Goodbye Shanghai Hello Hangzhou

Well we are now in Hangzhou. I am a bit crabby, I thought I should warn you now! Let me go back and try to paint a picture of what our day has turned out like. Remember, I am crabby...

Bobo picked us up for our final van ride in Shanghai. We just loved her and I asked her if she could just come along with us to Hangzhou and be our guide. That is not the way things work this time. Bummer. We get to the train station, which is a huge mass of people everywhere as you can imagine. In China it is always a huge mass of people everywhere, then add to it being a weekend, and the thought of getting off the van with our luggage was a little nerving. Thankfully Bobo told us she would be taking us onto the train and helping us find our seats, so no worries. No worries, till we have to get our luggage through the train station, which involved at least 1000 steps down along the way. At least she carried one of the 3 suitcases. The smallest one of course, but better than nothing. We make it onto the train, and then comes the task of getting our luggage into the overhead bins. BIG luggage, little bins. Only white people on the train. So Mark is lifting this 2 ton suitcase up over his head, and the people around us are trying not to stare at the bald white man breaking out a sweat as he heaves it up there. Ok, so they were totally trying to stare and laughing their heads off! ;0) I am convinced he is going to drop it on someones head in the process and that is just going to help on the 1 1/2 hour train ride to have all the chinese people ticked off at the stupid americans who obviously way overpacked! Thankfully we got that done, Bobo runs off the train with a DO NOT GET OFF THE PLATFORM IN HANGZHOU, wait for your guide. Train starts moving, and does it move in the direction I am facing? Oh no, it starts rolling BACKWARDS. And it goes fast. And have I mentioned that I can tend to get a little car sick sometimes? Or the fact that we did not eat lunch because we had starbucks hot chocolate and were not really hungry when we had to leave for the train but now I am hungry? or that the train was hot and stuffy? Or that someone sprayed perfume so it was smelly and strong? So I am trying to enjoy the beautiful country side that is China, and I am thinking, I have sure spent alot of time alone with the Lord while in vehicles in China. In the taxis, Please Lord, keep me safe. Now I am praying Oh Lord PLEASE do not let me puke all over this train. I found the barf bag and Mark is telling me, Please do not throw up on this train, you think you are being stared at now? Think about what they will say about you if you do THAT! Thankfully we made it to the station with out any puke, praise the Lord!
We get off the train, last might I add. Everyone on that train was concerned about why we were not getting off. They kept saying Hangzhou, and pointing outside. I am thinking, for your safety, get off this train before we pull that suitcase down!! We get our luggage get off the train and stand on the platform. By ourselves, with no one who appears to be looking for us. Sigh... So we venture on down more steps and finally see our name on a piece of paper. Peter, our guide in Hangzhou. On a side note, what is the deal with guys and purses in China? Or long fingernails? They are not girly looking purses, but to me it looks like a purse. It is very interesting. And the nails? Things that make you go hmmm.. Poor Peter was very confused because the Chisums were not with us (Leighs family) but they had a later train. As we are walking he says so tomorrow we meet your daughter. I know Jin Cong. It was just sweet. I guess he was Angi's guide when she was here in June getting Autumn, and he met Jin Cong at the orphanage.
On our way he points out some streets near our hotel where we can get food. We ask if he can recommend anything. He thinks for a minute and says, everything is good. Well that is helpful, thank you!
We walk into the lobby of the hotel and it is CRAZY. Wedding party, some huge meeting, people everywhere, smoke everywhere, I did not get a good feeling. He checks us in and I ask for a lakeview king bed. He says they said, no lake view and 2 twin beds. Argh.. He sends us up to our room so he can go back to get Leigh. We get off the elevator on our floor and again, people everywhere and the smoke is so thick I can barely see! Also remember, I am hungry, I was carsick, I am tired and I am just crabby. So we walk into the room along w/ 2 people rushing in w/ our crib, another w/ our luggage and we can't all fit in the room because it is about the size of my pantry at home. I take a look around and the smell of smoke is overwhelming and I tell Mark, I can not stay here. I am sorry, i can't do this. I walk over to the window to look out (the window is wide open) and if I wanted, I can literally step out on the roof. It is so small we can't even walk with all our luggage in the room. So we go downstairs to ask if they have larger rooms. He says he will show me a suite, but we have to have our agent book it. We look at the suite, which is a lakeview might I add with a king bed. I look out the window and ask the girl where the lake is? She points to the trees? Now I know I am in a different country, but I thought a lake was a lake and trees were trees no matter where you went? Maybe not. So we are supposed to call our travel agent, but of course I did not ask for a cell number of our guide. Thankfully we got a hold of someone, figure out the price, decide we will spend the money, and go downstairs to wait for Peter and Leigh. They pull in, and he tells me I can have the suite but have to move out for one night during our stay because all suites booked one night. AS IF that would be easy with a 2 year old who is going to be traumatized enough tomorrow! I was desperate, and tried every way I could think of to get him to figure out how to help me. But it was not his fault. We are stuck with our room. We walked up with Leigh to see her suite, and since she has 5 people and her room is not much bigger than ours, we all just finally had to laugh, or cry. So we figure misery loves company, we can whine about our rooms together and stay outside as much as possible!
We decide to head out to dinner to any of the places to eat, because according to our guide, they are all good! And they might be, if the menus were in english. So we finally decide on pizza hut because we are desperate, it is late and WE ARE GETTING OUR GIRLS TOMORROW! It was the only menu we could read to.
Mark and I wandered around after dinner looking for somewhere to get soda, snacks for Mavery etc. It is a busy place here, and again we are the only ones not chinese. We had fun shopping at a little store and me trying to find these rice cookies for Mavery. They did not know any english, but wanted to sell me the entire store I am pretty sure!
After dinner, and after unpacking the room and getting more settled, I feel better. It is small, it is by far the worst room I have been in while we have stayed in China. My brother would throw in a "spoiled" here, but let me tell you, we are paying more for this than our suite in Hunan from our last trip! The smoke smell is bad, the beds are harder than hard. To bathe Mavery I will have to be in the tub with her because the bathroom is that small. But..
We are in Hangzhou! We meet in the lobby at 930AM and we head over to Mavery. So no matter what, we will be ok. It is only 5 nights and then we move to the White Swan, and we know we like that hotel! ;-) Even with what I am spending there I will be very happy.
The internet here seems bad, so I hope we can get pictures up quick tomorrow, but it is taking awhile tonight. I know that Peter said we would be at the "office" for quite a while after we meet Mavery to do the paperwork. Then I am not sure if we come straight back or what. I have one more post to go tonight, but wanted to add our day first. Sorry if I sound whiny, I really am! You should try being here with me! hehe! Hey, i am about to give birth, I deserve a moment to whine don't I? Ha!