I needed more time in Asia, don't ya think?! But I would be meeting my husband in China so was well worth the extra trip. My husband flew to Beijing to meet the rest of the group and then fly out to Shenyang. The start of his trip in Beijing was frustrating for him. I received a text from him while I was in Korea stating the shuttle had not showed up to pick him and another couple up at the airport as stated in the itinerary. I had about a 15 minute window to communicate with him and try and help him before I left for dinner. The person I was traveling to China with was also in Korea with me...but he wasn't answering his hotel room phone. So now what?? I sent a message to our tour guide in Korea via Facebook. If all else fails, try Facebook right? At least she had cell phone numbers, but still no answer immediately.
Communicating via text from Korea to Beijing in a short amount of time is feeling of helplessness. The situation for my husband was not getting any better. Now the hotel was saying there was no reservation for them, no listing of foreigners were listed...oh good lord...AND all the contact numbers listed on the itinerary, for such occasions, were not working and there was no contact number for anyone in China. Not looking good at all...After about 40 minutes of frustration and no one in the hotel speaking English, they found the reservation. It was written in Chinese and not in English...REALLY??
But now we were finally on the same time zone, almost. At least we were on the same area of the world. Also at this point, my family was spread out on four different continents: Asia, South Africa, Italy, and the United States. Just a typical summer for the Hanson's!
I didn't mention that prior to leaving for Korea, our original flight from Seoul to Dandong had been cancelled and thus the rest of the group's flights from Beijing to Dandong were also cancelled, so more scrambling occurred to get us all to Dandong! Hence, the reason the flight into Shenyang. Guess the Dandong airport was undergoing renovations so was closed. Good timing!
After arriving in Shenyang, I finally reunited with my husband, crazy to meet my husband in China after two weeks of separation! I met the rest of our group and we were all loaded into a 15 passenger bus to travel to Dandong. A three hour ride along with a tour guide. Dandong was considered a small village since the population was a mere 900,000 people!!
After getting settled into our hotel rooms, we were off to find some dinner. Thank goodness we had someone along that spoke Chinese and knew what to order for us. This was the first of our round table meals. Walking into the restaurant was an intimidating experience when faced with the fresh seafood laid out in front.
View out our hotel is the bridge connecting into North Korea, yes, we were that close:
Communicating via text from Korea to Beijing in a short amount of time is feeling of helplessness. The situation for my husband was not getting any better. Now the hotel was saying there was no reservation for them, no listing of foreigners were listed...oh good lord...AND all the contact numbers listed on the itinerary, for such occasions, were not working and there was no contact number for anyone in China. Not looking good at all...After about 40 minutes of frustration and no one in the hotel speaking English, they found the reservation. It was written in Chinese and not in English...REALLY??
But now we were finally on the same time zone, almost. At least we were on the same area of the world. Also at this point, my family was spread out on four different continents: Asia, South Africa, Italy, and the United States. Just a typical summer for the Hanson's!
I didn't mention that prior to leaving for Korea, our original flight from Seoul to Dandong had been cancelled and thus the rest of the group's flights from Beijing to Dandong were also cancelled, so more scrambling occurred to get us all to Dandong! Hence, the reason the flight into Shenyang. Guess the Dandong airport was undergoing renovations so was closed. Good timing!
After arriving in Shenyang, I finally reunited with my husband, crazy to meet my husband in China after two weeks of separation! I met the rest of our group and we were all loaded into a 15 passenger bus to travel to Dandong. A three hour ride along with a tour guide. Dandong was considered a small village since the population was a mere 900,000 people!!
After getting settled into our hotel rooms, we were off to find some dinner. Thank goodness we had someone along that spoke Chinese and knew what to order for us. This was the first of our round table meals. Walking into the restaurant was an intimidating experience when faced with the fresh seafood laid out in front.
1 comment:
What a rocky start to the first day! Not to mention jet lag and very unfamiliar food. Glad you were together! When one falls down, the other is there to pick him up (Ecc. 4:9-12)
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