Well regular words or even pictures can’t describe what we have been through today. We decided against the Terracotta Warriors in fear that we would miss the boat due to fog or just missed communication considering none of us speak a word of Chinese! And boy do we feel strange. …Four lone Americans in 17 million Asian people in just Shanghai with us today.
The day began at 5:00 AM with pulling into Shanghai passing the barges full of coal, gravel, and all matter of other supplies going up and down the river. They had told us that the boat had to enter the port and exit the port at the exact set times as it was low tide and we have to pass under a bridge that the ship just barely fits under within a few inches. We passed under that bridge at about 5:45 while we all watched. Ed went up to watch from the Crows Nest and says yes, there was not more than a foot from the top of the smoke stacks of the ship to the bridge. Then we pull up next to and tie down with a beautiful garden right our side our veranda.
Then dressed and ready to leave Kriss had a guide out side the ship write down some Chinese Characters of the “village” we were trying to get to. Suzhou. (Little Venice of the East). The ship offered it for $144 per person. We thought we could do it on our own cheaper.
So first stop was by the front desk to pick up our passports, just in case. Then out into the streets to hunt down an ATM for Chinese money. Well looking at squiggles of lines didn’t help much but we soon found one. Then trying to push the wheelchair and catch a taxi was another story. The traffic was CRAZY and going every which way. Think buses, cars, taxis, mopeds, bikes, all come at you and every which way, honking and driving about 50 miles an hour. We couldn’t find one that would stop, until finally Ed ran out in the middle of the street pushing the wheelchair and hailed one down. It was pretty scary but that was just the beginning.
He did drive us to the train station, of which a found one person who spoke “a little bit” of English and helped us purchase the tickets in the machines. (Again all in Chinese characters). But before we loaded we thought we better go find a toilet. That too was a new experience as we opened to stall to find a porcelain hole in the ground and you just “squat”! There wasn’t any TP and I was grateful for my Rick Steves Studies from Europe. Always carry Kleenex with you. We did catch a picture of me coming out of the stall. Funny that right outside the bathroom they were selling all kinds of snack, along with a big stack of rolls of toilet paper. We purchased it then, using it throughout the day.
The train employees were so kind as soon as they saw us with Dad. They would push his wheelchair, led us to where to go, and preloaded us on the train. That was a miracle as when they opened the gates hundreds flowed into the train filling every seat. We were grateful for the help.
Then as we got off we were accosted by a young man who wanted to be our guide for 4 people for half day for 200 Yuen. (About $38) At first Kriss walked on thinking we could maybe do on our own, but the guy kept following her and as we saw the lines to buy our return tickets and realized we couldn’t even do that, he stuck right to her showing time guide back to Shanghai, I said KRISS, keep him, that sounds like a bargain. Don’t let him go. He stayed right in line and helped us get the right tickets ordered home. Called for a minivan with a driver for us and came with us as our guide. We showed him on the map the three places we wanted to see. “Jake” stayed right with us, even loading the wheelchair each time and even pushed Grandpa around all day with us. He took us and ordered up our own boat ride down the canal, (with seats for maybe 25 but we had our own). We watched many washing their laundry right in the canal.
Next we went to the Silk Factory. Luckily they called out an English Speaking guide for us that was great. English he learned in Middle school but we couldn’t be happier as he was able to communicate with us the process of the silk worm at each step as we saw the larva, cocoon, unwinding of cocoon, single and twin silk worms, then about 6 more stations along the way. We even got our own turn at stretching the silk out as they do to make silk comforters. It was so amazing that we each ended up buying a comforter for our own King Beds as our souvenir.
The last stop was a Chinese garden. It was a maze of plants, concrete, rocks, patterns, and small buildings. Interesting but I hope and expect to see better. We were glad the other two stops were such a success and the main thing was being among the people. More real to life than the city life in Shanghai.
Then one more Mr. Toads Wild Ride x 50 on the taxi ride home. We were all amazed we didn’t see someone killed, or at least a few accidents along the way.
As we sat down to dinner we were grateful to be back on our lovely ship and not off trying to cross the country to Xion to see the warriors. We felt like we had definitely made the right decision.
All are sleeping at I write this as we are off to see a Chinese Acrobat performance tonight. We were going to go off boat and pay for one, then saw a smaller group is doing one here on the ship so we decided we would just go to that one for free and get the flavor of the entertainment.
Tomorrow brings more adventure in Shanghai before the ship leaves at 6:00 pm.
In case we don’t get through to you otherwise. Happy Birthday to Dixie and Charise.
Love,
Pam, Dad, Ed and Kriss
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