We had to wake up at 5:00AM in the morning to get ready to pack up all our belongings and check out of our 4-star hotel called Sunshine Hotel in Beijing. We checked out at 6AM and got ourselves onto the bus.

We arrived at the airport around 7AM and the Lin Family (2 adults + kid) and the Wang Family (2 elderly couple) had to catch an Air China flight at 8:30AM. While we had to catch a 9AM flight via China Eastern. So our group separated to get our boarding passes. By the time we met up again, their flight got bumped to 9:30AM. It was Noon before everyone arrived in Shanghai Domestic Airport.

KFC is right outside the airport! (Justin was very happy)

Side Drama for my airplane ticket: My ticket was an E-ticket. They found my name in the computer but my passport ID was wrong. They asked for another form of ID. I said I had a Driver’s License. They said that didn’t count and they needed another form of official ID. Ummm, duh, I asked what they wanted to see? They said they didn’t know, but they wanted to see another form of ID that had my passport ID on it. Well obviously that kind of ID did not exist in the world so they denied me my ticket. Thank goodness our tour guide Anna was there to the rescue. She quickly bought me another $150US ticket and got me on the airplane. We later discovered that the travel agency got William’s passport ID and mine mixed up. But since William had a physical ticket they never bothered to check his passport ID. If this problem happened later on in our trip, there would be no way for me OR William to return to the USA. We would actually have to BUY another ticket just to return. That would have been a $3000 mess. So crises averted there.

Our stops for the days are:

1. Beijing Airport - to fly to Shanghai - flight took 1 hour and 40 minutes
2. Lunch - Ate lunch in Shanghai at a restaurant near the airport
3. Wuxi- new tour bus person picked us up and drove many hours to Wuxi, we also picked up our new tour guide (Sam) on the way too
4. Lake Tai- Big lake in Wuxi with lots of bugs and dragonflies and a poisonous jumbo bee that followed me everywhere
5. Dinner- Ate at an authentic Wuxi restaurant
6. Grocery Shopping- Everyone wanted to try the famous Shui Mi Tao (some famous Chinese giant peach) so we wondered into the LOCAL grocery store. It’s quite an experience. We attracted a LOT of attention. Thank goodness for Ralphs!
7. Headed to Hotel- we got lectured by Sam not to venture out alone on the streets of Wuxi. He told us a lot of stories about what happened to tourists who wondered off OR was flashy with their jewelry and cash. Sam had a great sense of humor while telling the stories, but we knew he was looking out for us. So none of us are wandering off tonight.
8. Hotel- checked into Sujia Business Hotel - this hotel is in the middle of nowhere - next to a lot of ram-shackled buildings. I thought it was a joke when they turned in that direction but it turns out that this section of town hasn’t been renovated yet. Eeek! So we got a glimpse of the new Wuxi early today and we got a glimpse of how Wuxi used to look at night.
9. Blogging - finally I’m blogging on my own computer.

Pictures will be added as soon as the camera battery charges. We need to wake up at 7:30AM tomorrow to have breakfast and go to SuZhou. We will be checking into our new hotel in HangZhou by nightfall tomorrow.

Update: It’s 11PM at night now and we won’t have time to add pictures. Perhaps tomorrow night.

BTW, William just ate those famous Shui Mi Tao (some famous Chinese giant peach). They weren’t as sweet as he thought they would be, so we’re going to hunt for better Shui Mi Tao tomorrow.

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