Surviving my own Amazing Race in China

[2Epcot]

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

This would only be my second trip to China, having made my first in 2005, so I was looking forward to seeing a lot of new places this time. Though I really wanted another trip to Hong Kong Disney, it couldn't be worked in the schedule. Our schedule was tight, and put us in a different place almost every night. We covered a lot of ground in a short time making it sort of a race to get everywhere we wanted, though still very enjoyable. Beginning the trip through China I needed first to meet up with my wife who had already been there for a week on business. Her second week would just be a vacation. Our plan is to meet in Hong Kong, with me leaving from Los Angeles. Surviving this race required navigating quite a few hazards. This trip was mainly to meet my wife's family (most of whom I've never met, and couldn't make it to the U.S. for our wedding) as we look forward to celebrating our one year anniversary in December.

The first leg required me to get to Hong Kong through San Francisco. I almost didn't make the LA flight because I could not find this new parking garage I decided to use near LAX. Choosing a brand new place to park was not a good choice considering I had to make this fight. I didn’t want to have to call my wife who was supposed to meet me at the Hong Kong airport and tell her I missed my flight, and put us way behind. After getting directions via cell phone I finally go the car parked and barely made the flight to San Francisco then onto Hong Kong.

When I arrive in Hong Kong now about 6pm in the evening local time, we immediately took a bus to the Chinese mainland border where we then transferred to a van at the entry port. Shenzhen is a rather large industrial and business city on the southern end of China. Once we arrived at our beautiful 5 star hotel we found a quick meal. One thing I made sure to do this time around in China to insure my survival was to be very careful about what I ate and drink. My experience last time lasted long after I returned to the US. We found a good meal, then off to bed at the hotel for our first of many pit stops.

Our second leg of the trip began the next morning where we traveled by taxi to the Shenzhen airport. Before getting on the plane we stopped at the airport Starbucks (they’re everywhere) for a quick snack and drink. We then flew to Hangzhou China (often called the most beautiful city in China). This would be my first time taking a domestic flight in China. I was a little nervous at first, but the service was great, I actually felt like I was going back 20 years. We actually had a hot meal on a 2 hour flight.

We arrived in Hangzhou where we were picked up by my wife's brother. Living in Los Angeles I'm used to bad driving, but nothing compared to what I was about to experience. This is not to knock my brother-in-law; he just drives like almost everyone else does. The trip from Hangzhou to Jinhua was about a 90 min drive, though it seemed longer. The route was heavily traveled by trucks and cars which everyone seemed to be in quite a hurry. I saw trucks carrying all sorts of things, though the most interesting was an open truck stacked high with crates full of live dogs. That was kind of sad to see, wondering what their fate might be. The freeway is only two lanes in each direction, but that didn’t stop people from using the right side emergency lane as a passing lane. There, horns aren’t just used occasionally, they are used to let another car know you are passing them … so stay out of the way … or get-out-of-my-way, you’re moving too slow. In other words, horns were a plenty during this drive. Once we got closer to the city the bikes and motorized scooters join the mix, with scooters out numbering cars probably 6 to 1. Trucks honk at cars, cars honk at scooters, scooters and bikes honk at pedestrians and so do cars for that matter. If you’re walking and see a car coming, assume they are not stopping. Usually a car will let a pedestrian know they are in their way

We survived the drive, and arrived at my brother-in-law’s house where we were quickly served food my wife’s parents. I then met more and more family as they came over after they heard we had arrived. This was followed by another adventurist trip through the streets of Jinhua to an outdoor market. There almost anything imaginable in food was being sold. That evening we had sort of a formal dinner with the entire family at a nice restaurant in the city. My brother-in-law put us in a nice hotel in the city for the evening, since his place was full with other relatives.

Day two in Jinhua City, we got up and had breakfast there at home. Part of my meal included taking my airborne to stay healthy on the trip. My 10 year old Chinese nephew was fascinated by this, and had to try it. He said it tasted like soda. My wife had decided to stay with her mom and sisters while my task, a detour I guess, took me off alone from her with my brother-in-law and nephews to one of the largest movie studios in China. Having a love for film this was a great task. My wife wanted to spend some time at home, though this task was somewhat difficult in that my Chinese is limited, and the three people I was with only spoke Chinese. A beautiful trip through the Chinese country side brought us to Hengdian World Studios. Many Chinese movies and TV productions have been filmed there, including the film "Hero" and the up coming "Mummy 3". The studio has large scale sets and open areas for palace or fortress settings all the way to dozens and dozens of smaller outdoor sets to resemble Chinese villages and town to shoot films. The studio also has some soundstages one of which is the largest and most technical stage in Asia. There were lots of tour groups there. We visited the larger part first before going to lunch. A little fear factor set in that I was going to eat with my in-laws and could not really communicate what I like and don’t like. As I mentioned, I am being overly cautious on this trip about what I eat since I got sick the last time in China, and here I was without my wife to translate my choices….

To Be Continued …

[SBETigg]

Wow, Chris, great report. It all sounds so fascinating! (I'm not going to think about the dogs, either)Thanks for sharing.

[2Epcot]

Wow, Chris, great report. It all sounds so fascinating! (I'm not going to think about the dogs, either)Thanks for sharing.

I also saw a truck like that with pigs, but seeing the dogs didn't quite seem right. At the very least it didn't seem like a great way to transport them.