Well what an interesting time. Left hotel in Hanoi at 5.30am and spent the day traveling. First to Hanoi airport and hour and a bit flight to Guangzhou - what a huge airport. We had to cross from international to domestic and by the time we got through clearance all the other passengers were gone. So we walked and walked and walked for 20 minutes, over two major highways and finally got to the domestic part and the a two hour flight to Chongping.
There we sat and waited for two hours after some mix up with the guide's timetable - finally caught a taxi. The taxi driver was a hoot and as Janet followed our progress on the map he tried to explain things to her as we went - in very broken mix of English and Mandarin. He had turned the ac on for us but then turned it off after a whole explaining that he needed the power to get up the hill! He then lit a cigarette and every now and then hawked and spat out the window!!
Our hotel is impressive in downtown Chongping. Major freeways, tall skyscrapers and new buildings going up everywhere. Our hotel sits next to the mall where designer shops abound -Tiffanies, Gucci, Prado , Armani and the like. our guide was telling us today that in 1980 the spire (check out the photos) in the mall centre was the tallest building but now skyscrapers abound. We are on the 37th floor to get free Internet.
First night dinner went to one of the hotels five restaurants and ordered water for us both to start with. Janet took first sip of hers and got an odd expression on her face - the water was hot.
Our guide took us out today and guess what we saw - pandas. Not just one panda but the zoo had ten!!! This is the second biggest breeder of pandas in China. The guide then very proudly took us to see the kangaroos who are now happily living in China!!!
He ordered lunch for us - I am sure that we must look like we are starving. As we can't possibly eat the quantity of food they produce. This region is noted for its spicy food - really good.
More in the next edition.