Are we THERE yet?!!!

Well, as a matter of fact, we ARE here! We've made it to Hong Kong!

We're on the Plane to China!!! Very excited, but very tired.Here are our lovely passports and the Chinese documents we had to fill out to stay in HK for a few days.

Sis on the shuttle but from the airport to our hotel... she was taking lots of pics already, too!!

Here is our CCAI Guide

Here is me in all my loveliness at Mdnight writing this post!!! But we're HERE!!!!

We're in Hong Kong!!! WOOOOHOOOOO. Apparenly, I've got internet connection until we leave our hotel Sunday. So, I'll likely get to post more!! :) I'm uploading a couple pics now, of the city we've barely gotten to see... oh, and I used my friend's KICK ASS video camera tonight! I SO want one now!!! hehe.

The plane ride was fairly uneventful. Thank God. It was amazing to be on a plane that had TWO Floors!! Wow. Very cool. We had to ask someone if the minded moving so Sis and I could sit together. I was a bit disappointed in my travel agent who promised we were together. But it worked out. We met a guy named Dave who travels here A LOT. He was very helpful. As was everyone else when I had to try to get our luggage up in those very amazon-tall-ish bins!!! We had drinks a couple of times (no, not alcoholic) and a couple of meals. Not too terrible. My stomach wasn't feeling so hot, but it seems to be a bit better now.

At the airport we went to a bookstore (if you know my sis AT ALL, you know we went to the first book store we saw!!!! hahaha). The layover in Chicago went way quicker than we thought, and we ended up with Starbucks, a Quizno's breakfast sandiwch, a Cantonese Phrase books, a book on China, a Chinese notebook diary and a Sketchbook for my sister. She'd never been to Chicago, and I was pleased to see some Chinese books and such.

So, here is the small update I sent to my family.

Holy Moly, we've made it to Hong Kong and it is wonderful! We are staying at an absolutely lovely hotel (Regal Kowloon). I don't know what numbers you add to dial out if you want to call... but our room number is 1236. This is only until Sunday, when we leave for Nanning!!!! Feel free to call us if you want. I'm still working on getting a calling card or something.

We had some sort of tour planned for tomorrow, provided Mindy and I are able to get up and go! If we don't, we are both very excited that we get to just walk around the city, take pictures and shop!!

We literally stayed up ALL night before flying yesterday morning. Now, that was a long day.

Right now it is about 11:30pm here. Even though, Mindy and I slept quite a bit on the plane, I just couldn't make myself stay up longer when we got here. God love her, she probably thought I was a party pooper!!! haha (no, she didn't, she was exhausted too. she is the one who finally found our cord to get our free in room internet connection up and going). I'm so thrilled we have access here in Hong Kong, at least. I want to tell you all about everything that is going on!

Anyway, my adoption agency (CCAI) met us at the airport. The HK airport was very nice. The folks were very helpful, and didn't act mean due to our lack of Cantonese. Speaking of Cantonese, Mindy and I bought a Cantonese/English phrase dictionary in Chicago yesterday. We weren't able to find Mandarin/English yet. (I know, I know, I should already have this... well, I don't. I had two CD sets that "teach" each of these languages, but it somehow escaped me to buy an actual dictionary. Mindy is the Dictionary Queen, though, so I blame it all on her!!! haha). We plan to find one today, if at all possible.

Hong Kong is ENORMOUS and very cool looking (from our very short outside interaction upon arrival). I am excited to get to go to Starbucks first thing in the morning (as it is right across from our hotel). Even if we somehow miss our 'actual' tour, we're going to romp around the city all day. WE"RE IN CHINA!!!!

I get to see Mia Monday (or sometime Sunday, EST).

editorial note - sappyness is coming: Thank you ALL for all your prayers and dedication to my long, long journey. I truly do have the best family and friends out there.

I added a few pics of our plane ride, our CCAI Guide and one of me in my lovliness at midnight here. lol but it does show a tiny corner of the room, too! ;-)

Peace!