In Chongqing

Hi Everyone,

Car and I are in Chongqing City, but not without having some adventures. First, we (well, Car!!) had to repack our bags at the airport because of weight restrictions. Then, after saying a temporary good-bye to Dawn and Kevin, our traveling buddies, we worked our way to the gate. We weren'tbeing called up to board, so Car had the good idea of asking the agent what was going on. Turns out they had moved our gate, and because we don't speak Chinese, we missed it!! So we basically had to run to our other gate, which of course was way on the other side. But we made it.

We landed in Chongqing and were met by Michael, who drove us to the hotel. It's not as cold here as it was in Beijing, but it's foggy and rainy. We can't figure out whether it's fog or it's air pollution - that remains to be seen. Chongqing is HUGE!! It has over 30 million people, is the entry to the Yantzee River. We got all settled into our room, unpacked, and rearranged the furniture to accommodate a crib, which the hotel brought up for us.

Car and I then went out to dinner to try one of Chongqing's delicacies, which are these hot pots. It's almost like a fondue, but with chicken broth and spicy broth together in a pot. Then you boil a variety of things in it, like fish, noodles, chicken, sausages, etc. It was an... uhm... interesting taste. I'm glad we tried it. :)

We then went back to our room, and had birthday cake, ordered by Michael, our guide. Very sweet of him!!

Car and I are both still jetlagged, and have been waking up at 4:30, so going to bed around 8:00 does not sound bad to us at all. Besides, tomorrow is promising to be a big day!!

We'll meet Michael at 9:30, where I have to sign a bunch of paperwork. Then he'll pick us up at 1:30, and we're off to the Civial Affairs Office, about 10 minutes away from our hotel.

Big day tomorrow!