Safe arrival in China

Greetings from China!   This is somewhat of a test post.   We are unable to access blogger in China and therefore have not been able to access our blog to post any updates.   This is a test at a back entry.   Since we are unable to access or see our own blog (or our friends blogs who we would like to be following too, we won't see your posted comments, if indeed, this post works.   However, we love the comments so please do comment and my mom will forward comments to us in an email.   You do need to register a google profile to comment - it's very basic, just provide your email and your password - no cost, no obligations etc., just makes you a recognized user.   
So, David, Granddad, Indigo and myself left Virginia on 1/29/10 on a 6 am flight to China.  We thought we were catching a cab but dear Pam kindly offered to drive us - not a lot of people willing to drive you someplace at 3 in the morning so we are wildly appreciative, and my dad, who tends to worry a little bit, felt much better having a reliable friend rather than a taxi.   Indigo was perhaps a little disappointed and kept asking why we had no taxi - she is a fan of going in a taxi but we told her that Pam was our taxi driver.   Pam came over later in the evening and helped with the last of the packing and we hit the sack around midnight and then were up and out of the house by 3:30 am and then Pam went  back to our house to get a little sleep - thanks Pam, we really appreciate it.
Our flight to Chicago actually left early and we had a very pleasant layover with a bit of breakfast.   The flight from Chicago to Shanghai was also a good flight - just long and very little sleep.  Indigo, despite hardly having slept the night before was just so excited and not that interested in sleeping.   We arrived weary but happy in Shanghai and sailed through immigration and customs.  The new terminal 2 airport at Shanghai airport is quite spectacular.   We all cleaned up and then a short while later, David, Indigo and I went back to the airport to meet Grandma who was coming in from LAX.   We assumed she would also come into Terminal 2 on the international flight so we were at Terminal 2 by 6:45 and her flight was due at 7:05pm and she still had to go through immigration/collect baggage/customs etc.  Plenty of time right?  Wrong!   Her flight had already landed - at Terminal 1!   David, Indigo and I raced through the terminal 2 to cross over to terminal 1 - it's a long way and then down to arrivals and there was Grandma, already through customs and waiting with a porter.   We came back to the hotel and David and Indigo crashed.  Granddad, Grandma and I had a little supper and then all retreated to bed (although Dad had a skype call with Granny before going to bed).   We are able to use skype so if anyone is interested we might be able to have a call at some point.  
We all had a really good night sleep - woke up a bit but were able to fall back asleep.   Granddad even hit the gym this morning.  Had a great breakfast at the hotel - the variety is stupendous and even includes dim sum along with plenty of western options.   Our guide and driver picked us up very promptly and we left Pudong (east of the river) for the Shanghai train station.  The drive was about an hour but very interesting although unfortunately it was quite foggy.   Shanghai has the fastest train right now and China is working on another even faster train.   This one train they have goes 30km in about 7 min 20 seconds!   It reaches up to 431km per hour which is about 267 miles per hour!  Also, the road we were on is brand new - the whole city is preparing for the World Expo and we passed the site of the Expo with all the world's countries buildings going up.    Okay, words will never be able to describe our experience at the Shanghai train station - crazy!   We could never have survived it without our guide Penny.   We parked and got out all our luggage (which is considerable) one suitcase for each person and a suitcase for Isaac,ur carrying baggage.   Penny took a couple of pieces of luggage and we had Indigo in the stroller and between us had the rest of our luggage and we basically ran after Penny among throngs of people.   Everyone is starting to travel for Chinese Lunar New Year; some 400 million people travel over new year so it's pretty wild and this was probably not even the peak.   The trains were upstairs and we had all this luggage.  Penny organized someone unlocking an elevator for us to get the luggage up.  We were supposed to have a porter but he was not responding when Penny was calling him although at one point he actually approached us while Penny had gone off to look for him (we did not know he was her guy so we told him we were set).  Anyway, we fit all of us and all of this luggage into the elevator which was just hilarious - we were basically told if we could not get on that time then we would not be able to get it again so we made ourselves fit with David practically up on top of the suitcases.    We then come out on the platform and are running along next to the train.    About one car from where we are to get on (we have ticketed seats) the porter shows up and start arguing with Penny because of course he wanted his yuan for "helping us"   He then insists on taking a few pieces of luggage the one car length to where we get on.   At this point, it's as if the flood gates have opened and all of a sudden everyone else is getting on the train and we're trying to cope with where we are possibly going to put all our luggage.  David gave the porter guy some yuan but he is now saying he wants more so David adds another 10 yuan (about $1.30) although obviously it was Penny who had done all the work.   The train ride was super and very interesting to see all the places we passed by.   We were the only caucasions/westerners that I saw on the train, and having Indigo, was obviously a source of great interest to our fellow passengers.   I had to take her to the bathroom at one point on the train - it was not a western style toilet but rather a squatty potty - she was a champ!  Kristi - I have to tell you that the mini bagels and peanut butter were a superb tip!  They have been sustaining our family at all hours, including as a snack on the train.   Fortunately, Nanjing was the end of the line, if it had been any other stop I don't know if we would have had enough time to get off with our stuff.  As we arrived on the platform (the guide was not allowed through to the platform to meet us so we had to make our way to the exit - very straightforward but basically 3 guys rush us and grab our luggage and start moving which completely freaked me out so we're running to keep up with them and to keep our luggage in our sight and then there are stairs down to deal with and we have Indigo in the stroller so we take her out and one of the guys comes running back up to take the stroller down.   The guys are moving!    Fortunately Dad could keep up and keep them in his sights and as soon as we got to the exit the guide and driver were there with a sign with our name.   We had to shout to the guys to stop and then they start negotiating with the guide as to what price we're going to pay for their help.   The amount they suggested, I said was outrageous but then we settled on an amount that seemed to make them happy and as Granddad said, we really could not have got all that luggage down those stairs and to the exit without them.     Denise and the driver loaded us into the van and brought us to the hotel.  The drive was super and the city is exciting and there were all sorts of neat things to see on the drive.  The area we're in is called the Confutious Temple.    The hotel is all decorated for New Year and I am excited to be able to do some shopping for some new year decorations.    You know you're in China when you're passed by a Moped on which there are two baskets of live chickens hanging on the back.    Indigo was super tired and so she and I are hanging out in the room and everyone else is getting a late lunch.  Can't wait to explore the area.   Tomorrow at 10 a.m. we meet the guide to go and receive Isaac.  Can't believe it is happening.   We really have not taken any pictures until a few today on the journey but hopefully when we have some we can post using this method.  For a test post, this is pretty long so I sure hope it works.   Someone please email us to confirm that they have seen a post.   Signing off for now.   We'll do the big post as soon as we're able.