First Morning in Shenyang

It’s Sunday morning in Shenyang (7 am).  Mike and Rachel are still sound asleep and I’m trying to type quietly.  (Sure wish I knew where Mike put the Starbucks instant coffee.)

Shenyang is different from Beijing, starting with the airport.  We encountered our first squatty potties.  Rachel and I were in shock at first. I guess we thought they’d still have western toilets in the airport.  I’m still not sure how I’ll navigate one of those with a hurt back, but in any case, Rachel and I decided we could hold it. 

We were the only white people on the plane.  We drew stares, of course.  It doesn’t help that my jacket is white (no one here wears white) and with my boots on, I’m even taller.  Just imagine a 6 foot walking marshmallow, and you’ll just about have it.  Bring on the stares!

There seems to be a mad dash to do anything around here.  Getting off the plane.  Going down the escalator.  Waiting for baggage.  Getting out of the airport with said bags.   Everything.  Since we were tired and the plane was 30 minutes early, we decided to wait and get off the plane last.  We figured our guide wouldn’t be there for 30 more minutes anyway, so we were just taking our time.  Then, we stopped at the restrooms and made our discovery.  After that, we were the last people to show up around the turnstile.  No biggie to us.  

Well, our guide, who was waiting in a huge crowd that was sectioned off about 50 feet away, asked me later what the problem was.  Why were we so late?  Why weren’t we with everyone else from the plane?  I just had to giggle.  The luggage still was not even there by the time we arrived, but we were not doing the “Chinese mad dash”, so she thought there must have been a problem.

OK, I’m off to get cleaned up.  I’m eager to see the “Western breakfast” downstairs.  Be prepared to see lots of pictures of food.  I love food and love taking pictures, so you’re in for it.

Here are a couple shots of the room.  It’s very nice.  I’ll post more pictures later.