We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here in China. Shanghai is huge! For the first few days I struggled with claustrophobia, and a strong desire to see the sky. I went to the top floor of a building-what I thought was the tallest-and looked out the window to get a glimpse of the sky. What I found was taller buildings. Tons of skyscrapers squished together so tightly that all you could see was steel and concrete. I read that more than 40% of all the cranes in the world were being used in China. I think it is more like 80%. I have never seen so many cranes in all my life. And the smog made LA look pristine.
Klynt and Dana visited us here in Shanghai and we toured the Yu Gardens, the Bund, the famous Pearl Tower, took a cruise down the river, and stayed in the new Pudong area of the city.
The second city we visited was Suzhou. Suzhou is a beautiful city. Clean with lots of parks and less people/congestion. Still very smoggy. We had a great time getting reacquainted with Klynt and Dana. They spoiled the girls and were wonderful hosts! We miss them a lot! Their apartment building looks like Disneyland at night, with the lighted cupolas twenty stories high, and the manicured parks in the middle. For the thousands of people that lived there, it was astoundingly quiet.
We took an overnight sleeper train to get to Beijing from Suhzou. It took 11 hours. That was great fun! Met some interesting people. Beijing has less people than Shanghai, but more than Suzhou. Klynt and Dana met us here and we toured Tien Men Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and some famous gardens. Dave and Klynt got a head start on the girls one day and visited the military history museum one morning.
We won’t know how to behave when we get back. We are sooo famous here! Everywhere we go, people want to take our picture or pose with us and have their friends take our pictures. Poor Zailey gets mobbed, and she is so patient and kind with all of the hysteria. When she finishes one of these impromptu photo shoots she usually says, “my cheeks hurt!”
So, yesterday we prepared to leave China for Korea. We got to the airport and were missing one of our passports! Needless to say, we could not fly out of China. We returned to the hotel that we just checked out of, tore apart everything. Left our room to clear our heads, and when we returned, we found the passport. Hmm. Anyway, most of the next day was spent tying to communicate in a language unknown to us, and arrange another flight out. Now in the US we are used to many flights being available and airlines only overbooking certain flights. I guess in China they overbook all their flights by a generous percentage. The soonest flight out was a week later!
So, now we make lemonade! It is too expensive to stay in Beijing, so most of today was spent finding and arranging a smaller city to stay in and a way to get there. So, if all goes as planned-which it never completely does-we will leave in the morning by taxi and train to Shijiazhuang. More later.
To those of you in SM, please take care of my son and brother for me!!
2 comments:
What an adventure. There is always something, but at least you were able to find the passport. That would have been even crazier if you could not have. It will make for a good story later. :) Have fun seeing more of the country. Are you still going to be able to spend some time in Korea? Keep us updated as to all the fun and adventures of the Way family. We miss you guys. Kaleb and Zach were still alive as of Sunday, so don't you worry, we will keep an eye on them. :) We look forward to pics and fun stories when you return. Take care,
Jon and Morgan
We miss you guys soooo much! I was so excited you were coming home, then this? Sure, you "lost it". We know you did it on purpose because you liked China so much. :)
We're thinking and praying for you guys. Let us know if we can help, somehow!
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