Our Journey to China Begins

Jeff and I left for China at 4:15am on January 4, 2011.  My mom was kind enough to drop us off at the airport on her way to work which meant no one had to wake up early to see us off.  We headed first to LA on Delta Airlines where we had to leave the airport to go to the International terminal which meant going through security again.  From LA we flew on Korean Air which meant the culture shock began very quickly.  Everything was now in a different language and not so many white folks.  The airline was by far the nicest I have yet to fly and the people so much friendlier and the Korean women were GORGEOUS.  When the first meal was served I was thinking yep I am going to lose at least 10-15 lbs on the trip.  It was a soup called Bibimbap it had rice, some weird meat, sprouts, some green stuff, some veggies I am not sure of and then you put on sesame oil and some hot sauce.  It was NASTY but Jeff ate it.  I decided to pass on it and ate the Chex Mix my dear mother packed for me which saved my life on this plane trip.  When they served the meals the plane stunk to high heaven because the food was so freaking funky.  This plane ride to Seoul Korea would last 13 very long hours in which I crocheted, yes my hook made it through customs each and every time.  I was crocheting a blanket for my baby and Joshua.  Jackie and John Foster is the only other couple we knew of prior that was going with us on the journey.  They live in Texas and we spoke several times before the trip.  I also watched lots of movies, Eat Pray Love, Charlie St. Cloud and two others I don't remember the names of.  Next to me was a lady with a 16 month old baby they were from LA but going to India which meant after this flight they had one more just as long.  The baby boy did very well and I started to get nervous because our baby was the same age and this boy was walking, talking, and getting around good and I was wondering if I was prepared.  The Korean Airport was nicer than any mall I have ever been in with only high end shopping like Burberry, Coach, etc. We had about a 2 hour lay over until we headed to Beijing.  So far our entire journey had been in the daylight so I had only slept a minute or two here and there.  Figuring when we got to Beijing it would be night and we would sleep and not have such great jet lag.  But when I got on the flight to Beijing my body hit a wall and I had no control over it.  My eyes would not stay open no matter how hard I tried and I felt very strange.  This flight was short and the man next to me Asian that's all I remember.  When we got to Beijing it was around 8:30 pm on Wednesday night and we had lost a whole day which was weird our flights from start to finish were 27 hours.  We slept great that night.

Jeff and I arrived in Beijing a day before the Fosters because we got a cheaper flight.  So we spoke to the man at the desk who was Mexican but had been living in Switzerland and now China and he spoke amazing English so he told us how to get on the subway and where to go.  It all sounded so easy.  But when we got to the subway believe it or not it was all in Chinese!!!  So I just took out our map and asked people where to go by pointing to where we were going.  Jeff was embarrassed but I was pretty certain I would never see these people again.  Finally we arrived at our destination.

 This is a shopping center we were told would be fun, it was with mostly American stores such as Adidas, Starbucks (which we enjoyed), Esprit (if you remember that one) and so many more.  It was freezing and I had come prepared with hat and gloves but Jeff needed to buy these things.  Once we shopped around we decided to head to the Silk Market. This time we decided to take a cab and we had a card that said where we wanted to go and we pointed to it and off we went. We were warned about this place prior to going, thank goodness or I would have been scared to death.  Its like an indoor swap meet and the second you walk in those Chinese women are ON YA!!!  The good thing was everyone spoke English.  So it was, "Hey pretty lady you want jeans?" If you asked how much and you didn't want to buy and walked off they would either hold your arm and not let you go or yell "You Cheap"!!  The first couple of shops were scary but very quickly I got the hang of the place and LOVED it!!!  I bought UGG boots for $18.00 and Kian and McKade True Religion jeans for just under $20.00 each.  I would have loved to buy more but things were short and no room to bring stuff home.  After this we had Pizza, not really what I was expecting to eat my first day in China but it was YUMMY!!  We decided to walk home because we were told it was only 15 min. away.  But of course we got lost but it was OK because we saw China.

 I guess every town has one!!

 The Chinese put Freemont Street to shame!!

 There are high end shopping centers everywhere in China, The Place was something we would have missed had we not got lost.

In China you get a robe and slippers every night, Jeff loved the robe and I loved him in it.  We had so much fun together and something every couple needs to do, spend time ALONE!!  We are excited to meet the Fosters tomorrow and our tour guide Forrest.  Its tiring not knowing the language, where you are and how to get home but we sure had FUN!!