November 3rd

My mom and dad came over around 2:30 to take us to the airport. We got there early and were able to check our luggage and do the e-tickets. While we were checking our luggage there was a man that walked up in front of the line and he began to arrgue with the gentlemen that had been waiting his turn. He kept telling him that he was next. This man had taken his shoes off and became angry with the other gentlemen and security. I don't know what happened to him all I know is that he quickly disappeared. We went through security and then got something for breakfast. I thought that the airport would be busy but it was like a ghost town. When we were able to finally board the plane our seats were in the back. The girl told us that they upgraded our tickets to the middle of the plane. That was nice. Once we were boarded we were on our way to L.A. It took us 4 hrs and 30 minutes. It was hard to get used to the time difference between Florida and California. We left Florida and 7:00am and arrived in L.A. at 9:50am. They are 3 hours behind us. Once we got there we had all day to go around and do things but we were so tired that we decided to stay at the airport at the Crown Room. That was nice we were able to rest alittle and take showers before we boarded the plane to China. We left the main terminal and walked down to the Tom Bradley terminal (which is the international flight terminal). Once we found our way there we felt as if we were lost. We asked the people who work there and know one new were the China Southern counter was. Come to find out all of the airlines within this terminal share ticket counters. Once we found them we went through the line and then we had 2 hours to kill. We went and got something to eat and by that time we needed to get in line for security check. The line was very long. Once we got through there we made our way to the area were the shuttle buses were to take you to the plane. This was different once you got on the shuttle they took you to the boarding dock and once we got there and we re boarding they had police there and they had some people pulled to the side and going through baggage. Then further down the ramp to the plane they had a dog that was sniffing for illegal stuff. That was different. The dog did catch an old woman and they pulled here to the side. I never saw her again. Once we boarded we found our seats and the aisles and seats were meant for very small people. Once we were in the air they served a dinner but we were not hungry. Along the way we slept alot. We meet a couple of people on the plane which made the time pass by alittle faster. We got up and walked around the plane several times. It took us 15 hours to get there. They flew over Alaska, Russia and China before we landed. Once we got off the plane we were kind of nervous about what to do when we got to customs. One of the people that we had met told us that all they do is check your passports and then we were done. Marting met us at the airport and asked us if they checked out temperature. Angela told him no but there was an over head sign that said they were checking our temperature. It was probably a heat sensitive sign. We then headed toward our apartment/hotel (Ascott Guangzhou). It is beautiful. We have a one bedroom one bath apartment, a full kitchen, living room and dining area, desk area and washer and dryer. The bathroom is big and the bedroom is a good size also with a king size bedroom and a nice sized closet. The floors throughout the apartment except at the front door and kitchen are wood. The front door and kitchen are marble floors. There are two flat screen tv's and one of the has a Bose stereo system. The lobby is marble and has a big fountain in it. There is a pool here, with excerise rooms, sauna's (his and hers), a playground and a resturant. Everywhere you look there is building going on. Once we settled in and Martin showed me what was around the area that we could walk to. He then left and told us that he would be back tomorrow. We took showers and rested for alittle while and then Martin called and told us to get out and walk around. Reason is not to sleep to much due to the jet lag. We needed to wait until after 9:00pm to sleep. So we went to lunch at Woo's which was around the corner. That was an experience. We were trying to communicate with them but not doing a good job of it. But we were finally able to order what we wanted. Angela had a fried egg sandwich and I had soup macaroni with spiced pork cubes. Oh, for to drink Angela had Coke Light and I had Coca Cola. They don't say diet coke or coke. Then after we ate we went for a walk. I compared it to downtown Orlando because of all of the construction going on. In Orlando you can always find construction. We decided that we would go and exchange money. That was interesting. When we went in they guard had no clue to what we wanted and then he decided to take us to a teller that could speak some english. So we were able to exchange. I did $300.00 dollars and that came out to $2,027.00. Angela did $100.00 came out to $675.94. Then we did alittle shopping we started back to the apartment and before we got there we went to the 7 eleven to get a few things. Then we made it back to the apartment.
Driving here is dangerous. People cross in front of vehciles and vehciles squeeze through. What I mean by squeeze they don't care if there is a bus car or what kind of vehicle it is next to them. People drive very fast here. There are some people on bicycles but not alot. Martin said that to ride a bike means you are poor. But he said that it is good excerise. They do have some traffic lights. They also have traffic cops directing in certain areas. There highway bridges are decorated with flowers. We had Woo's for dinner. If anyone comes to china that is a good place to eat. We went to bed after 9:00 pm and we slept very good. The bed was comfortable it was not hard at all.
The pictures that you will see are of our apartment. More to come pics of building to come.