Friday March 25, 2016

Whoever took the over on “number of hotels we would be staying at today” please collect your winnings.

Another day, another bullet train ride. This time our rail journey took us from Olivia’s hometown of Hangzhou to Aelex’s alma mater of Nanjing. But quite a bit happened on the fringes. Let me tell you all about it. As is my wont.

As mentioned yesterday, we — and by “we” I of course mean Dorothy as I did absolutely nothing at all to help — managed to establish contact with the journalist who had filmed a documentary about Olivia’s life in the orphanage prior to our adoption of her. He agreed to meet us at some point today in order to see Olivia again and to film a follow up piece on her development since the last time he saw her 10 years ago. To our pleasant surprise he and his cameraman met us in the lobby of our hotel this morning as we were checking out before a few hours of last minute sight seeing in Hangzhou until it was time to board the train for Nanjing.

The reunion was friendly and warm, facilitated by Yolanda’s patiently superlative translation skills. Dorothy certainly put them to the test as she peppered Mr. Kong (the journalist) with many questions about Olivia’s early life which he happily answered as best he could. He also showed us several pictures of Olivia in the years before we adopted her, which we had obviously never seen, as well as a few videos of her in the orphanage (and prior to her surgeries) which were just this side of heart-rending. He vowed to share these artifacts with us and know this: Dorothy will hold him to his promise.

After catching up, we all ventured out into Hangzhou proper to see a last few sights before leaving town. We started at the home of China’s richest man during the Qing Dynasty which was stunning in its imperial opulence. It was quite amusing to be followed around by a film crew as we toured the grounds, making us as much of an attraction to the tourists as the site itself. Not sure who they thought we were but it was obvious that Olivia was thoroughly enjoying being the center of attention and who were we to begrudge her her moment of fame?

After the rich guy’s house we went to Hefang Street which is a very traditional Chinese market followed by another delicious meal before heading to the train station.

At the train station we again met Mr. Kong and his colleague to say our last minute goodbyes and to extend invitations to come visit us in the States in order to see Olivia in her natural habitat whenever they wished. We also said our farewells to the amazing Yolanda who performed yeoman's work these past few days not only putting up with this bunch of crazy westerners, but did so with great humor and a degree of unflappability that stood out even by Chinese standards.

The train ride between cities was pleasant both in its brevity and uneventfulness. At the station we were met by our latest guide, Denise, who along with our new driver took us to the hotel we were supposed to stay at for the next four days, with “supposed to” being the operative phrase here.

When we drove up to the front of the hotel neither Dorothy nor I were in any way impressed. The place was dingy, the staff disinterested, the surroundings underwhelming to put it mildly. Not wanting to offend however, we both decided to simply take the good with the bad and live with stained carpets, lumpy bed, and questionable clientele for the greater good.

We decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to purchase some supplies which did nothing to improve our impression of the place. Now, for those of you who know Dorothy and myself, you have to be aware that we are both relatively seasoned travelers with a fair idea of the wide scale of hospitality as it differs depending on locales. This place however wasn’t just below standard, there was something genuinely unsettling about it. Still we decided to try and stick it out. That is until the kids came running into our room to tell us about the monster sized cockroach they just found sitting on the desk in their room reading the People’s Daily, smoking one of those noxious Asian cigarettes.

A slight exaggeration perhaps, but very, very slight to be sure. Needless to say, the decision to correct our lodging mistake had been cast; calls were made and wheels put in motion. We managed to track down the local travel agency representative, one Mrs. Wang who — especially considering this was all happening on a Friday night at around 7pm — couldn’t have been more accommodating nor helpful. Several phone calls — and hours — later, we had secured new lodgings at which time Mrs. Wang and her intrepid husband showed up at the low-bar hotel to chauffeur us and our luggage to our new, high-bar, non cockroach infested accommodations. Smiles all around.

By this point the kids were exhausted so we put them to bed while Dorothy and I decided to enjoy the hotel‘s ”authentic” Irish pub. I kid you not. I’ll let your imagination run wild with exactly how the Irish culture gets translated through a Chinese prism, but I will say, we’ve both been in less authentic Irish pubs in our day. Plus they served beer, which really, when you think about it, is all the Irish authenticity any establishment really requires.

So that’s it for today. It’s late and I’m more than a little tired but still up drinking a few glasses of Chinese “Great Wall” wine. Dorothy and I had tried a bottle on one of our previous trips to China, which was not exactly the best vintage we had ever had, but I live and die by the “when in Rome” adage and used it rapier-like to convince Dorothy to give Great Wall another shot. They have either very much improved their winemaking skills, or we are just so frazzled after today’s events that turpentine would taste like divine nectar to us. Either way, everyone is safe and comfortably tucked into their beds. FYI, I’ve been pleading with the rest of the family to please, for the love of god, write something about our trip so that I’m not stuck handling these duties day-in-and-day-out as much for your sanity as for my own. So we’ll see what tomorrow brings, just please don’t let it be any more nicotine addicted insects.

Great times were made for Great Wall wine*…

*Advertising slogan provided to Great Wall Wines™ free of charge.