Chasing the Sun

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After a slight delay (2 hours past our planned departure time), we were off! Kim and I took to the air on the wings of a United 747 then played "Chase the Sun" for the next 12 hours en route to Beijing. Why do we call it "Chase The Sun" - because we took off at 2:40 Friday afternoon from O'Hare and arrived in Beijing at 5:20 p.m. (local time) Saturday evening. During our flight, the flight attendants encouraged us to keep our window blinds shut so the glare wouldn't interfere with one of the 6 (yes 6!) movies we got to watch (including a surprise "unedited" version of "300" - a fairly graphic story about the Spartans) - in between each movie, one of the people sitting next to us would open his window and it was sunny every time.

The most interesting person we met on the flight was a grandmother who was sitting 2 seats over from Kim - she was taking her 14-year-old grandson to China for his Bar Mitzvah present. Apparently, she takes each of her grandkids on a grand trip when the have their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Before we took off from O'Hare - she was sitting in the row behind us next to some very loud grandparents who were travelling with their baby granddaughter. Apparently, they only had purchased a "lap seat" for the child and were sitting in a full row. They were NOT happy about the situation and were telling the flight attendants so. The grandma took charge of the situation and basically rearranged 4 of the rows so that those 3 could have a row of 4 seats to themselves (Kim ended up with an empty seat next to her out of the deal) and everyone was happy.

The other interesting thing about this international flight was how hard the flight attendants worked. There were 2 "meals" plus 2 "snacks" (pretzels and noodle bowl) ; multiple rounds with the beverage cart, two trips up and down the aisle with the duty-free cart; and continual rounds with trays of water.

When we arrived in Beijing, we made our way through the quarantine line (to confirm we didn't have the avian flu or any of the symptoms), got our passports stamped (by a worker who we met for about 7 seconds each to apply the stamp, and who had a computer screen in front of him "rate my job performance"), and finally customs ("nothing to declare"). We got our bags from the international baggage claim and re-checked them thru to Nanchang. At that time, we went and met up with the 2 couples who had travelled to China ahead of time near our gate.

The flight from Beijing to Nanchang was also slightly delayed - but this gave us time to get a phonecard, some of the couples had dinner, walk around the stores in the Beijing airport (there's a TON of 2008 Olympics signage posted and also an Olympics store). Finally, we were off to Nanchang. The Beijing airport feels very sprawling, but in reality is somewhat small. I think they only have about 40 gates.

We arrived at Nanchang at about midnight after a 2-hour flight on an Air China flight. The Air China plane was a little older - ok, a lot older. The takeoff and flight were very smooth (and we got fed again... noodles with mushrooms, chicken and vegetables, all with Spice Seasoned Vinegar Noodle Sauce on top); and White Fungus and Pear with Rock Sugar Soup - the latter tastes like syrup from canned pears. We also got some freeze dried apple chips and I had a Coke ("in any language..." people know what Coca-Cola is... later tonight we'll try to find some Diet Pepsi - will let you know how that goes)

After a 40-minute bus ride, we arrived at Jiangxi Hotel in Nanchang. Our room is VERY nice - as nice as the upgraded room we stayed at the Aladdin in Las Vegas about 2 years ago. This room also has a crib set up for us... an umbrella and umbrella stroller waiting in a corner, and a baby bath tub in the bathroom. We're on the 7th floor, so have a pretty decent view. There are only 3 English-speaking TV channels (BBC, CNN and the "potpourri channel" as I call it - that's included Golf, National Geographic Explorer and some video game show so far).

Lights off at about 1:45 last night after a long day of travel.