We are in China!!

Good morning or good evening, depends on how you look at it!

We made it to CHina. Our flights all went well and were all pretty empty so we got to stretch our legs a little!

Our first flight to Dallas was quick and a very short layover left us running for our connecting flight to LA.  In LA we had what ended up to be about 10 hour layover which was not exciting.  For any transfers through LA, you should keep in mind to make extra time though because we had to leave one terminal and walk outside about 1/2 mile to another terminal and go through security again.  I can't imagine doing this on the run to catch a connection.  They don't have any tram or train like many other airports.  We arrived in Bejing around 5 am their time (3pm at home) and it was cold.  Another short layover, had to pick up our checked items, recheck them and again, through security.  I got through fine and Paula got the pat down and 3rd degree for her liquids.  We made it to our plane with only 2-3 minutes before boarding for Taiyuan. 

The Air China flights were very nice with comfortable seats, so I would definately recommend it.  The flight here was also a little empty so we got 3 seats for the 2 of us and a window seat!  Not that you can see through the blackness, but was nice anyway. 

On arrival in Taiyuan, we were here a little early and our guide was not here yet.  We got a little nervous, but after a bathroom trip and a few minutes pondering how to get to our hotel Helen, our guide showed up.  Note to others:  bring a paper with the directions or a note saying "Please take me to XYZ hotel" with the address in Chinese is probably a necessity.  We have it for our two other hotels, but I dont have anything with Shanxi Grand in Chinese so I would have been in a bind if Helen hadn't shown up!

After settling in, I went to the bank with Helen to exchange money.  She says banks here are open everyday and most people do their banking on the weekends.  People for the most part are off on Saturdays and Sundays, but many jobs require you to work.  We went through the 3rd degree at the bank with them scanning each bill with two different machines.  Some of the bills had to be approved by management.  Helen showed me a $20 USD that someone gave her the bank would not accept because there was a stamp from a US bank on  the face of the president.  She said the bank here will accept it if the stamp is on the back, but not on the front, good to know.  When I was at our local bank getting my crisp bills just a few days ago, the teller was a little miffed that I didn't want the bills with writing, stamps and other imperfections, but good thing we were so careful with the bills!  I'd hate to get over here and have unusable American money. 

we are using Skype which did not work at first.  The first few times I called home, Ro could not hear me.  I could hear him, but he could not hear me.  I also have a subscription which lets me text him and cost about .10$ a text.  So i sent him a few text then called and let him tell me he got them.  I called again at 3am our time (1pm at home) and got a good connection, so I think maybe the connection was just bad the first time. 

Well, the part one of the days we have been waiting for is tomorrow (today for us) in about 7 hours.  We will get Liam Hui Dong LaComb and meet him for the first time at 2:30 today.  Keep us in your prayers and we'll post some picture (hopefully) by tomorrow morning US time!! 

Amanda & Paula in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China!