The plan today was to surprise our daughter with her first train trip... she has been wanting to travel by train for a very long time. We got up, packed our bags and had breakfast with the H's for the last time for about a week until we join up again on our journey. We were finished with breakfast and ready to leave with the driver and hotel staff person David. No one came to get us so I went to ask when we should leave for the train station. The bell boy said he would call David and ask. His answer was 10:15. I said, "Really?, our train is at 10:50, is the station close by?" Yes, it is close by, and so we began to chat together. They like to practice their English sometimes so I was talking with the bell boy. David joined us in conversation. At about 10:15 he said we need to go, so we said good bye to the H's and got in the van.
I don't think David planned on the traffic being so bad. We arrived across the street from the station, got out with all our bags (we have quite a few due to the donations for Esther's orphanage and the empty bags from the donations for the foster home)and began to run (and I mean RUN) through the traffic across the street, through the construction, down an alley street, through the security check point, down a flight of stairs that had some sort of huge green hose across the stairs, through the station to our gate, to find out that the gate number had been changed for our train... we missed our train. Had the gate not changed, we might have made it but there was no time to spare so it was out of the question that we could make it to another gate. David said wait here and I will see about changing your tickets. By this time my daughter and I are hot and sweaty. We ask for permission through jestures, to stand under a huge fan in the waiting area of our gate. As we wait, a mother assists her little girl to squat and go potty near the wall in the train station... David comes back with new tickets with a departure time six hours from then and suggests we wait in the station until then... DH and I look at eachother and say, we need another plan, we aren't willing to hang out here for six hours. So we decide to take a bus to Changsha instead of a train... our little one is very disapointed... we begin the journey back out of the train station... through the corridor, up the stairs, through the alley, around the corner... David finds two men with carts to assist with the luggage... we begin to walk to the bus station about three or four blocks away... we walk about a block or two and we come to a ticket window... we purchase three bus tickets... we continue to walk, through buses, taxis, people, contruction etc. etc., we have to keep our eye on the guys with the luggage so we don't get left behind or seperated... we don't know where the bus station is exactly... we come to a traffic jam of people... we can't get through... David explains that today the students are returning to University... the men with the carts cannot get through the crowd... they decide to turn around, go back, cross the street and go around the construction barriers and cross back over the street to the station... we follow... we arrive at the station. We have about half an hour before our bus leaves so while we wait I begin to call the "emergency" numbers I have for BOIT (the travel agency that assist with all the travel arrangements for the adoption)to let them know we will not be on the train but on a bus... none of the numbers will go through... I end up calling Utah to leave a message to call BOIT. Our bus to Changsha is called up and we exit the rear of the station to get on our bus... Davis assists us with all our bags... we step out of the station but... our bus is not there... we wait... someone comes up to the waiting group and says something in Chinese and then they begin to walk through the station's lot of parked buses... David says come this way to the bus... we follow... we all walk completely through and out of the bus parking terminal toward the street we came in on in the first place... we are weaving in and out of arriving and departing buses trying to not get hit, trying to not get seperated... one bus comes very close to our daughter... she is not accustomed to walking through traffic and she isn't aware enough of the danger...we emerge back out on the street at the front entrance of the bus station... we cross the street, through traffic... when we get to the other side we see our waiting group is reassembled... David points and says there is our bus (it was just pulling up to the corner we were standing on... but it continues around the corner and drives another half a block before it can pull over to load us all... we follow the bus... DH and I load the bags below as our daughter hops on the bus to save seats that are together... we get on the bus and she has managed to get the entire back seat to ourselves by laying down across it to reserve it... YEA! WE MADE IT!!!!!
About a half hour later my cell phone rings... BOIT is calling and they are aware of the changes, our guide Jacky (male) will meet us at the bus station, but which one?... there are 4 bus stations in Changsha... I walk to the front of the bus and give the phone to the bus attendant she tells BOIT which station we will be at.
My phone rang several times on that bus ride, the H's checking on us, Jacky confirms when we will be arriving and the Z Family called! They are here in China now and will be adopting Gabriel in a different province but we will all join up in GZ on Friday!!
Everything somehow works out in China. We made it to the Dolton Hotel and checked in. It is a beautiful hotel! Probably the nicest we've ever stayed in. Jacky says tomorrow we have a free day and he will be available by phone if we need him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment