Hi Again!
The flight to Guiyang was interesting! There were many large Americans and the seat belts didn't fit for some of us. The airline gave out seat belt extentions and still had two people left. The airline moved them to first class but still no luck. The flight was held up for an hour. I was so glad I didn't need an extention!! The airline finally moved the two ladies to another flight. The People to People delegation is large and there are 180 people in the delegation. The American teachers here are amazing! I feel honorered to be among them.
Landing here was uneventful and we collected our luggage heading for the bus.
Things change once we were in the bus. Beijing was very modern and new. Much of Beijing was torn down and redone for the Olympics. In Guiyang, you see a different China, you see the real China. The city here has a mix of old buildings and new. Its not as clean as Beijing, with smoggy brown air. Guiyang is in the middle of a large mountain range. The air gets caught in the valley and can't move. Buses of people move by us and the students here wear warm ups for their school uniform.
We went to the city square ( people's square) to see the Mao statue. It was huge!! The people in the square were not used to westerners. It was an experience! As soon as we got off the bus they started to follow us around. Crowds of people stopped their Mah-Jong games, card games and chinese chess to follow us. We looked like the Pied Piper and company. They wanted to touch us and say Ne Hou. The faces were great. They were very worn and weathered. The people here are not Han majority but Bui. It was like being a rock star! We finally climbed back on the bus and headed for the Howard Johnson. Everyone on the street waved at us. Even the other city buses waved and waved as we passed by them. We were met at the hotel by Minnie, Micky and Kung Fu Panda.It was amazing!
We loaded the buses back up to go to a Chinese resturant. The resturant had a big neon sign in front welcoming "People to People" delegation. The dinner was very good and the food better than the last resturant. The food dishes are served on a big lazy susan, so you can just turn the lazy susan to get to the dish you would like. We are becoming very good with chop sticks. Nothing really strange on the menu like bugs!
The arrival in Guiyang has been overwhelming, but nothing like what will happen tomorrow!!