Welcome to Chongqing

We have spent our first day in China! We took off early Friday morning, and arrived in Chongqing just before midnight Saturday. All of our flights went smoothly and we had no trouble with customs. I have a fear of flying, but I think overall I did pretty well. Greg kept assuring me that every turn or strange noise was perfectly normal! Our long flight was Detroit to Shanghai, and wow, I have never experienced anything like that. I am pretty sure that was three times longer than the longest flight I have ever been on previously! Also, Greg and I were in the window and middle seat with someone else on the aisle, so we did not get up quite as much as we would have otherwise if we hadn't had to ask someone to get out of the way. We had our own individual movie players, and there were tons of movies to choose from. I think Greg caught up on an entire summer of comic book/science fiction blockbusters!

When we landed in Chongqing, our guide picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. Driving in China is a little crazy! Lanes seem like more of a suggestion, they honk often, and are just very aggressive drivers overall. We got some sleep, had a great breakfast at the hotel, and then met our guide again in the morning so he could show us some nearby shopping and restaurants. We stayed awake as long as we could, but we did end up taking a little nap this afternoon. After that, we went to dinner, and now we are determined to stay up until a reasonable bedtime!

The city of Chongqing is very large. I think our guide said the population is 8 million, but 32 million in the metro area. It is smoggy. Every time we walk outside I wonder if it is raining, but then I realize it is just the gray smog. The apartment buildings are plentiful and tall. Everything is built up. The mall has tons of escalators! There are crowds of people everywhere, and we stick out big time. I feel tall, and Greg has startled a couple people :)

Tomorrow is Gotcha Day, and it still seems surreal that it is here, even though we have traveled halfway around the world. We will meet at 1:30 to go pick her up, so my guess is that we will meet her around 2:00-2:30. That's about midnight (early Monday morning) for most of you. We have a list of questions for the orphanage staff that accompanies her. Please pray for peace for all of us. Less than 24 hours!

A few pictures of Chongqing:

The view from our hotel window

The hotel lobby

Our room

Dinner tonight!