Nanchang Ice

What was supposed to be a 30 minute bus ride to the airport to catch a short, one hour flight (Mia's first ever)...turned into a 4 hour bus ride, a 4 hour delay in the airport, another hour delay on the runway, and then one stormy flight to Guangzhou. All in all, we arrived and slugged our way into the White Swan Hotel running high with nerves and low on formula.

The reason? Ice.

This was the worse ice storm to hit China in a decade...millions were stranded...power lines were down...thousands more went without heat...Chinese officials prepared for the worst...Gov. Schwarzenegger declared California a "State of Emergency"...etc. You can read all about it in the China Daily. (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-01/27/content_6423659.htm)

It took us 2 hours just to get over the bridge that was right beneath our hotel. This was partly b/c of a 6-car pile up, but mostly due to the hundred or so uniformed military that lined up in the middle of the bridge with little tiny shovels in their hands. They stood just about a foot apart from one another and dug into the inch-thick ice, some without shovels used their hands. Others took pictures.

I've always heard about China's "standing army" but never expected to see them in the middle of the bridge like an M-DOT worker (or "Caltrans" or whatever). Those guys are lean...and nimble, let me tell you.

Well, I have much more to write - mostly about Mia. She is absolutely amazing and I've been logging so many things in my head...but they will have to wait until after dinner.

Until then, enjoy the pictures.

chow.

note: my camera is not uploading and so these are all old pictures. I'm gonna have to wait until tech support wakes up (aka: elise) to get me back going again.