Our Journey to China
The day had finally arrived! We were leaving for China. After waking up at 4:00 AM (yikes!), we headed to Jenn's parents house and then it was off to Logan to meet up with our travel group. We arrived at 6:00 AM and went to find our gate. We saw Wayne and Michelle and Lisa and Mike (two couples we were travelling with) at the drop off point in Logan. Until this point, it had seemed real, but now seeing our new friends arrive with all of their luggage and making our way to the gate, it suddenly became VERY real!
Once we got to the gate, we had an hour and a half to relax before getting on the plane that would take us to San Francisco. This was a 6.5 hour flight. From there we were flying to Narita, Tokyo, which was an 11 hour flight. Then on to Beijing, another 3 hours on a plane. It was the beginning of an amazing journey!
We arrived in Beijing a bit tired, but very happy. We all checked in and settled in for the night. Even though we knew we were in China, it didn't always feel like it (at least that first night). Beijing was very westernized and not much different than Boston or other cities in the US. We were so glad to see our beds that night, yet still we stayed up for a bit talking, and just generally marveling that we were in Beijing and just days away from Isabella
Our first full day in Beijing started with a trip to the Jade Factory. This is a very interesting place, we were given a brief talk on the different types of Jade and their qualities, shown where workers carve the jade, and then led into a showroom that seemed as large as a football field! There were amazing things to see, and we eventually settled on a jade sheep, as Bella was born in the year of the sheep.
We were absolutely amazed and the sheer number of items available in the jade factory. We spent about 45 minutes looking around and having a great time.
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