Shanghai, Day Three, Thursday.

10/13/2011

Today was a good day!!

 I had a dream a couple nights ago about going swimming. I think I was dreaming about something refreshing. Amazingly enough the gym, almost kissing Jeff and Kendra’s building, had a pool.

Kendra and I woke up early and went swimming at their gym while Curtis recouped from his nights work. It was an adventure. It was Kendra’s first time using the pool, and bringing a guest. After understanding the price we headed up to the locker rooms.  We experienced some surprises…

The openness of the fellow locker-roomies… not just in changing, but also in using the ladies room. After Kendra and I put lye in our eyes we headed through the maze for the pool. We saw what looked like a pathway to the pool and we were met by a footbath that blocked our path and forced us to step through it.  Kendra noted it was a good sign. I guess its custom that they were cleaning our feet before entry….I did feel like it was a stagnant pool of bacteria that I was forced to step through, but when in China…

 We made it! As we were entering the water we heard loud shouting…, !!$&%(*#)$(!!... being directed at us and hand gestures.  It shocked me until we realized they were telling us it was mandatory to wear a swim cap. Down stairs we went to the desk where we paid 100 Y for each swim cap. The swimming was great. Kendra did the breaststroke and I just free swam! It was an upgrade for my normal doggy paddle! The pool attendant pitied me and gave me his eye goggles…, oh yeah and helped me get my swim cap on properly so my crazy hair would stop popping it off my head. The grunge feeling of a few days travel was cleansed from me. It was such a nice refreshing aerobic release!

We walked back to the house and took nice hot showers, and prepared for the day. Everything was beginning beautifully, but I could not find my grey sandals to complete my super cute outfit that I accessorized up with one of my brand new scarves. I looked all over, and then asked Kendra if she’d seen them. When you have so many things in one bag and you are moving from place to place it’s easy to lose things without a system. I have systems though…so I was confused! Kendra started laughing, shaking her head, and putting her hands up to her eyes… and began to  relay that when the IE (maid) arrived she asked Kendra if she could wear them, and Kendra thinking they were the maids, approved her petition. It is custom to have house shoes available. In-fact in every hostel we stay in there are house shoes waiting for us. I never wear them… because I don’t know who else has, but I wear my grey ones instead. Anyway…, I decided to let the IE wear my shoes for the day and Newport it up—(my other sandals.). Glad I did because it was wet and slippery outside, and the Newports are sturdier and built for wet and dry terrain.

We ventured out to Suzhou on a pretty fast train. We visited an enormous, gorgeous garden, probably the biggest I’ve ever been in, and I’ve seen some big ones,  ironically enough it was built by and for, “The Humble Administrator”. I wonder what the other gardens look like. Later we took a taxi to Tiger Hill.( Insert Pictures with descriptions)
This is where I fell in my sturdy Newports down the stairs!!!!!! While it was unfortunate and I had mud on my bum for the rest of the day, I was told it was a graceful fall, so that means something. I’m not clumsy it was just wet out!

It was pouring rain and suddenly everyone with a car was out trying to offer rides because all the normal taxis were taken. We chose a nice looking car, negotiated the price, jumped in and got a nice ride to the train station. We were not sure if it would be safe, but Curtis was up front imagining up ninja moves that would take nothing more than the use of a pen! We arrived bought tickets and then tried to get on several trains that were not ours…on purpose. Our train was leaving later than we liked. All attempts to board earlier trains failed…it did keep us very busy until our train was ready to leave, however. ….Curtis….

Thanks Julie, after getting back from Suzhou we met up with Jeff to go out to dinner at a Cantonese restaurant! The food was interesting and pretty good. I tried some preserved egg, not sure how old it was but it was black in color, pungent in smell and potent in taste. Been there, done that, and not going back, but Jeff loved it.

Julie liked a lot of the food as well. When I asked what she thought about the food she started saying, “You know what I miss about China Curtis? Chest-nut-cowrn juice. Mmm mn, sometimes I go grab a can of cowrn out the cabnit and strain me a glass of fresh cowrn juice. It tastes juuusst like it. Ahh (sounds you make after soda) It really brings me back Curtis. Reminds me of home. I mean China!” Ha ha I love her.

On the way back to Jeff & Kendra’s we stopped by the local super mart, like a lesser Wal-Mart, kinda like the Lesser Panda, outside of their house. The grocery part of the store was in the basement and in the back next to the fresh produce we also found live, fresh frogs, snakes and other interesting creatures. The frogs were bigger than my fist. It was really interesting.

At Jeff & Kendra’s that night we packed up before going to bed to be ready to head out to the Train station in the morning to catch a bullet train to Beijing.

10/14/2011

We woke up early Friday to finish packing and caught the Metro to the train station. The Pleco phone app was a big help in getting us the tickets we wanted for Beijing. Pleco is a Chinese translation app and we highly recommend spending a few bucks to get it and use it while in China. It’s been a huge help for us.

After buying the train tickets we found a little café at the train station and got some food. I thought we were right next to our gate so we took it easy till a few minutes before boarding time. As we walked out of the café toward the gate I realized that it wasn’t the boarding gate, it was the gate for exiting the train platforms. We quickly located a sign, which pointed the way to the boarding gates and started running, not an easy task with full packs on. We had to run down to the other end of the huge corridor we were in, about 100 yards, where we found signs pointing us up an escalator and then through security, where we had to remove our packs and send them through scanners while we walked through metal detectors. Another guy came rushing through security, clearly late for his train also and he just ran through, didn’t even put his bags through the scanner, (We’ve come to realize that security in a lot of places throughout China, like train stations, is often pretty lax…try a stunt like that in the USA and you’d get tackled, cuffed and likely put in a cell for questioning. Additionally, everyone always beeps when going through metal detectors here but never really gets stopped for a thorough search). We grabbed our bags and asked which way to our gate and ran for it. We barely made it in time for them to rush us through the gate and onto the train.

We were on a bullet train to Beijing, going about 300 kph. It took about 5 hours or so at that speed. We had various short stops along the way to pick up additional passengers in other cities. We passed through a lot of varied terrain as we headed north through China. I really enjoy traveling by train…sure, it’s slower than flying but it’s cheaper too, you get to see the country as your transiting through, and you get a better feel for the locals as you spend time traveling with them. China has an extensive railroad system. If you’ve got the time then I highly recommend traveling this way.

Goodbye to our loved Shanghai…, hello Beijing.