Leaving Beijing China

Had a great time climbing the Great Wall Juyongguan Saturday.  Much steeper than we thought it would be.  The views would have been more awesome if not for the heavy smog.  Lots of pollution around Beijing. We were so tired when we got back to the hotel that we skipped dinner and fell asleep at 6:30pm.  Our sleeping habits have not been normal since we have arrived.  We woke up  Sunday at around 4am to start getting ready for our flight to Guangzhou. This is when the FUN begins:).

We packed up all our luggage and made a run through everything.  Computer check.  Clothes check. Kids check.  Passports....... no check!!!!  We lost our passports and several hundred dollars!!!.  We ripped the room apart from top to bottom, went through all our baggage many many times and no still no passports!  I had placed them in a passport holder and had been wearing them around my neck the entire  trip.  Amy, our Beijing friend, told us not to carry them around as we would not need them while in Beijing, but the safe in our hotel room was not bolted down and looked unsafe so I didn't listen.  I last remember having them in the holder at the Great Wall and getting on the bus back to the hotel so I was pretty confident that they were on the bus.

We called Amy at around 5:30am to break the bad news.  She was at the hotel by 6:15am, as scheduled, to take us and another couple to the airport but w/o passports we were not leaving Beijing.  She called the bus driver and said he had searched the bus several times and could not find them.  We were in FULL PANIC mode by this time....many tears were being shed. We were just so worn out by this time.  Amy took the other couple to catch the flight and arrived back at the hotel at around 10am to help us figure out what to do next.  First, we walked down to the nearest Police Station and filed a report.  This was needed first and foremost to apply for new passports.  We were hoping that they would allow us to get on the plane with just the report and copies of our passports but the police said no. So there we were sitting in the local Police Station listening to what sounded to us like a heated argument between Amy and a Police Officer with an attitude.  Come to find out Amy said he was not angry but very helpful and compassionate to us and even checked train departure times.  We then called the on-duty person at the US Embassy in Beijing, however the Embassy was closed on Sunday -not good.  Amy said we had  the option to wait until Monday to apply for new passports at the US Embassy and then hopefully be able to catch a flight to Guangzhou later that day or take a train(passport not needed for train) that left Beijing Sunday evening at 6pm and arrived in Guangzhou on Monday 3pm.  We needed to be in Guangzhou on Monday to meet Jenna or it would cause some major complications.  That didn't seem real desirable either but we had limited options.

The on duty person at the Embassy said that we could take a chance that they would let us on the plane with copies of passports.  So we decided to take that chance.  Amy arranged for a driver to take us to the airport in 2 hours.  We were very hungry so we decided to get something to eat at a local Chinese restaurant, and then headed back to the hotel to grab our luggage.  We were leaving the room about to head down to the lobby to meet Amy when she called us and told us the same bus driver who had taken us to the Great Wall yesterday was coming to pick us up to take us to the airport and that he looked again on the bus and found our passports!!!  Thank you God!!!  Amy was able to change our flight again and get us to the airport for the 5:30pm flight.  Come to find out that Amy is our Sister in C and had missed meeting with her "family" to serve us.  She said she asked her "family" to lift us up.  We were so appreciative of Amy and apologized for being a problem family for her:)  Her response, "She was doing HIS work by serving us."  HIS people are indeed everywhere!  We flew out of Beijing and for the first time since arriving in China we got to see blue skies!

We are now in Guangzhou at the Garden Hotel- very very nice.  In about 1.5 hrs.  we get Jenna!!
Written by David
Editor's note:~):  "Many tears shed" is the opinion of the writer.  It is my opinion that there were actually very few tears shed.  Ella and I held it together quite well!!   :~)