Travel Day – Hong Kong to Changsha, Hunan Province

Good day All,  Today was our last breakfast in Hong Kong, before shuffling off to Changsha for the REAL reason we’re here.  We enjoyed the Hotel buffet each day, and loaded ourselves up for the morning and the day, again! After breakfast, we moved all of our luggage into AM/UCs room and checked out.

Since we had some time, we made a last trip around the Tsim Sha Tsui neighborhood where we were staying, to catch a few sights.  The weather was beginning to deteriorate, so we tried to make the best of it as the light mist turned to a steadier drizzle.

First stop was the Garden of the Stars.  It’s a small elevated park, dedicated to the many Chinese film stars famous here.  Some of the plaques were not finished but many held the stars’ cement hand imprints.  We recognized a few, such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li.  There were also a few bronze sculptures dedicated to Film Industry occupations, such as Director and Cameraman.  The park led to a balcony overlooking the Harbor.  We took the last few photos of the HK skyline.

On the promenade, there was a walkway graphic marked by individually decorated footprints on a simulated pier, surrounded by water – lots of fun for the kids to follow!

Despite the worsening weather, there was a cleanup crew dutifully power washing – and being careful to stay dry… using strategically placed plastic trash bags.

Next stop was the Charlie Brown Cafe.  This was a fun little shop on the way (sort of) back to the Hotel.  We were seated upstairs and there was only one other couple there when we arrived.  The entire joint was vintage Charlie Brown.  Oversized figures, Vibrantly decorated Wall Art and relief sculptures, and of course the Charlie Brow / Peanuts menu of treats and drinks.

On the walk back to the hotel, we passes several more interesting shops and Christmas Decoration displays.

We made it back to the Hotel in plenty of time.  When we got everything out to the curb for Taxis, we had a party of 9.  Unfortunately we lined up for two taxis that were 4-passenger Taxis!  We had to “convince” our first driver to literally break the law to take FOUR of the kids and ME!   I tipped accordingly!

Once we arrived at HK airport, it took a few moments to find the Kiosk to check in.  Of course, after getting halfway through the process, Kyle’s Passport did not scan and we were being asked to KEYSTROKE in all of his passport data.  Lisa was about to put her fist through the monitor, before I grabbed her forearm.  Then we had to pull back and get into a long line to manually check in with a real person.  PITA!!  But we made it!

Since we were on “Airport Travel Time” we arrived way too early to even see our flight on the Big Board!  We got through security no problem and headed to ther food court.  It was a MOB SCENE.  While hovering around a table that was getting ready to leave, AM had to elbow out an older Chinese woman (I think she may have had a cane, too!!) to get our table.  We hung out until we got the gate assignment.  Then it was off to our gate, via Shuttle Bus! 

Our flight was a smooth one – only about 90 minutes and we even arrived a bit early! It was a dusk flight so we had this view off the left (West-facing as we flew North) wing.

Finally…  Changsha Airport!

Not so fast…  Since we were entering China from Hong Kong, we needed Visitor Cards. Nerves were fraying a bit, as we worked to complet BLUE cards for each family member for PRC Immigration/Customs.  A military chap, a young man, wandered over to check on what we were doing, and informed us that we should be using the YELLOW Cards – NOT the Blue Cards.

Of course we were!  Such was our luck.

We finally finished up, and gave each child their own passport and Yellow Card, since they would need to pass through individually, by themselves!  The Kids were GREAT, and each passed through with no problems.  Each needed to face a small camera/video screen for a quick photo.  They’re kids, so they’re small, and so the camera auto adjusted downward to capture their faces.  All seemed to go well until Tyler approached the camera, a bit closer than his siblings.  We saw the screen captures as they happened for each child, since they briefly flashed on the monitor.  We almost laughed out loud and the grown-ups all looked at each other when Tyler’s image flashed up – showing ONLY HIS FOREHEAD, form the tops of his eyebrows, to about 10” above his head!  The agent didn’t seem too worried about it, so neither were we.  It was late and we were very tired already.

At the exit to the terminal, we were met by our Guide Steve.  We gathered our luggage, and followed Steve out to the curb to meet Mr. Lu, our driver.  We boarded the bus, filling 9 of the 20 seats!  Traffic was horrendously bad so it took 2x as long to reach the hotel, the Sheraton Changsha.  Did I mention that we were tired?

In keeping with the general theme of fraying nerves and impending exhaustion, check-in was a hassle (for us and for AM/UC) for reasons that you don’t really care about, and don’t want me to get into right now.

To add to the general misery, we learned that we left our camera on the Plane from HK after we exited.  Most photos have been via iPhone, but we did have some precious memories on the camera.

Prior to passing out, we had Dad and Kyle run next door (literally NEXT DOOR) to McDonald’s for a remarkably unhealthy meal.  McD’s is bad enough on its own – but this was getting on near 10:30PM!  But the kids needed to eat something.  So we did what we had to do to solve our immediate problem.  (We may need to be turning in our Parent Cards after this day!

The last time I recall seeing on the clock as my head dropped to my pillow was 12:49AM.

We’d made it!!   It was Adoption Day!!!!!!