We Have Arrived!

Yay!  After I don't know how many hours (I think about 54) we are finally here!  Not any very good wifi.  After leaving from San Francisco on Wednesday at noon, we flew over the ocean to Shanghai.  The flight took about 14 1/2 hours.  We landed at about 6:30 pm on Thursday China time.  We had enough time to go through the transfer station and customs, get to our next terminal, get a tea, and get on the plane.  We left Shanghai at 9:25 pm and flew to Chengdu, China.  Unfortunately we got there at 1:00 in the morning and nothing was open - no food, money exchange or even anyone to ask about anything.  We stayed in the international terminal for a 17 hour layover.  It was cold and SMOGGY!  Finally, we were able to get food although not too good of food with a credit card.  Later, we did get some tasty soup and found a lounge where we got a few hours to relax and sleep.

In the morning, we met a great group of young Chinese boys and girls that looked like some sort of team.  I went and talked to them and found out they were soccer (football) players heading to the U.K. for a tournament.  They were very hesitant to talk at first.  Then they came to us on their own.  They asked us questions about where we were from, etc.  it was fun!

Finally, at 3:00 pm we went to check so we could get to our gate but ended up waiting until 4:00.  Our plane left Chengdu at 6:00 and our itinerary said we'd land in Bangkok at 7:10.  Imagine our surprise when we actually landed at 8:30 pm and still had to go get our visa, customs, and get back to the gate for our flight to Chiang Mai that left at 10:20!  We squeaked in just in time!  No one gave us the correct answer on what we needed to do.  They would just point and say we needed to go that way.  Yikes!  But it all worked out.

A short flight to Chiang Mai, a Tuk-tuk ride from the airport to the temple where the boys picked us up!  So good to see them!  It's late-now 2:00 am so we are heading to bed after catching up for a while!  Here is Denise and me in Shanghai Airport and the smog in Chengdu, China.

Airport in Shanghai

Smog in Chendu