I don't have much time to post but I know I need a quick update. So after being in Shanghai for four days we went to Hangzhou for a night, then to Taizhou for another, then back to Hangzhou for two, Linhai for one, Hangzhou for two, then on to Quanzhou for two, and finally last night we arrived in Chao Zhou. We've been bouncing around like crazy and we still have a couple more hotels to go.
Here are a bunch of random pictures I'll try and explain:
This first one is looking out my window in Hangzhou. It's very pretty here around "West Lake" and I would have loved to have gone for a walk. But I had to settle on a window view instead. Never enough time. I've heard Hangzhou is a popular vacation and honeymoon area in China. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency at it was so nice. My bed was very comfy compared to all the other hard ones I've been sleeping on lately.
This next one is the from the hotel in Linhai. The bathroom was fabulous! It had the best bathtub that was so inviting after working all day. I also experienced my first authentic Chinese dinner here. I was starving after working till 8:30 pm and then when I saw what they were bringing out suddenly I wasn't very hungry anymore. It's just hard to eat fish when it's staring back at you!
This picture was when we visited a factory/showroom in Taizhou. We stepped outside for a minute to examine paint colors in the daylight and I snapped this picture quick.
I wanted to make sure and take a picture of the bathrooms. Keep in mind this is one of the cleanest ones I'd seen. And since their sewers can't handle the toilet tissue you have to throw it away in a separate trash can that's in each stall. Yuck!
And most of them don't supply toilet paper or soap to wash your hands with. I've been carrying Purell and "Charmin to go" with me everywhere!
Back at our hotels they have "western" toilets which I am so thankful for. I love that "porcelain pony" as Connie has started calling them on this trip. Giddy-up . . .
On the 2+ hour drive home from Taizhou our driver stopped at the "rest stop" for dinner/snacks. Connie and I checked out the convenience store for a snack and I found chicken feet! Don't they just look succulent? She gently steered me in the direction of Chinese Oreos which were a welcome treat.
This last picture I took while touring a paper pulp/paper mache factory in Chao Zhou. There were 3 toddlers that evidently "went to work" with their parents that day. The workers were meticulously painting different objects while the babies hung out. They were being so good! In the picture above the guy stood his baby up to get photographed. Doesn't he look so proud? Very cute! The other kinda weird thing was that I saw a plastic baby walker close to the one of the tables. There wasn't a baby occupying it at the time but I noticed there were 3 bricks tied to the bottom. Was it to keep the baby from wandering away? Who knows! But it kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it? That'll show 'em when those babies grow up with these super strong Hulk Hogan legs. hmmm, maybe that's how they train the sumo wrestler babies.
Okay, it's late and I gotta get to bed. We've got a busy day planned tomorrow that of course involves changing hotels again.
Only 4 more days till I climb back on that plane for the over 14 hour flight. Can ya tell I'm just a little excited?!