient...

Time to enjoy another BIG adventure. This year it was China. It takes a lot for us just to get ready for a trip like this. We had to get a VISA to travel as a tourist in China. We were blessed in just having to pull together the pieces and then our travel agent took care of it from there. My little sister, Neffie, came and stayed in our home to be sure Papa was watched after and cared for so we could go. Forever grateful for that. So, we got our home, mail, laundry, plants watered, yard taken care of, etc., etc., for us done. I took Papa to the doctor, got his laundry and groceries in order, meds purchased and cleaning done, etc., etc. etc. We were ready to leave Wednesday morning, March 29th.

We flew from Cincinnati to Los Angeles. We arrived in Los Angeles 30 minutes earlier than expected. That pilot had his peddle to the metal. We were happy our two suitcases made it as well. We gathered them and then made the long hike to the Tom Bradley Terminal where they handle all International Travel. There we would wait, and wait, and wait for the rest of the tour group to arrive on their various flights. We got to LA at 10:30 and to the Tom Bradley Terminal by 11:00am. Our flight from Los Angeles to Beijing did not leave until 1:40am Thursday morning. When I say we waited, I mean we waited. We asked if we could check our luggage. Not until 9:30pm. Sooooo, we had to find a place to sit, not checked in yet, with our suitcases for 14 1/2 hours. UGH!!! I walked around where we were allowed to roam and found a Planet Hollywood. I went back to Claude and suggested we have a very l-o-n-g lunch there. With suitcases in tow (it is at times like this I appreciate our packing very light) we approached the guy at Planet Hollywood. He started to show us to a table and I piped up and said, "Please find us one in a place no one else wants to sit because we plan on sitting there a LONG time." He did and we did. The food was great! I ate a big salad. I knew from Japan and other places we would not be allowed to eat food that has just been washed as the water is what causes stomach problems. I get so hungry for greens when we travel like this and if just felt right to indulge as it would be many days before I could do that again.

We did try to think of things we might do with all this free time we had. We thought of taking a taxi somewhere but we would have had to carry our luggage, they no longer have storage lockers at airports. Thank you stupid people who do stupid things to make life more difficult. Bitter, party of me! Claude even suggested we rent a car for a few hours and drive ourselves. The luggage could stay in the car. We really didn't have anywhere we wanted to go and we lived in California many, many years ago and the traffic was really bad then. This did not make us excited about a few hours in LA traffic. So we toughed it out in the LA Airport.

The others started to arrive from places in the western USA about 8pm. It is always fun to watch people and see if you can pick out who will be your traveling companions for the week +. Eventually Alan McKay, our travel guide, arrived. So nice to see him again. This would be our 5th trip with Alan. At 9:30pm we all made our way to check-in where Alan had it set up so we just showed our passport and they printed us a boarding pass and took that luggage...finally. Then it was upstairs and through security and then wait at the gate until 1:10am when they would begin boarding our big plane.

Finally the plane took off and we were in the air to Beijing for 12 hours and 40 minutes. Upon arrival in Beijing, we waited from 1:30am to 12:35pm for our flight to Guilin. The flight from Beijing to Guilin would be 3 hours and 10 minutes. I figured it out about a week before left. We would fly for 20+ hours and we would sit in airports for 30+ hours. The rest of the time we were walking and climbing in China. For this we paid big bucks?!?! But, we had fun in China. Not so much in airports or in the air.

Upon arrival in Guilin, China, we met our Chinese tour guide, James. Nice man. He started all his instructions and teaching about China with, "I would like to say..."

Our hotel for two nights was the Jasper International Hotel. Very nice hotel. We were to spend two full day traveling along the Li River where the 'Gum Drop' mountains are located and up to Longi where two minority groups live. Lots to see and learn in this area. I loved that we started out in a smaller community and that farming was the industry for the area. Even as a smaller community, this was a large city when you were in town.

Once checked into the hotel, we were taken to Yangshou. It turns out our visit to China coincided with a three day festival period similar to our Memorial Day. People honor their deceased relatives. The government gives them three days off work. In the city of Yangshou we would spend our first evening roaming their streets and enjoying their festival atmosphere. We were told the safe and best places for us to eat and cautioned again to only drink bottled water, no ice, and no foods washed in water and served cold.

Claude and I wandered through the streets to the Li River so I could take a couple of pictures. 

Then we strolled back up through other streets and found the McDonald's. I wanted pictures of a Chinese McDonald's. We ended up having a nice little dinner there. It was a two story building and I was able to get a nice picture of the lake in the center of town during their festival.

We had a very good time our first part of a day in China. Now, time to get some rest and get our bodies acclimated to the 12 hours time difference. China is 12 hours exactly ahead of Kentucky. Well, with the change to Daylight Savings Time, it is 12 hours. When it changes again, we would be 13 hours behind China. As it turned out, when flying to China we simply by-passed Thursday completely. Go figure.