Greetings from the (other) People's Republic

Sunday morning (Asian time)

Arrived in Beijing after a 13-hour flight from New Jersey. The main terminal is the largest I have ever seen and looks brand new. The marble floors, which span the square footage of a few football fields, look like you could eat off them or use them for a mirror to shave.

Our layover was three hours and we thought we would be hanging out with time to spare but the connecting flight run by China Air took forever to coordinate and we just barely made the packed flight.

We were also spread out in the plane but two passengers’ kindly switched seats so we could sit together. The flight to Guiyang, capital of the Guizhuo province, added another three hours to our airtime. It’s a bustling city of 3.5 million.

The modern airport, about the size of Bradley International in Connecticut, is nestled among mountainous peaks. The driver failed to appear, so we took a taxi to the Regal Hotel, a modern western operation in the heart of the city.

For the brief time we were in Beijing we barely attracted a second look and saw lots of other Caucasians. Here we stand out. After a brief walk around the block almost everyone we encountered looked us up and down (but in a friendly way).

Donna and Kira would use their limited Chinese and some of them would respond with limited English.

Our guide left us a note at the hotel saying rather than getting Jada on Monday afternoon the orphanage will be fringing her to our hotel lobby today at noon.

The government in China even works Sunday’s.