Day 248 – Hangzhou

We both had classes to teach this morning.  Mine went okay, not as well as yesterday’s lesson, but okay.  We had lunch when we got home and video chatted with Ammon and Kadie for a little bit. 

At 1:30 p.m., Eva came over with a lady from the University’s Insurance department.  We are not sure that they will pay anything toward my hospital bills, but Eva thought it was worth trying to submit them.  We’ll see.  The lady was missing her right hand and a good part of her left hand, but we were amazed at how capable and nimble she was with what she had!

At 3 p.m., Alan’s mom, Ye Hong, came to pick us up and drove us to the Jinan West Train Station.  The traffic was looking pretty heavy for some time, but finally cleared and we made it in plenty of time for our train. 

We had time to get a little get something to eat before the train got here.  Then when they opened the line for us to go to the platform we had about fifteen minutes before the train got there to wait in line for that.

 

Waiting for the high speed train to come at the West Jinan Station

We were a little dismayed to find that our seats were not next to each other, but the guy who was going to take the seat next to David, was kind enough to switch places with me so we could be together.  When someone else came to claim my seat, then he was also kind to switch seats.  One woman came on and she sat wanted to sit in the seat, so I had to go to where my seat was supposed to be and sit there.  She got off a half hour later, and the guy who was to take that seat next to David again was kind and let us sit together. 

The trip from Jinan to Hangzhou was four hours on the high-speed train.  We had nice seats and when you sit in first-class, you get a bottle of water and a box of cookies. 

Once we arrived at the Hangzhou Station, we were unsure of where to go next.  WE needed to get a taxi to take us to the hotel, but we didn’t know which corridor to go to get the taxi.  Several people were offering to take us places for 100-200 RMB, but we had been told that it should only cost around 30-35, so we found the place where you stand in a long line and get the registered taxis.  Had we known that to begin with, we would only have had to stand in line for about a half-hour.  As it was, we stood in line for an hour to get a taxi.  It was a 20-minute ride to get here from the train station, but we are here in the hotel ready for bed.