Our Journey to the Middle Country

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Wednesday 29 March 2000: Guangzhou - Hong Kong (- Los Angeles)

Vickie, Dennis and new daughter Brynn flew to Hong Kong at 8:25am.

Judy, her cousin Nancy and new daughter Emma flew to Beijing at 11:45am.

Park near the Dong Fang

The three of us went with Kris, Steve and their family over to the park.

There were curiously translated signs to keep off of the grass.

Back at the hotel, we found two rather nice postcard of the Dong Fang in the packet of stationary in the room.

The Bank and Chinese Money

For just over $21 USD, you can get what I believe is one of every Chinese paper bill and coin. I went down to the Bank outside the Dong Fang Lobby and exchanged $20 USD for 161.40 Yuan. I asked for for nice bills since I wished to keep them. The clerk understood - he'd been doing this for several of the guests. I needed 170.40 Yuan to get what I hoped was one of everything. I made up with some of the Chinese money I had on hand. I also went over to the front desk and they were kind enough to provide me with the Fen that we didn't even see on the trip. There are nine paper bills I was aware of in both Yuan and Jiao:

• Yuan: 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100

  

• Jiao: 1, 2, 5

As for coins, there seen to be six, but I'd think there might be a few larger denominations of Fen.

• Yuan: 1
• Jiao: 5, 1
• Fen: 5, 2, 1

Guangzhou Airport

At the airport, David gave us a letter with the Foster Mother's wishes. We exchanged email addresses with Cherry.

CZ 397 - China Southern

The remaining eleven familes flew to Hong Kong at 4:20pm:

• Janet, her cousin Bette and new daughter Liana
• Mary Lou, her mother Miriam and new daughter Amy Li
• Kris & Steve and their daughter Hannah and son Jonathan and new daughter Sarah to a planned stop-over in Hawaii!
• Tammy, I and new daughter Delainie
• Kim, Paul and new daughter Isabelle
• Marycatherine, Doug and new daughter Sarah
• Lauren, Bud and new daughter Brook
• Loretta, her brother Bill and new daughter Elizabeth who would stay in Hong Kong for a few days
• Mary Beth, David, their daughter Stephanie and new daughter Stacie
• Diana & Steve, their daughter Jade and new daughter Jena
• Lori & Wesley, their son Adam and new daughter Xiao Yun

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the exchange rate was $1 USD = $7.50 HKD.

All change was in Hong Kong dollars and they while they would also take either Chinese or American money, they wouldn't take anything below a 10 Yuan note for the Chinese money.

We were very hungry and I bought some bottled water and some very good pork ball and noodle soup for $63.00 HKD ($8.40 USD - typical airport prices I guess.). Tammy just had the soup which was $48.00 HKD ($6.40 USD). I went back for a banana. I was willing to risk fresh fruit.

I found a cool plastic oriental soup spoon.

Later on we moved on to the Concourse where we would board the plane. Isabelle and Delainie tried to nap some. I bought a:

• Laser pointer for $99.00 HKD ($13.20 USD).
• Swiss Army chocolate bars.

I also wanted some Postcards $20.00 HKD ($2.66) with a $5 USD and received $21.90 HKD back as change. The exchange rate was a bit different at the shop compaired to the restaurant.

I kept filling up the multi-cup at the fountains.

In a book store, I noted several interesting titles.

• Chinese Cinderella
• Falling Leaves
• A Leaf on the Bitter Wind
• Red China Blues
• Bound Feet and Western Dress
• The Rape of Nanking - a book about the second Sino-Japanese war
• The Red Swan
• The Red Tent

I should have bought the magazine with the free VCD, it wasn't more than a couple of dollars. After a while, we were shopping just to get ride of some for the Hong Kong money. What was left over, we kept. It's quite interesting. I never did get any paper currency.

CX 880 - Cathay Pacific

We left Hong Kong at 11:20pm on Wednesday night. At least for this long flight, it was dark and we knew that even if someone wanted to open the window shades, all that would come in was darkness.

One of the best things we did was to secure bulkhead seats. This allowed us to put Dealinie in a bassinet provided by the airline. It attached to a fold-down shelf on the bulkhead right in front of us. Dealinie was able to sleep for nearly all of the trip.

It was on this flight that we passed over the date line and found ourselves many hours earlier in the same Wednesday. Much of that day we relived by simply sleeping.

Los Angeles

We had left Hong Kong at 11:20pm on Wednesday night. When we arrived in Los Angeles at 8:35pm and it was still Wednesday night. We had arrived almost three hours before we had left.

Much to my own angst, I ditched the apples from Nanning. It was heart-breaking for me. I should have kept the seeds, I suppose.

After customs, we walked outside and down the way for a bit. We then went back inside to check the bags for the next leg of the trip. Tammy called Mary and let her know we were back in the states.

Tammy found a McDonalds and brought dinner for the two of use out to Delainie and me where we were sitting at the gate. She remarked that it cost about twice what the McDonalds did in Guangzhou.

Delta 548

It was funny that our flight out of LA to Cincinnati departed at 11:20pm on Wednesday. That was exactly when we had left Hong Kong!

The flight from LA to Cincinnati was the last long leg of our journey. We all slept for the journey. We had Delainie in the baby b'air and she slept well on Tammy's lap.