When my last post left off, I believe we were in LAX waiting for our China Southern flight. We had just eaten exquisitely expensive ham and cheese sandwiches. We met a very nice man from Australia who was traveling on business. We enjoyed talking with him, and he was interested to hear about our journey too. He travels quite a bit and had good things to say about the airbus we were about to get on. That was reassuring.
So we boarded the flight, still with low expectations. Much to our delight we found that the seats were wider and had quite a bit more foot room than either of our domestic flights. The back of each seat had an entertainment center with headphones. UNTRUE that they play the same stuff over and over every two to three hours! There were LOTS of movies, TV shows, music, games, even E books. The stewardesses were smiling and professional.
Each seat also had a little cloth zippered bag that contained ear plugs, an eye mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a comb. There was a small pillow and blanket on each seat as well. Did they wash them in between uses? Dunno. They appeared pretty much clean, and about half way in to the flight I really didn't care.
We had been in the air an hour or two when the stewardesses came around with little foil packets. Hmmm... what is this? If you know me in real life, you will understand that they scored BIG points because the packet contained a hand wipe! This was followed by an offer of various drinks - soda pop, juice, water, tea and COFFEE! My friends know that I love coffee. My friends know that if I'm under stress I REALLY love coffee. This was the first HOT cup I'd received yet on our flights, and it was good too! Yep. I'll endorse China Southern for their coffee if nothing else!
We were very surprised that meal trays came next. While our flight back home specifies a meal, this one (because it left LA at 11PM and arrived at 5AM local time) didn't cover a meal time. We were told no meals would be served. We got trays with meatballs, fruit, a roll (with real butter), and a bowl with a potato salad looking dish and sushi - which I was afraid to try. What I ate was pretty good for airline food. This was followed with another round of drinks - coffee for me again- yay!
People went back to the galley throughout the long night and got drinks. The one bad thing about the flight was the restroom. I visited it twice, the last time was about half way through that fifteen hour flight - yep it was THAT bad. I determined not to request any drinks because I was not going to go back in there again. Any China Southern reps read my blog? Your flights could be nearly perfect if every few hours someone could mop up the floors in the restrooms.
Around 3AM the stewardesses came around with trays that had some type of a white roll on them. The roll ended up being a rolled up HOT washcloth - heavenly! The drink cart came around again - of course I HAD to accept the coffee, followed by breakfast trays. They had congee, fruit, a croissant and yogurt. The drink cart followed again. Yet more coffee.
Around 4:30 AM all of the entertainment on the backs of the seats became group exercises/stretches! It was all in Chinese, so we couldn't understand a word, but the demonstration was done well.
Our flight ran on time - something that domestic flights could stand to improve on! I was very glad to get off the airplane (and very glad to find a restroom too!) As we were heading out we saw the nice Australian man again and got to chat a bit more. The whole experience was a bit stressful for me, and it was amazing how this familiar face - who spoke English - was comforting to me. A note to remember for my girls as we travel home to all things unfamiliar to them.
We had to stand in a very, very long line to be cleared through immigrations. We had to submit an entry form and a departure form (which we kept for the check going out.) That was a little scary, but the man was pleasant enough. Next stop was luggage pick up. All of our bags arrived with us for which we were thankful. They had forgotten to put a strap back on one of them after inspecting it, but thankfully it didn't come open when they unloaded it from the plane. Our guide, Elsie, was waiting with a WACAP sign as we came out of the luggage area, so she was easy to spot.
The guides have worked out a good system of calling the van driver when they are ready to go, so in most instances we are picked up and dropped off right at the door of our destination. The traffic is amazing! LOTS of cars, trucks, vans, buses, and bicycles all zooming into spots too small for them to get into! Our driver seems to be pretty careful. I am just learning to trust that he knows his job and that God has angels surrounding the vehicle. There are no seat belts except for the driver and front seat passenger, and for this former EMT and safety instructor, not wearing a seat belt is kind of like going out naked.
We arrived at our hotel around 7AM. Check in time is not until 2PM, but they were very gracious and did NOT make us wait. It took awhile to get it figured out, but they got us into a room.We are staying in The Garden. It is a very beautiful five star hotel. Our room has a decent sized living room with a couch, chair, table and stools, desk, and a cabinet with a hot pot and small refrigerator unit in it. The bedroom has two basically twin sized beds which we scooted together to make into a king sized. All four of us girls are sleeping there, and Ethan gets the couch. We actually did bring an air mattress in one of the suitcases, but forgot the converter so the couch is better than the flat mattress! I hope to say more about The Garden later on, but their breakfast buffet is calling my name right now...
