Arrived in Hangzhou

After a 12+ hr flight to Shanghai, a 1 hr bus to the train station, a 2 hr wait at the train station, a 2.5 hr train ride, and a short taxi ride to our hotel, Gord and I have arrived and are drained.

The flight was like any other flight with pushy Chinese people kicking your seat every 4 minutes. The bus ride was longer than expected. But it was the train ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou that took the cake for the worst part of the travel. The train was dirty; the "soft seats" were sold out, so we settled for the cramped "hard seats"; we were squished like sardines into a booth with 3 other Chinese; the light blue and red decor was awful; the people were pushy, even though the seats were pre-assigned; and my ass hurt after about 1.5 hrs on that leg of the journey.

It's funny traveling with a white man. Chinese people LOVE to stare at him. But they don't just look at him. Usually, they do a full-body up-and-down with the eyes. It kind of scares me. And then I speak English to him, and they all stare at me for a while before focusing their attention back at him.

I'm glad to be settled into my hotel. The Internet access works far better than at the hotel I stayed at in Shenzhen. This hotel, Radisson, is also a cut above the Holiday Inn (Shenzhen). They have fancy amenities like piping the audio from the TV to the washroom, and a walk-in shower that can easily fit 10 people semi-comfortably (not all of them would get water, of course)... that's on top of a bathtub.

After all the travel, and no proper dinner, I've ordered in some Room Service (Singapore noodles and satay pork) and pulled a drink out of the mini-bar. Big pimpin', I know. I know.

Tomorrow, the work starts.

Kevin, signing off from China... the place where people can wear suits and still look like bums.