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July 9th
Sleep is still something that is a little on short supply. We were both up by 4 AM local time again. I guess that about
the time we get used to the time change, it will be time to travel back home. Let us first say that we appreciate all the
email we have received. We love to know that you are following our journey!
Today was a free morning in Hong Kong, so we traveled out with Deb, Chuck, Julie, and Eric around the waterfront. The
rain was off and on so we ended up on the covered walkways above the road, which really is the safest way to walk around the
city. We talked more than we were really paying attention to where we were going and ended up finding the museum of the history
of Hong Kong. Deb and Chuck headed back to the hotel to clean up and Julie, Eric, Cindy and I went to find a place to get
something to drink as the museum didn't open until 10AM (it was about 8:45). While Eric, Cindy and I played it safe with regular
sodas, Julie tried the Red Bean drink, topped with a sweet cream. The drink literally had real beans in it. She figured that
the beans had been soaked in a sugar water of some type.
In the museum, we meet up with Britt, Scott, and Britt's sister Shelby. The tour through the museum was just the thing
to pass the morning until it was time to travel to Chongqing.
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At 3PM we headed off to the airport for the flight to Chongqing. Seats assigned, passed through security, and finding the
gate were all a snap. Security in the Hong Kong airport was thorough, but without the hassles in the US.
The gate was on the ground floor of the airport, which meant that there was no jet way to the airplane. Shuttle buses
were used to take us out to the plane sitting well out on the tarmac. The plane actually set up nice, and I had a sufficient
amount of legroom for the 1 hour 40 minute flight. Air China actually served a full dinner on the flight, a chicken or fish
dinner. I ate most of the meal, which I thought was very tasty and a little on the spicy side! Cindy opted to pass on the
meal as she thought that it smelled funny, but she is funny about that.
Edit
When the flight took off, the weather was bright and sunny, but when the flight landed, there was a medium drizzle, and
again, we were out on the tarmac. The shuttle buses brought us to the old airport building, which is now used as the international
terminal. It was a really old, heavily used building, which was probably built in the 1950's. No AC and about 95% humity made
the trip through customs feel longer than it probably was. The airport was also the scene of our first official sigting of
a squatty potty! (This about sums up the condition of the airport!) Edit
Marie and Anita, the local CCAI reps for Chongqing, greeted us after exiting customs. A 45 or 50 minute bus ride from
the airport, and we are at the hotel. Marie talked about the local area, the orphanage where the girls are coming from, and
then some about the girls themselves. She handed out packets specific for each of the families that had a copy of the finding
ad. The finding ad is what was placed in the local newspaper to let the public know that "lost" children had been
found so that the parents could claim them. The packet also contained nametags for the parents that have our names on one
side, and a Chinese phrase that says that "We are Americans, and we are here to adopt an orphaned girl." Marie said
that we should generally get a "thumbs up" from the locals when they read the statement!
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The bus ride from the airport was actually a little on the scary side. It felt like the areas that we drove through were all
in the "bad" part of town. It was about 9PM, and there were a large number of people out and about. Many were just
walking or standing on the side of the roads. Some of the roads were multilane highways, but the people walked on both the
left and right sides of the roads. We passed one shop that had some type of meats hanging from the windows. Cindy was glad
that we were not close enough to be able to identify what animals the meat was from.
When we walked into our hotel room, we found that there was a crib already set up for Abigail. There was a cute stuffed
panda bear sitting on the bed, and some baby supplies (power, wash, etc.) in the bathroom.
Edit
We spent a few hours trying to get the room ready, unpacking some of Abigail's things and getting a few of our things
out. At midnight, we headed off to bed. Tomorrow is the BIG DAY! Edit
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