We got up at 6:00 am and got ready to go to the airport. Only until we were downstairs waiting for the shuttle, we thought to check for the tickets....and didn't have them. But since we had agreed to meet our ride at the main campus, we took the shuttle anyway, and asked if we could drive back to our flat to get our tickets. Not too long after beginning our search, we found them, and raced to the airport. The expressway ended at the airport, about 20 km from us, but our ride made good time, getting us there in about 10 minutes.
We raced through the checkout (had to go to "M" counter to pick up the tickets, then go to the "D" counter to check our bags in). L. stood at the "D" counter line, while I went to the "M" counter to get our tickets, which was a good way to do it, even tho' we didn't plan it that way. We were at the security checkpoint in less than 10 minutes....by 8:14 am. They wouldn't have checked us in if we came in after 8:15 am. Whew!
The new Guangzhou airport was completed just last August. It is a huge airport, with the highest and widest ceilings I'd ever seen. It is one of the more spectacular airports I've been in, rivaling Denver and HK. The plane we rode was cramped and they still used the old, 2-prong headphones. The seats reclined more than the usual seats. Things seemed a little old, even tho' it was a 777.
Mom came to pick us up at the airport. (Shanghai's airport is kind of small, almost like Hyderabad’s airport. However, it’s domestic-only....I'm sure their international airport is a lot more impressive.) It was a very short taxi ride to Uncle G's apartment. We met the whole family (Dad, A. J. J. and D. and the kids, Uncle N. and Auntie E. and Uncle L. and Auntie C.) We then went upstairs to the penthouse (13th floor) to enjoy a light lunch, watch TV (hey, HBO, Cinemax, and CNN! Satellite TV?), take a snooze, and catch up with each other. It was lovely seeing the family again.
After lunch, we took the bus to Mom, Aunt C. and Uncle N's old home where they were born and spent a bit of their childhood. It was pretty much the same on the outside as it was when Mom and her sibs were born. Their cousin and her husband currently live there. It's on the second level, shared with other rooms of the same size occupied by other family members. Each room served as its own bedroom/living room. The bathroom and kitchen were in other rooms by the hallway. We took several pictures and had tea. Much of the one room they were occupying had been renovated. The narrow stairways outside the room seemed older, perhaps original. It was a special time to share a piece of our family history with our family, never before seen by me or the sibs.
Mom, Dad, Uncle and Auntie L. and C. and Uncle and Auntie N. and E. stayed at the penthouse apartment. The rest of us stayed at a nice, multi-bedroom house about 1 km away. Both places had servants to fix meals, make up the rooms, and clean up. Shanghai's first impressions were quite posh ones.
