We Made It

The journey to China began Thursday at 4 a.m., just as the sun was rising. Some 30 hours later, I am finally at the hotel in Harbin, China.

I met up with my sister in San Francisco. Parked just outside the terminal was the remaining burned out fuselage of the Asiana flight. Not exactly a sight to behold when you land at SFO.

Me and my sister, waiting for our flight to Beijing from San Francisco. There was an Amish family on our flight to Beijing--grandparents, parents, three sons and their two adopted daughters from China.

Our ride from SFO to PEK. Twelve hours on that 747.

In total, it was four airports and three airplanes to get here. We chased the sun the entire trip and we didn't see darkness until we stepped out of the Harbin airport. The trip was long and it felt like I was trapped in some purgatory--caught on an airplane where it wasn't Thursday and it didn't feel like Friday. Now that we are landed and settled in our hotel room, we can start acclimating to China time.

A view of the Beijing airport from my seat on our final leg of our trip, our Air China flight to Harbin. We couldn't see much of Beijing--too much pollution.

Deanna enjoying some dehydrated food (just add boiling water!) in our hotel in Harbin. Our guide's flight was delayed and we were brought to the hotel by our "temporary interpreter". We will meet our guide tomorrow morning.

The hotel staff brought Emma Claire's crib to the room. Deanna and I joked that we may try to sleep in hte crib tonight--the hotel beds are LITERALLY as hard as a rock.

I am curious to see Harbin in the daylight. It is not what I thought. I could be in NYC with signs all in Mandarin. My first thoughts on being back in China is that it has certainly changed since we were here eight years ago. On the way from the Harbin airport to our hotel we passed about 20 car dealerships--from Buick to Bentley. And the building, lots of building.

Can't wait to see more tomorrow and explore Harbin.