Sunday September 26, 2004

Welcome to Hefei. The home of FREE Broadband Internet Access!

Well we finally made it. We are about 12 hours away from finally getting Matthew. Dorothy and Aelex are asleep, both exhausted from the long day of travel. 9 hours door to door, Hong Kong to our hotel in Hefei. As for me, I slept on the plane so I feel fine (O.K. so I’m a shiftless cad, but I’m married to a wonderful woman who allows me the occasional selfish act). Anyway, this will be a short entry as we all must be up early for the big day tomorrow.

We were up at the crack of dawn again and the first folks at breakfast again. My guess is that the hotel staff thought we were nuts, but hey who am I to argue with that assessment. After we ate we made our last stroll along the waterfront then returned to our room to pack. Actually, let me rephrase that; we returned to our room so Dorothy could pack. Listen I already copped to being a cad but does anyone out there honestly believe that I am in the least bit capable of packing our 6.3 tons of survival gear correctly? I didn’t think so.

We then hopped in a car for the ride to the airport. Checked our luggage and boarded our flight. Took off almost on time. Landed in Guangzhou 30 minutes later. Went through customs. Reclaimed our luggage. Checked in for our next flight and rechecked our luggage. Took off almost on time. Landed in Hefei and reclaimed our luggage. Trust me, it was just that exciting.

At Hefei we were met by the hotel van for the ride over to the hotel. Below is an actual transcript of the drive:

Beeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beeeeeep. Beepbeepbeepbeep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beeeeeep. Beepbeepbeepbeep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beeeeeep. Beepbeepbeepbeep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“O.K. We are here.”

I had almost forgot what pure abject terror felt like since the last time we drove on the Chinese mainland.

Hefei was a blur so I’m not sure what to think of it yet, although from what I could briefly glimpse through the pauses in my life flashing before my eyes, it is surely going to be some powerful fodder for some great stories. So stay tuned.

We checked into our room and met up with the dauntless Linda from Brightside who will try with great patience not to lose it with me when I eventually screw up some important paperwork. My guess is that she will do everything in her power to deal exclusively with Dorothy and smile politely and nod whenever I get involved.

By the way, I am happy to report that I am surfing the internet gratis, courtesy of the fine folks at the Novotel Hefei. Perhaps a certain Hong Kong flophouse can learn a thing or two from their countrymen out here in the sticks. I stole many soaps to avenge my internet fleecing.

So that’s it for now. Tomorrow will most likely be a complete madhouse and we may not get to post anything if stuff gets totally out of control but we will do our best. Wish us all luck. As usual, we are sure to need it…

A threesome for the last time…