SisterTwins

Finally we have arrived! What relief to have made it across the Great Pacific with not hardly a hitch. Hawaii was a great layover loved bobbing in the sea and falling asleep to crashing waves. Spotted a t-shirt on a zitty teen boy that looked like the abercrombie and Fitch logo, but read A and F est. 33 A.D. Accepted and Forgiven....Our flight from Hawaii to Tokyo seemed like the longest flight of my life-perhaps because we were jammed in a very full plane and for some reason I didn't take one of my myriad of sleep aids. I think I actually preferred the Ghost Ride of 2003 during the SARS. Anyway, way back in Portland Chris & I decided to tell people we were sisters to keep it simple. Our flight attendant Satomi, who took care of us quite well, asked if we were sisters and when we replied yes, asked if we were twins!
If you've got to have a five hour layover, Tokyo is pretty nice place to have it. It is clean, beautiful, with live hydrangeas, of course impeccably organized and layed out. Unfortunately the "Day Rooms" were full or we would have rented a few. They also had showers available. We had a delicious sushi dinner and tried to catch some z's in the waiting area. We were so spent I tried to upgrade us for the final leg, but it was overbooked and pandemonium was ensuing at the ticket counter as they couldn't get the computers changed over and the "Asian push" was on. Funny that I felt invisible at the ticket counter (with 5 inches on most and my sturdy Scandinavian build) as person after person shoved their way ahead of me-size doesn't matter-it's all about making your way to the front. I put myself into a mild coma for the final 5 hours to Guangzhou, and thankfully so, although was awakened to see if I wanted dinner. NO, just extract me from this Sardine can-now! Guangzhou airport-new, sparkly clean and nothing like it's former self of stink, schwindlers and squatty potties.
"Mr. Bob" met us and to our surprise was a young guy in his twenties with a great attitude and an easy laugh. He asked if we were sisters and to our yes, "twins?" It's the lucky and auspicious theme of the trip. Only 3 minutes to our 3 star hotel and we immediately crashed in our institutional green room with beds of boards. A quick blink and to the airport where Chris was loving the free Wi-Fi and I was held up at security by my house keys! Perhaps they were actually a James Bond saw? I saw a great t-shirt on a guy in his mid twenties that read "It is happy time anywhere. Are you feeling relaxing. Then we flew to Xiamen (pronounced like Shaman) where I write from. We already found the department store Trust-Mart around the corner and the grocery level is the Chinese New Seasons. I just devoured a bowl of fresh dumpling soup that she made while I waited, a scallion pancake and some spicy veggies we got at a sort of kim-chee bar. The lotus root was our favorite. My huge bowl of delicious broth, 10 dumplings and baby bok choy was 35 cents. Xiamen is very hot and humid, but it feels good. We are off for another adventure after stocking up on the necessities; water, tp, English biscuits and something I can hardly wait to break into "Thai Curry Crab" Pringles...