Sounds of Changsha

And smells...

What a difference this domestic flight was compared to our international flight. No health surveys or temperature scans, we pretty much just walked off the plane onto the tarmac, bused over to the luggage pick up, and walked out to the parking lot! A lot of commuters on our flight, regular daily or weekly routine for them. And the heat! Felt it right away, the humid type of heat that makes you want to jump into a cold pool. We noticed the abundance of GREEN and vegetation, as we rode the van into the city, with little high rises, just a lot of run down plain concrete buildings and lots and lots of rubble, and construction. It was actually quite deceiving, because little did I know that we were in just the outskirts, and about to enter Changsha, a city of 10 million people! I expected Beijing to be fairly Westernized and large (17 million), but I imagined Changsha to be much smaller. I guessed wrong, because here we were, entering a bustling commercialized city, with many "high" rises, and like Beijing, Hong Kong and other big population dense cities, lots of cars honking and mopeds scooting by. And smells of heat and pollution. And coming from somewhere where smoking is banned pretty much everywhere, here there's smokers everywhere. We were impressed we didn't see any accidents with all the crazy driving happening (is there a point painting lanes?), although there were some very close calls! We arrived at the Dolton Hotel, beautiful, huge impressive front lobby, and settled into our roomier (the Beijing hotel room would not have fit a crib) 30th floor hotel room. We explored the reputable hotel, and to Aidan's excitement, there's a bowling alley and beautiful swimming pool! Lily, our guide took us out to the streets to explore a little, and buy drinks and water (watch those toes, these mopeds seem to want us to share the sidewalks!). She took us to a local restaurant, where we experienced a few "mild" dishes, which to me put my tongue on fire, as well as the other couple's, and Roger who loved it, did agree that it was more than "mild". I was warned about the spicy Hunan foods! It was very tasty though, just before the "hotness" burnt off the taste buds...

After a game of bowling, I was ready to call it a night, to prepare for our big day, but Roger and Aidan fit a swim in too before retiring. I slept a little better - 5 hours before waking, but still not quite adjusted. I guess also I am just too excited, I could feel lying in bed, my heart rate to be just a little faster than usual. This is IT, next sleep we will have a new member of the family to wake up to! I rolled over in bed looking at the empty crib next to me, thinking, am I ready for the whole baby stage again? I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to already be a mother. We've had a break from diapers and sleepless nights, but here we are, stepping back to that wonderful sleep deprived dependent stage. It really goes by fast, and I know the importance of how that nurturing stage has on bonding. What we get from that stage can be indescribable. The little hands, the little feet, the innocence, the babbles. Yes, I am ready. Just over 8 more hours until GOTCHA!