Surviving my own Amazing Race in China Pt. 3

**2Epcot** · 11-07-2007, 11:37 AM

Race Stats:
Team of Two: Me and my wife
Length: 8 days - October 25 thru November 2
Places: 6 cities
Transportation: 5 planes, 2 trains, 2 vans, 2 private cars, 1 bus, and numerous taxis

Starting in LA to Hong Kong through Shenzhen China and Shanghai we covered so much in a week I've called it a race. Now back in Hangzhou for the fourth, we are stuck in the longest taxi line I’ve ever seen trying to get to our hotel where my wife’s niece and nephew (who I’ve never met) are waiting for us. The enclosed hallway has lots of smokers, almost impatiently waiting, so smoke was heavy. We probably waited a good 30 min or more after what seemed like forever taxi started streaming in and we were on our way. When we arrived at another beautiful hotel there in Hangzhou, my nephew and niece were waiting, along with a couple of their young friends. We took a taxi to go eat, then stopped at a department store type mall where we met my nephew’s girlfriend and did a little shopping. The stores looked almost like any mall in the U.S. except the customer service was much better. We ended up staying there till the store closed where each of the two or three employees in every department would line the walkway standing at the edge of their department to say a goodbye to the customers as they left the store. We then took an amazing walk along what is called Westlake there in Hangzhou. This is a very beautiful place where tourist and locals alike come to walk and enjoy the lake and park. The evening was quite foggy, so it made the cool evening walk along the water, even more special. We traveled by foot back to the hotel, for a busy planned day of more shopping for our Halloween in China.

The next morning our task was mostly for my wife to buy a new coat, and whatever else she could find. My nephew and his girlfriend met us where we walked to a nearby store. Signs in the store said Happy Halloween in both English and Chinese with a western female as a witch and a jack-o-lantern on the other side of the sign. Various Halloween decorations could be seen in other stores and restaurants as well. The day became a long shopping day, taking a break for lunch a nice tea bar in Hangzhou which also had a buffet. After eating we went back to Westlake where we met up with my niece and enjoyed more walking along the water. We took in a water music show, on a smaller scale then the Bellagio fountains in Vegas, but still nice. One Chinese woman and her friend stopped me along with her teacher and or driver to ask to speak English with me for practice. She told me she comes to this lake just to look for Westerners to practice her English. She spoke well, I didn’t have trouble understanding her, and we had a nice talk. After walking a couple of hours of walking it was getting dark so we took a taxi to a restaurant where he had hot pot. This is where a boiling pot of water sits on your table and you add things to it and cook them on your own right at the table. I’ve done this at friend’s place, but the first time out at a restaurant. On our way back to the hotel we had one last stop at a shopping mall on this Halloween evening where outside, a Halloween costume bash of sorts was taking place. A deejay played music, while people in costumes danced on a stage outside the store. The show grew quite a crowd of locals who seemed to enjoy what appeared to me as mostly westerners along with Chinese dancing on stage, and in front of it, in costume. Dance music blasted at concert level through the streets. We returned to our hotel which would be our final pit stop in Hangzhou before beginning the next leg of our race in the morning.

The next morning we had breakfast in the revolving restaurant at the top of our hotel, before getting in one more shopping trip. This time we walked to the fashion district in Hangzhou, to street line with 200 to 300 small shops, all selling silk garments and clothing. We picked up some Christmas gifts, along with some stuff for ourselves. Along the way, as I had done the entire trip, I found it interesting to see what cars the Chinese liked. The most popular vehicles seemed to be Volkswagen sedans, Honda Civics and Accords, and lots of Buick Sedans. In fact I saw more Buicks in China then I have in several years in the U.S. The most popular luxury cars seemed to be Lexus, BMW and Audi. We then traveled by taxi to the Hangzhou airport where we would fly back to Shenzhen. After arriving in Shenzhen and surviving another long taxi line we arrived at the hotel where we were soon met by another former colleague of my wife, along with her husband and son. We traveled by there private car to a seafood restaurant in town. Another great meal then back to the hotel where we tried to figure out how to get all the appliances back my wife and purchased before I arrived in China. She had bought a rice cooker, a toaster and a coffee maker among smaller things. That in addition to our entire luggage seemed like an impossible task to get everything home.

The next morning we took a taxi to the ferry station in Shenzhen where we took a van back to Hong Kong instead of the ferry ... This allowed us cross back into Hong Kong from mainland China without having to get out of the car, and more importantly not have to remove all of our luggage. We arrive at the Hong Kong International airport needing two luggage carts to get everything checked in. We traveled back on two planes since both were free, my wife’s through work, and mine through credit she had acquired. Plane one (mine) left Hong Kong at 12:30pm, my wife’s was on plane two leaving at 1:30pm. Just enough time to get something to eat before we started our final leg back to Los Angeles. We ate at an airport restaurant where I told my wife I needed to get going to make my flight. She said it shouldn’t take long at all. We got to security and I went through fine, but she was told her two bags were two big to take on the plane. Since one contained the rice cooker which had now been removed from the box she didn’t want to check it. We tried several configurations between both of our carry-ons bags, but it wasn’t going to work. Now things are getting close for me to make my flight … This was starting to look the way my race started with me possibly missing my flight. I felt bad having to leave my wife, but I had to go to get my flight. I wasn’t sure what happened until 11 hours later when we arrived in LA.

Since I arrived first in Los Angeles, I guess that made me sort of the winner of our week long race through China, though all of my wife’s purchases arrived in tact, so she also won. Being only my second trip to China, I still find just about everything fascinating. Next time Beijing and maybe some areas away from the cities where survival is even more challenging. We made a lot of stops in short time, but we finished the race and agreed our next trip to China will be at a much slower pace.