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On October 28th we left for Nanchang in the north western part of the Jiangxi Province. When we arrived at the airport we really felt we were "deep" in China. It was a small airfield, in the middle of nowhere, it seemed, that doubled as a military base so there were plenty of war planes and military personnel about. Inside the terminal were a number of uniformed military personnel. It was dark, quiet and very plain. Other than the military personnel and our group, the terminal was empty. I tried to take a photograph, but was stopped by an officer. We moved slowly through the line where our passports were checked. We finally collected our baggage and headed out of the terminal where we were met by our Holt rep, Cathy and her smiling face. What a relief! She walked us through our exit and onto two busses while our bags got loaded onto a separate truck.
I can't begin to describe the ride from the airport to the Lake View Hotel. During our Holt orientation in Hong Kong we were told about the driving, but nothing Les, the Holt representative, could have told us would have prepared us for this (approx.) 30 minute roller-coaster ride! We started out on a flat, straight two lane highway with twice as many lanes of traffic going every which way - at high speeds! We were, at times, traveling at least 90mph! When the driver wanted to pass, oncoming traffic apparently wasn't a concern of his, but it did render a number of gasps from the rest of us. He'd pull out, honk, and travel on. Oncoming traffic would just get out of his way. When we entered Nanchang where the amount of traffic increased dramatically, he slowed down, but his "this is my road and I'll drive where and how I want to" methods continued. At one intersection, he hit a man on a bike who was immediately knocked off to the ground! The driver simply waited for him to get up, get his bike and get out of the way - then continued on! Unbelievable! We arrived at the Lake View around 4pm. We were already checked in by Holt, picked up our room keys, got a short briefing and were asked to go to our rooms and wait for our babies. There were sixteen families in our group so we were spread out on two floors (13 & 14). The babies started coming grouped by orphanage and the pandemonium began. There was no keeping us in our rooms! We filled the halls and wandered about sharing in the joy of each others new arrivals. It was a truly euphoric experience. As I look back, it almost seems as if it were a dream!
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