Last minute roaming and home

Saturday morning we strolled through the houtongs in our neighborhood and came across a community music center tucked in between (as all things are in these areas)some busy alleyways. We entered via an open courtyard door and followed a planted pathway to a back courtyard surrounded by large rooms that were being used for childrens' art (drawing) lessons, dance classes, and Chinese instrumental music lessons. Some boys were kicking a football in the yard while waiting for another class to start. It was such a surprise to find it strictly by accident and to take simple pleasure in its just being there. Again, we were glad to see what goes on in the daily lives (this time, Saturday morning activities) of the folks who live in this busy enclave in the middle of a city of 16+ million people. It's remarkable how these little islands of tranquility are carved out.

Our guide and driver showed up 20 minutes early to take us to the airport (highly unnecessary, since Saturday is not as busy, traffic-wise as other days) but we were hustled off to make our way to the airport for a 4:10pm flight. We sat for 4 hours at the airport, time we would much rather have spent doing a little more exploring. We left from the new international terminal that was built for the Olympics; it is spectacular architecturally and a model of high tech efficiency for other airports.

Everything went smoothly until we got to O'Hare in Chicago, when, as is typical of O'Hare, everything got jammed up...some heavy thunderstorms occasioned delays, cancellations, jam-ups with stand-by supplicants....After all the delays, we had to switch planes and finally got underway...arrived Boston about 2:30am, home by about 3am. We are moving in slow motion today. It seemed that 1/2 the plane was coughing and sneezing, and Lily and I woke to pretty full and nasty colds today...thankfully, the timing was right and we didn't have to stress about having a cold during the trip.

Overall, Beijing felt much less hectic than Shanghai or Hangzhou....the guide remarking, "but it's much smaller than Shanghai (only 16 million rather than 20 million)" Be that as it may, drivers seemed more prone to obey traffic lights, to give slight chance to pedestrians and not confront them directly, and to honk less. Were we to return to Beijing, we would stay at the Red Lantern Guest House again for the unique experiences provided by its style, location, and way of operating.

Beijing hutongs

Beijing hutongs

We ventured out of our hutong and into the fray of a busy neighborhood,to find that we are in the middle of the musical instruments district. Store after store selling guitars, other stringed instruments from western violins, cellos, to ancient Chinese stringed instruments. Other stores sell brass, woodwinds, each store carrying a huge inventory of a few special items. We also learned on our way back from Olympic park that we are actually quite near where we stayed the last time we were here, just in the hutongs rather than in a big hotel overlooking them

This is a much more interesting way to travel. We have never been ones to like the views from Hiltons, and this experience confirms that sterile costs way too much in many ways. I'll upload more photos when we get home. It's too time consuming to do here.

See you all soon.

Beijing

Flying from Shanghai to Beijing is easy and totally different from what it was in 1995.  China Air is thoroughly organized and pleasant. Once in Beijing, we realized that we would be crisscrossing the city, a huge undertaking in traffic, so we did not go to our hotel until after we went to Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City.  It was rainy and chilly, and we were pretty exhausted, so it was hard to listen to every word of the travel guide.  When we indicated that we would like to go to the hotel sooner, SiSi said, "But I have to give you my informations."  So we trucked on through the visitor parts which are much more restricted than they were in 1995.  The vastness of the square and the Forbidden City are awsome, and the City with descriptions of the emperor and all his concubines makes us understand revolutions.

 

Our guest house is very difficult to find and our hearts dropped when we arrived at its door down an alleyway.  Soon we found out that we were at the main house and that our room was at the west yard about 7 minutes walk away.  Our driver took us up the street after a lengthy check in process while our bags were loaded onto a bicycle cart and hauled to the west yard.  Inside the gates of this restored hutong is a different world, cut off from the noise and bustle of the outside world.  The courtyard garden is serene, and the common room has a fish pond and small water fall.  The open courtyard is beautifully landscaped while the inner, covered common space is covered with glass.  We are enjoying sitting in the group space and talking to people and watching the family who owns the place go about their daily tasks.  The room is simple and small, but adequate. Staying here provides a completely different experience from what we've had on the trip...a thoroughly enjoyable change of pace and scenery.

 

Friday....we had breakfast at the inn and then went to the Great Wall.  Took a cable car up the steepest part, then landed at a plateau above which was a steep set of stairs to get onto the wall itself.  It was a cloudy period of the day, so the very distant parts of the wall weren't visible, but we saw enough to gasp.  It is so massive, period.   On the way back to our inn, we went to Olympic Park...just what we all saw on tv during the games.  The Birds' Nest simply looks bigger than what we've seen , and the Water Cube is weird....literally a cube that has sort of water bubbles as sides. 

 

Back at the inn, we are about to go out on our own to explore the neighborhood. 

 

Home tomorrow...what an adventure this has been.  We're sure that if we were to come back in 10 years it will be a completely different country just as it seems to be completely different from 1995.  We are SO glad we've come and we feel that we had enough time to get used to many things that seemed daunting in the first days. 

Shanghai by day

Found a tranquil spot in the French Quarter

 

Today we walked to the Shanghai Museum, and visited 3 floors of the 4 exhibit floors.  Then we hiked around the area near the museum and did lunch in a Shanghai Hot Pot restaurant....we cooked our own food in broths right at the table.  Fun activity that the kids liked a lot.

After lunch we ambled through a beautiful park and to the French quarter, where we ambled through Fu Xing Park, an island of tranquility in the midst of all the chaos of the city.  The French Quarter is just lovely (wealthy people do manage to find nice places to live) and the park is a focal point for rest, Tai Chi classes, board game playing, and just looking.  It is fully spring, and everything is green and in bloom.

 

Lily and I left the group and took a cab back to the hotel ( an adventure in itself, since two cab drivers now couldn't read the address on the card they give you that says,, "Take me to the Magnificent Hotel"...at (unreadable address in Chinese, apparently.  We managed to get here, since we had a map with the hotel marked on it, and the cabbie finally got where we wanted to go.  When we were about a block away, he took a left instead of right hand turn and we noticed that....a u-turn in the middle of a busy street is nothing here, so we got here just fine.  The rest of the gourp were tyring to get to Sun Yat Sen's (sp??) house in the French Quarter when we left.  It was a fun day just gawking at so many different things.

 

I realize that this blog is very in the moment...it'll take me weeks to organize my thoughts into something coherent...organizing photos will help to do that.  Digital cameras make so many things easy...maybe too easy, because many things are captured through a lens.

 

Tomorrow to Beijing.  

Shanghai by Day

I lost the blog for today.  The internet connection from this hotel is weird.  So I'll just note where we went....was a great day.

Shanghai Museum. Then to a Hot Pot Shanghai restaurant for lunch.  Then to the French Quarter where we ambled in gorgeous Fu Xing Park, an island of tranquility in a sea of madness.  Amazing how a large, well tended public garden can provide space for recovery in the center of chaos.  It was just wonderful...no tourists besides us....perhaps because we had to walk here.

 

Tomorrow to Beijing.

Shanghai

Shanghai, the Giant Anthill

 

Shanghai is insane, having reached maximum entropy a long time ago..  The entire city, like the rest of the China we've seen is a construction project. 

We and several million other tourists went to the Bund last evening.  The Shanghai skyline is just as terrific as promised, but you must view it from across the river next to a huge construction project that goes all night long because the city is preparing for Shanghai Expo 2010.  They're doing here what they did in Beijing to prepare for the Olympics..tearing down whole sections of the city and building up who knows what.  Some major landmarks are being restored (like the Peace Hotel) and are covered up completely.

 

We took a train from Hangzhou to Shanghai yesterday morning...a very fast, smooth, thoroughly modern train.  Amtrak, can you come here for lessons on how to run railroads?  As I was taking photos of the monitor, which flashed in Chinese and English, I realize that I made a mistake in reporting train speed the last time I wrote about trains here.  We traveled at about 140 km/hr...we were supposed to take a high speed train on the route from Shanghai to Souzhou, but we ended up on a local...even then, we were traveling pretty fast.

 

We're on our own in Shanghai..no tour guides, so we've been sputtering our way around and doing quite well.  Suzie and Richard are navigating, and they successfully got us to Nanjing Road, the Bund, Yu Yuan Garden, through the maze of the subway.  We took cabs back to the hotel, a sensible thing to do at night, but NOT in rush hour.  Cabs are cheap here, but one must be willing to give up control to the driver..any backseat driving will only bring great misery.  Suzie, Lily, and I are somehow able to just go with the flow of the crazy traffic.  I would never drive anywhere here, never..

 

Today we are going to the Shanghai Museum and to some other must see places.  We changed our hotel from the original booking, and are very glad we did, since from the other place, we would be spending all of our time in traffic trying to get to the places we can now walk to.  The hotel is eh, like most of the places we've stayed.  It is a bit more upscale than the others; upscale has been defined by Chris as a hotel where they give you another roll of toilet paper before the first one is gone.  I find this notion captures a lot.

 

We head to Beijing tomorrow, and our traveling companions head home.  We have a China Air flight at 9:25 am, which requires leaving the hotel at 6:50.  Lily will miss having Anna to be with.  This will be their last day together as two Chinese girls who blend in while their parents are the ones who stand out.  At one point, Lily had gone ahead of the group to get some photos, and I lost track of her.  When she ambled back toward us, I told her I was concerned.  She said, "Don't worry;  It's not hard to find you....I'll find you before you'd find me."  Hurray.  This is part of what this trip is about.

 

Right now, everyone is pretty tired.  We all got cranky yesterday until we had lunch.  Our Hangzhou guide was in charge of getting us breakfast for the trip.  Here's what he bought for the 6 of us: a plain loaf of bread; a bottle of orange juice drink; a package of saltines; a tiny package of pretzels; a box of pocky sticks.  Moral of story:  Do not put a 20-something very young man in charge of taking care of food for travelers.  We were starving.

 

Off to the races.  Looking forward to coming home.

Hangzhou

Hangzou is a spectacular city

 

Yesterday we arrived in Hangzhou in the pouring rain, which put a crimp in our plans to ride on a boat on West Lake, a huge lake in the middle of the city surrounded by a park.  One side of the lake looks up at green mountains, the other at the modern, spectacular cityscape.  It is a beautiful city, very much in the forefront of industrial businesses..international corporations.  Population is 7 million...hard to believe until you get a view of the cityscape from a high point, which we did. by way of a rebuilt pagoda.  To accomodate people who don't/can't walk up the stairs, there's an escalator up 2 flights, then elevators up to the second level to the top.  Looking in one direction is a seemingly pristine set of green mountains (same as view from the lake) and in the other direction is this phenomenal view of the city which spreads out in high rise everything for about 180 degrees.

 

Later, we rode a commuter boat on the grand canal, though not many people actually commute on the boat any more.  Some people use it to get from one point to another, but many just ride it as we did...a tourist attraction.  To encourage people to use the water taxi, the fare is 3 yuan during rush hour and 5 yuan in non-rush hour.

 

A long hike through the park where azaleas and rhodies are in full bloom and everything is green..trees are leafed, willows are weeping green, and it is thoroughly spring...sort of like mid-May at home.  The temperature was about 78 degrees or more today...hot and sunny..and humid, too, after the rain stopped at about 10 am. 

 

We ate at a local dumpling and rice for breakfast place in the morning, at this ridiculously fancy restaurant for lunch (tour guides like to take foreigners to these off the chart places, it seems), and at a local place this evening. 

 

Suzie and Richard went off to a light and dance/music show in the park that is put on by the same man who did the opening ceremony of the Olympics last summer.  The rest of us were too tired, so we came back to the hotel, rested, and are ready to cash it in.

 

This was perhaps the nicest day we've had here...got to get the flavor of a major city without being in a marathon.  Wonderful.

Huangshan after successful dinner ordering

Lily and Carolyn went out into the loud evening (competing loudspeakers from local stores blasting in the streets) to see if we could find a place that had either an English menu or pictures of the food. we found the former a few stores up from the hotel and ordered a few things,,,just o.k. stuff, but it served its purpose. It was part of a complex that sold the local green teas and a large variety of wild mushrooms that looked wonderful. The wet forests here provide an abundance and variety of mushrooms, it seems.
We are enjoying a respite from group travel and just moseyed around. We went into a little dried goods and bought a bunch of goodies..pocky sticks, Sultana biscuits (anyone remember those?), peanuts, bottled water, and a kitschy t shirt.

Back at the hotel, we find the shower just sticks out from the wall right next to the toilet, no stall, no curtain, so the whole bathroom gets sprayed with water, and if you forget to move the wastebasket and roll of toilet paper you have another problem on your hands. Getting toilet paper at hotels lower than 4 star seems to be a tricky business..with three women, the half rolls that are supplied don't last long. Maybe this is more than you want to know about bathroom issues.

Back to Wuhu...the orphanage personnel were very kind and willing to tell us anything they could from the kids' records. There were people we saw there whom we also saw in 1995. The place itself is pretty run down; the director said they will be moving to a new facility in two months..perhaps this is so. The children remaining in the existing facility are all special needs..babies to older children. They seem to be well cared for.

AFter the orphanage visit, we ambled around Wuhu...went to a park and pavilion overlooking the Yangtze River and enjoyed a brisk breeze off the water. It was stifiling hot away from the river. While we were there we saw a huge plume of acrid smoke billow into the air a few blocks from where we were. It looked every bit like a petroleum based fire and it raged for some time. Today we learned that it was a street market fire that went up like a torch. We worry for the people who crowd these markets trying to scrape together a living by very hard work. Apparently there was nothing left of the market, which must mean that the vendors lost all their inventory and equipment. Sad to think how this impacts their families. I have often felt afraid while in the middle of these markets, since they're very crowded and people use open flames for any number of things...cooking, repairing things with torches, and the like. The coverings are all plastic (which may have accounted for the black smoke and the quickness with which the fire bloomed) and so many goods for sale are also plastic.

Tomorrow, we go to Tunxi for two days. Wish I had access to some maps to upload...perhaps that'll be the next thing I learn to do with a blog.

Fwd: Thursday and we're all still friends

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: cryan738@comcast.net
To: "cryan738 lilyx" <cryan738.lilyx@glogger.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 5:26:32 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Thursday and we're all still friends

Thursday, day 6 and the beat goes on.  Right now, Lily and I are in a hotel in Huangshan proper while the rest of the crew went to stay on top of the mountain.  We learned when we got here after 5 hours on a local bus then 1 hour in a van-bus that we'd have to take a cable car up the mountain (this we knew) then walk 2.2 km up stairs to the hotel (this we didn't know).  At first we were told that we could hire porters @ 50 yuan per bag each direction..or about $90 for the group to bring up our suitcases.  Later discussion in the bus and a telephone call by the guide provided the alternative of paying 100 yuan ($15) to leave our bags in a town hotel at the foot of the mountain and repack only what was needed for the night and morning in backpacks.  Chris was telling Anna to put some warm clothes on in the bathroom and to bring warm stuff and her raincoat because the weather report predicted rain, fog, and temps in the low 40's.  Hearing this, both Lily and I started to get the grungies, so I asked a few questions about how steep the stairs were, whereupon Linda, our guide held her hands up indicating steps of about 12".  At that point, I decided to forego taking a 2.2km walk upstairs, so we checked with the local hotel, bargained a bit, and got a room for Lily and me for the night, including breakfast for 420 yuan.  Then the group got to leave their luggage in our room. They'll be back here for us at noon tomorrow for lunch.  Lily says to remind the blog that the purpose of the mountain stay was to see the sunrise.

 

It was a  great ride over the mountain and through highland villages..through miles of rice paddies and then, higher up, .through hillsides covered with Green Tea.  Women everywhere working the fields and picking tea, and men working the water buffalo in the rice paddies.  We're really glad that we did not get an express bus. which runs along a highway and THROUGH the mountain via tunnels. We would have missed a slice of life we read  about in geography books 60 years ago (well, some of us did, anyway).   

 

Riding in any kind of vehicle in China is an experience all its own.  The mountain rides would be familiar to anyone who has taken buses in mountainous areas in any developing country.  In the cities and towns, however, driving takes on its own rhythm...sort of a rampage.  Our family seems to be very calm about the whole thing...Suzie and I for having experienced this sort of thing before, and Lily is sort of freaked out by how people drive, but she's not frightened, she says. 

 

The day in Wuhu yesterday was delightful.  We went in the morning to the orphanage, where we met with the director and vice-director.  We were shown their records, which, except for one document, were the same as we had copies of. 

 

More later..We're going to try to negotiate dinner.

 

Orphanage Visit

Orphanage Visit

 

Our visit to the orphanage where Lily and Anna spent the first months of their lives was just wonderful.  The orphanage staff are very kind and giving.  Anna's 'nanny' has been there for 28 years, taking care of children with love and respect. 

There's way too much to digest before writing about the visit..suffice it to say that it was emotional, loving, and genuine.

 

Tomorrow we head to Huangshan where we will sleep on top of the mountain for a night, then go to Tunxi for a day.  We're traveling well.

Carolyn

Wuhu girls

Wuhu orphanage visit today

At 6 am it is quite warm, the sun is fully out, and temperatures are predicted to go to 82-84. Our clothing is not ready for this!! And we are taking a leap of faith again as we go to the orphanage, which we are told is quite different from what it was 14 years ago.
Lily has taken a million photos, while her friend Anna has written a millioln words in her journal...two different ways of dealing with the world they are seeing. Anna's dad said that Anna and Lily should team up to be a photojournalist pair....what a match.
I think I may have figured out how to upload photos, so I'll try in this post to do that.

Photos?

Where it all began...Wuhu

Sulizhou to Wuhu

 

The train ride (5 hours..6am to 11am) from Suzhou to Wuhu was spectacular.  We experienced a huge slice of the phenomenal growth of China.  Construction absolutely everywhere.  Huge swaths of buildings being torn down and replaced with equal swaths of 20 plus story high rise apartment buildings.  Since people can now buy their homes, the market is responding witha vengeance. 

 

We say two big nuclear power plants along the way and followed the industrial path along the Grand Canal, which we actually rode on while in Suzhou.

On one side of the railroad tracks were miles of fields planted with rapeseed and on the other were industrial complexes and projects razing and building buildings.  In between were some relics of another era..small farm houses and huts not yet sentenced by the bulldozer.

 

When we arrived in Wuhu, we were startled by the size (2 million or so) of the city and the newness and beauty of the parks in the downtown area.  The center city is booming with life and lights.  We strolled through the park along the river and were smack in the middle of the rich street life.  Retirees gather by the hundreds at tables to play Majong and kibitz with each other.  WE were the main show this afternoon, however, as all eyes stared at us non stop and folks commented to each other about us.  We could only imagine what they might be saying, as there were no clues for us to interpret.

Our guide said that there are very few tourists in Wuhu, so we were a curiosity.  People continually try to speak with Lily and Anna in Chinese and are confused when they do not reply and do not seem to understand. 

 

We went to where the night life swings for dinner, but we were stuck in a private room, where we had only each others' company...not even good people watching. 

 

Tomorrow we go to the orphanage, meet with the new and the old director, with Anna's nanny while here.  We didn't know the name of Lily's caretaker, sadly. 

 

We are all very tired, but thrilled to be in the middle of it all.  Traveling as we are...just the 6 of us ..is giving us so many opportunities to connect with people and places that would be impossible with a larger group.  We're so glad to be doing it this way.

 

We had a conversation with a man on the train who is a general manager of a hotel the next stop after Wuhu...will have to look up what city it is.  Anyway, he spoke very good English and was a well versed man of China.  He was quite open about many things we've found many Chinese to be silent about.  He said that people are getting rights...though there was a way to go.  His opinion of George Bush was interesting...he said the whole world hated him, not just China, but China was especially insulted by him.

 

I could go on forever tonight...it has been such a rich day.  But Lily wants to use the computer for a bit, so this is it for now.   I may find a way to upload some photos tomorrow...no time today.

 

I'm thrilled to know that some of you checking in feel part of the trip.   What a joy to be able to share it.

Love from all of us...Carolyn

Suzhou Marathons

Monday in Suzhou another marathon with the indefatigable guide called George.  First we went on a boat ride through the grand canal, stopped at a huge market out of the 18th century in some respects.  The kids left the market saying they were never going to eat meat again, but the ordered and ate some fried chicken at lunch. There were far too many live animals waiting to be someone's dinner and rather gruesome displays of meat, organs, and other things like brains that we westerners are loath to admit become our food.  We like the sanitized version;  here it's in your face. 

 

Fascinating tour through a silk factory at the end of which was a silk store..really high end with gorgeous stuff.  The two girls were so taken by the silk dresses that they almost bought something...Lily looked great in a silk dress that she finally decided she wouldn't get a chance to wear except at a wedding, so since there was no wedding in sight, she passed it up.  Anna liked a skirt that looked great.  They were both surprised to even think of getting dress up clothes, but the stuff in the silk store was so gorgeous it was hard not to look and try on.

 

After lunch at a great place where there was some considerable discussion about how much to order, plates and plates came one after the other, and we gobbled it all up.  Was there enough?  Who knows;  if we'd ordered six more they probably would have been gobbled too because the food was really so good. 

 

Tomorrow we head to Wuhu...unfortunately we have to leave the hotel at 5:15 to catch a 6am train.  The time got moved up by an hour.  Suzhou is a very beautiful city....it doesn't at all feel like it has 2 million people, in spite of the bustle.  Traffic is bizarre, and you play chicken just to cross the street with cars, buses, bikes, and mopeds coming at you from all directions.  There are no driving rules;  drivers just go, and timid pedestrians could spend their lives on one side of the street. 

 

We're all exhausted....time for a nap.

Shanghai to Suzhou

Shanhai to Suzhou

 

Arrived in Shanghai Saturday afternoon about 12:30 pm Shanghai time.  Easy going into the daylight all the way. 

Our Shanghai hotel is smack in the middle of a neighborhood with a big market right next door and assorted stores occupying the ground floor of each building.  It's a busy, noisy place..we kept the windows open to enjoy the delightful air temperature.  We all reacted to the heavy pollution and heat when we arrived and took an hour long van ride from Pudong airport to the hotel.  Later, it cooled off, and we walked through densely packed neighborhoods to get to a restaurant where communcation was impossible.  Richard tried valiantly to order food, and finally we got something we could eat. We didn't realize that some of the food we ordered (by picture and mislabeled English).was not cooked, and we were not inclined to test our systems' abilities to deal with that..

 

Up at 6 or so to eat breakfast and take a train to Suzhou.  Chinese breakfast consisted of quite delicious dumplings, noodles, two vegetables
a thinbleful of sweet, delicious beverage resembling coffee.

 

Train to Suzhou thoroughly modern, fast, and easy to negotiate.  Arrived about 1/2 hour after departure, having traveled about 300 mph.  Hotel in

Day in Suzhou mainly surrounded going to one of the famous gardens that was within walking distance of the hotel.  We had a guide whom we hired after he met us at the train station...George is the name he goes by for his tourists...a very well educated former teacher of English, and a delight.

 

We're all exhausted tonight..Lily, Suzie, and our traveling companions, Richard, Chris, and Anna, went to a show and to a fancy restaurant.  I was too exhausted to go, so stayed back and slept, which is what's giving me the brief spate of energy to write this blog.

 

Last Itinerary arrived

     We're all like crickets on hot blacktop as we charge through the final hours before departure...chirping like mad and jumping from one place and thing to another.  The final final final itinerary came this morning with the names of the hotels we'll be staying at in Huangshan and Tunxi.  For some reason, we couldn't know the names of the hotels until a week before arriving in Huangshan ('because of policy')...but true to the agent's word, the names arrived today.

     We'll be staying at the top of the mountain in Huangshan.   The travel agent sent us a website link that provides photos and descriptions of the hotel at Huangshan.  We can't read the Chinese, unfortunately, but if "a picture is worth.."......we should be pleased to stay there.  Here's the link ...be patient...it's loaded with flash player photos.... http://www.hsxihaihotel.cn/ 

     On this trip, we are more relaxed about the 'wait and see' instructions we receive, since we've had the experience of traveling alone in China in 1995.  We recalled how, in negotiating transportation from Beijing to Hefei before we met our Lily for the first time, we had to navigate some back alleys of Beijing to find a small office on the third floor of a building  where access came by way of a rickety outdoor staircase.  We left a substantial amount of cash there to buy two airline tickets to Hefei and arranged to have a guide meet us.  Having taken this leap of faith, we left the office, moseyed around the city until late in the afternoon, then returned to collect our tickets.   There they were, as promised, and when we arrived in Hefei, an English speaking guide  greeted us before we had time to look for her.  That little leap of faith at the travel office was nothing compared with the one we would be taking in Hefei...gathering a 12-pound 6-month old baby into our arms and lives forever.

     Arranging for this trip has been quite an iterative process.  The travel planner, Rebecca, at Lotus Tours, has been patiently and competently attentive to the requests of the two families who are traveling together.  The planning has been smooth, and we have faith that things will go as stated, if not necessarily as expected.

    Carolyn

    

    

Before the Trip

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

We're in the final throes of getting ready to leave for Shanghai on Friday morning. Having tracked the weather and forecasts for Shanghai and Beijing, we're reconsidering what clothes to take, since it seems much warmer there than here (Boston).