I have been waiting to get these photos from Bryan and Mary so I could write about our first adventure in China

Traveling to Shanghai from Salt Lake City takes A LONG time! We left Salt Lake City at 11:00am on Monday on a 12 hour non-stop flight to Tokyo, Japan. We arrived in Tokyo and had about a 2 hour layover. Next we took another 4 hour flight to Shanghai, China. We arrived in Shanghai at 9:55pm on Tuesday night. Needless to say, we were all very anxious to get off the plane get to our hotel rooms so we could go to sleep.

After the plane landed, we pulled up to the gate and we started getting all of our things together. We start unbuckling our seat belts and anticipate the plane doors opening. As we were doing that the captain of the plane made an announcement that Chinese Health Officials would be boarding the plane to take every passengers temperature as a screening measure against the H1N1 virus.

This is what we saw:

Some people we laughing and others were taking photos. But when we found out that the entire plane could be quarantined for up to 7 days, most people stopped laughing.

Apparently, if anyone had a fever or flu symptoms, all passengers and crew members would be immediately detained. Officials would then decide whether to give physical exams at the airport or to take everyone to a hospital or hotel, where they may quarantine them for up to seven days.

At this point, we were all crossing out fingers that everyone on our plane would pass the initial screening. As soon as they said our cabin was cleared, we got off the plane as quickly as we could, before they decided to change their minds. Not a very warm welcome, but we were so relieved to finally be on the ground and on our way to the hotel!