Planes and Trains
I question whether this blog post is even necessary. It seems like our adventure to Hangzhou from Shanghai happened YEARS ago but I suppose I'll record it for memories sake. And it was a pretty crazy time.
Summary: We make it to China. But now have to figure out how to get from Shanghai to Hangzhou, via subway or train or taxi we weren't quite sure. All we knew was where we were and where we needed to go. Simple.
As we were waiting to board the plane suddenly the gravity of what was about to happen started to sink in...
But the flight went well! It sailed by actually. We slept, watched movies, slept, mom walked around the plane and checked on everyone a few times... we were very grateful to finally be getting somewhere. At cruising altitude with the gentle hum of jet engines flying us around the world.
At last we landed in Shanghai. The best part was seeing our 11 bags riding the conveyor belt around and around. Success! We made it to China. We were all tired, hungry and dehydrated and our journey had just begun. We had no cell service or WiFi. On the airplane, mom was able to communicate with her work people in China through WeChat. Without WiFi she couldn’t even do that. All we knew is we needed to get to the Hongqiao High Speed Train (HST) station to take a train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. We had no idea where the train station was OR how to get there. We thought maybe we could take the subways from the Pudong airport to HST station. We had five carts full of luggage and dad stayed behind while the rest of the gang walked toward Mc Donalds. Disgraceful I know. Come half way around the world and eat at McDonald’s? No thanks but it was the only restaurant familiar to us. Mom's phone was dead so she sat at a charging station while the others tried to get food.
An airport worker named Tian came back with us. She said there is no way we can take the subway with our massive amount of baggage, the crowds simply wouldn't let us on. She was able to hook us up with two mini vans to take us to the HST station. She contacted her drivers and says it will cost 350 Yuan (7Yuan/1 USD) each. We needed two. 3 people in one van plus half the luggage and 3 people in the other van with the other half. We brought 5000 RMB with us to get us through our first few days before we set up banking. The first time we used it was to pay for our mini vans from Shanghai to the HST station.
We were loaded and feeling good. Dad was in one van with Jules and Paige and Mom, Reese, and Audge were in the other. Once everything was loaded our driver no joke peeled out, sped over the speed bumps in the parking lot and hit the road like a stunt driver. Leaving mom and the others behind. I watched as the color drained from Dad's face. Then I realized that we, a) had NO way of communicating with Mom and the others b) Weren't sure if the drivers had arranged where to drop us all off and c) had no way of clarifying any of these questions with the driver because we don't speak Chinese. (yet) So we just prayed silently for the hour and twenty minute drive. Every second possibly taking us further and further from our family.
The driver dropped us off. We waited. Three tall Americans with six giant suitcases just chillin' on the sidewalk. This Chinese man kept trying to get our baggage on his cart and take us where we wanted to go. We tried to tell him we were waiting for others. But he just sorta hovered nearby, offering every few minutes his cart and stretch straps.
We waited about 15 minutes like that. The giant drop-off platform stretched for what seemed like miles in both directions. They could be anywhere. We were in quiet despair wondering where the other half of our family could be. Finally, I decided to just start walking down the long cement platform watching both sides to see if I could find them. Gratefully, after just a few yards I saw their van pull up on the other side and watched as they unloaded. Relief flooded through us as we regathered and began hashing a plan of what to do.
Almost instantly after we regrouped the bag caddies started taking our bags and stacked them masterfully on their little carts. After using good 'ol Google translate we negotiated paying ¥120 per cart of bags. It seemed like a lot at the time and Mom & Dad wondered if this would be our first experience with white tax. But our bag caddies were very helpful, showing us how to buy tickets for the train, using his phone number to get wifi on Mom's phone so she could communicate with Evelyn and Shirley (co-workers), we absolutely could not have done it with out them. Also translating apps are divine. Lesson learned: when attempting to navigate public transportation in a new place do not hesitate to pay UP for someone to help you figure it out. It was worth every penny.
As we rode on the high speed train Mom was starting to have everything sink in. "What are we doing here?" "What have I gotten my family into?". Negative thoughts and feelings started to invade. To make it worse Reese asked, "why did we leave Highland, Utah again?" But neither Mom or Dad could answer him because they were asking the same question. Somehow we got off at the right stop, but Mom no longer had wifi at the Hangzhou station, which is where we planned to meet Shirley and Evelyn. But how? We didn’t know what they looked like or have any way to tell them we had arrived. We walked out of the train platform into the arrival area. Shirley walked right up to us and asked if we are for Better Kids. Yes! Well, That was easy. They rented a bus to transport all of our bags and our family to the XiXi (pronounced she-she) district about an hour drive from the train station where mom’s work is and where we would look for an apartment.
Those next few days were a bit of a mess. We lived in our two hotel rooms, the kids would watch movies, play cards, and read; trying to kill time while Mom and Dad were out setting up bank accounts, getting their phones to work on China's network, health checks at the hospital so we can get residence permits, and well that's really it. Everything just takes a really long time here. Lots of details to iron out as we try to integrate into an entirely different way of living.
The hotel was located near all kinds of other random businesses. A salon, a cross fit gym, grocery stores, a floral shop, lots of restaurants (including KFC and MceeDees) and a fruit store. We made trips to the "Ali Cat" store multiple times a day for water and snacks. They sell bao zi (steamed bun stuffed with assorted goodness) which we ate at least twice a day the whole three days we stayed in the hotel. Pretty sure the store clerks we starting to worry about us. But now they know exactly which ones we like and we're all pals so that's cute I guess.
Dad and I went to look at apartments on our second or third day. That was an adventure in itself, we will make a post/video about it next. The start was simple yet extremely complex. Exciting but not extraordinary. This was the first time we started to realize that life here in China would still just be LIFE. And that was comforting.
"A man who can not tolerate small misfortunes can never accomplish great things." —Chinese Proverb