Day 4 - Arrival in Changsha in the Hunan Province

We left Beijing on an 11AM flight. At breakfast in Beijing we saw a group of Canadians who had already received their babies. One baby we met was named Camille - she was 10 months old and so small - maybe the size of a 3 month old. But boy was she raring to go - we saw her stand up in her highchair - reaching for tons of food and babbling away. There were 10 families in their travel group - all of their babies were in a Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province, in the southern part of China. They had already completed their adoption at the American Consulate - and were ending their trip with a visit to Beijing. I hope that Tabitha has faired as well as all of these little ones.

We landed in Changsha, Hunan around 2 PM today. Changsha is a 2 hour flight from Beijing due south. We enjoyed everything about the flight except the lunch. It had some strange stuff on it. I ate some of it, but Jacquie could not handle any of it. Comments from Jacquie: The entire plane began to smell of fish when lunch was served. We were served Aviation Pickles, dried kiwi, angel food cake, tomatoes, some sort of meat cutout in the shape of hearts (maybe it was tofu?), some sort of cracker/pretzel twist, rice and beef. Anyway the smell on the plane, once the lunches were served, killed it for me.

Large buses came to the airplane and took us to the terminal and the baggage claim area. Had to use the potty upon arrival - yes one western toilet and the rest asian style - which means a hole in the ground - so you squat - haven't tried that yet - but will try to remember to post a picture for all of you to see.


We arrived at the terminal and many of our bags were already there. Here is Jacquie at the baggage claim and me in the terminal. They had an Irish pub in the airport. Note the shamrock at the Lucky Shamrock is purple. All of the furniture in the"Pub" was purple and cream modern style furniture - very different??














Changsha is a city of around a million people but it is a huge difference from Beijing. We saw a lot of bicycles on the highway and the people regard all traffic signals as optional. The larger vehicle appears to have the right of way, but the smaller motorcycles and scooters do a great job sneaking through small openings. All I have to add here is that it was so exciting to finally be in Changsha. Upon first looking out of the plane windows - all I could see were rural areas - lots of green and what appeared to be farms and dirt roads. We walked out of the airport to our bus - there were three local people tending the grounds of the airport - and they all just stopped what they were doing and stared at us walking by - as if they had never seen american people before.


The ride from the airport to the hotel was sooo cool. So busy, so active - just amazing - in sharp contrast to Beijing - there were absolutely no signs of English - everything was in Chinese. Buses went by our bus and everyone was staring at us. There was a little boy in a cab that was looking at us - I waved to him and gave him a thumbs up - he responded to me by laughing and giving me a thumbs up too!


You can see here are some motorcyles on the road. Not many helmets - lots of 3 wheeled bikes and 3 wheeled motor bikes.

















But when we got to the hotel, they made us feel like we were right back in America. It was all decorated for Christmas. See the beautiful and traditional Christmas windmill. :)


















It is a great hotel. When we came in the room, the crib was set up and there was a baby bathtub in the bathroom.


















We go to the Civil Affairs office tomorrow at 9AM to pick up Tabitha. She should be placed in our arms at around 9:30 and we should be back to our hotel with her by 12:00. We are very excited and hope we are able to sleep. We plan a trip to the local Walmart in the afternoon.




Love, Mickey and Jacquie

(View from our room at night)