Arrival in China

Trip Start Aug 16, 2007

Trip End Jan 15, 2008

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Flag of China Quingpu, China
Saturday, September 15, 2007

We got up at 4AM and drove to Savannah, and had an uneventful flight. The bags were not overweight, did not get lost, there were no delays. United Economy plus not only gave us more leg room, it had only 1/3 of the passengers, so we could all stretch out across seats and sleep. The free wine and cognac helped, too. Nevertheless, we were still groggy when we arrived in Shanghai at around 2 in the afternoon.

We had arranged a driver to meet us (this is an excellent idea) and take us to the resort. The drive was fascinating, crowded freeways around the outskirts of Shanghai with lots of apartment complexes in variations on a style that is like ten to fifteen-story high rises with balconies and a Chinese top, pagoda or imperial style modernized. Then when we left the freeway, south of Shanghai, flat land looking like Holland with canals and green houses, the roads invaded by three-wheeled bikes, mopeds, tractors

Barbara at lunch in Sun Island's One-in-Hole

. There were vendors along the way with watermelons, gasoline, odds and ends. It did not look very promising until we turned off to Sun Island, which is on an actual island in the upper Huanpo river that flows through Shanghai (this part called Xi Mao). The resort has tudor-style cottages, and a famous golf course.

At the reception Elaine said she would be our guide for the week. She explained the resort facilities and side trips we can take. Then we unloaded at the cottage. We have a bedroom, nice bath with tub and shower, and a sitting dining-room. The kitchen has a fridge, micro, water-boiler and hot-plate for the wok. Minimal flatware. It was 5pm by that time, so I went back up to the reception and got some food at the mini-store: Tubs of flavored noodles, Lay's chips in odd flavors, sweet dried anchovies, Tsingtao beer.

Since then we have been doing eat, sleep, eat, sleep. The TV has CNN and HBO, so we looked a little at things. Apparently it is yesterday back home.

At this point we feel glad we chose this method. We were rescued from a confusing all-Chinese situation at the airport (ATM declined our card, so no cash yet) and had no decisions to make. Now we are far enough from everything that there is no pressure to be a tourist; we can just relax and get adjusted to the time and tummy before doing anything serious. It is only around 90� and our unit is air-conditioned. We also used room service for some ribs and noodles. Tomorrow we will investigate the geothermal spa, massage and swimming pool.

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