Travel and Green Goose Feet

Ah, China. We’re back, and much has changed, but much is still the same.

There is no easy way to get here. 12:00 +/- hours by air from San Francisco. It is much longer from the east coast, although that is usually via a polar route. Then when we arrived we were greeted by out first set of guides and transported to Suzhou, “The Venice of the East”, although several places share that name. Suzhou is a beautiful older city with a tremendous amount of history, and some incredible old style gardens.

We are staying at the New City Garden Hotel in the New City area of Suzhou. Suzhou is now a city of 6 million, what in China is considered a medium sized town.

There were some challenges getting here. Grace and I only had to get our Visas Wednesday in San Francisco; that was the only must do that entire day. We had dropped off the applications the Thursday before. Needless to say, we thought we had plenty of time, but got to the Consulate office at 3:08, and sure enough, they closed at 3:00. Soo . . . . .

Thursday morning bright and early we headed back to San Francisco, think it was 7:00 am. Got into some traffic but got there about 8:40, so Grace waited in line with others for the doors to open. They did promptly at 9:00 and we got inside. Some confusion caused by me because I thought I knew which line to stand in, and was wrong. Just before getting to the window son Sturdy called and asked me to meet him outside: I did. And wouldn’t you know it, that was exactly when Grace was told we needed the receipt we had been given when applying. No she did not have it, and no she could not find me. And no, I did not have it either, and honestly do not remember them giving us one, although I am sure they did.

To make it short, we got back inside, filled out additional paperwork, got the Visas, and started for the airport. Sturdy meanwhile had to go on to work, but was nice enough to have dropped off a couple of cups of coffee, a sandwich, and a nice loaf of San Francisco Sourdough bread. Thanks Sturdy, but sorry not to give you a hug and a good bye. That loaf came in handy on the flight, and as always San Francisco bread is one of my favorites.

Airport check-in was smooth, even after some serious challenges getting checked in online. I was about to swear off ever flying United again. Boarding went smooth, flight left about 30 minutes late, radar glitch as explained by the captain. And yes, that did cause some concern after all we had been through the previous several days.

Nice flight, although sitting in chair for 12 hours is never “fun”. Arrived Shanghai at 5:40 pm China time, about 3:40 am our body time. Met up with the guide, and they transported us to our hotel in Suzhou (another 3 +/- hours). So basically except for napping, we had been up for 24 hours. I’m getting too old for that. Very nice hotel, and this afternoon, we even were told we had “free” Internet access. Now, for those of you who have traveled to China previously, you know “free” is a dangerous term. We’ll see. Breakfast buffet, wow, what a buffet! Think Grace took some pictures this morning and I’ll get here to put them up. If you added up the front footage of the buffet, I think it would easily have run 250 feet. Yes, I said 250 feet, and I honestly think I am being conservative. Western, Chinese, Japanese, dessert, salad, fruit, bread, and of course several areas of unknown. Ever seem GREEN goose feet at breakfast? I did today, and can assure you I only looked once and moved on.

The Shanghai International airport is a work of art, incredible. You have to see it. The new Gatwick outside London is based on it I am sure.

Met the guide at 9:30 (and except for the too cold in our room, we did get a decent night’s sleep), they let us sleep in. We have been walking around Suzhou all day now and hope to write about today after dinner. Tired, bone tired, but hey, this is China, and not a minute to spare.

Gotta run.