The trip...

October 4 – The trip started out fine with a nice flight from Portland into New York City. But upon landing at Laguardia it took a decided turn when the 8 year old boy sitting next to me decided to throw up all over himself, fortunately missing me in the process. And it would only get worse, as evidenced by the next leg between New York and Chicago, in which the American Airlines flight was cancelled.
The American agent was very helpful in rebooking me onto United’s similar flight to Shanghai via Chicago. He even took the trouble to retrieve my bag off the American flight and bring it over to UA so they could put it into their system. A problem arose however because the second leg, Chicago to Shanghai, had been overbooked, leaving me to be on standby after landing in Chicago. But before facing that dilemma we had to sit on the tarmac in New York for about four hours because a bad weather front was moving thru Chicago and the airport had called a “:ground stop” for all incoming flights.
We finally reached Chicago and by then of course the flight to Shanghai had already left without us. So we had to wait in line (actually three subsequent lines because the United people were so badly organized) to get rebooked for about fours altogether, after which it was about 8 pm central time. While in line I made the acquaintance of two oriental ladies, one from Burlington and one from New York. The one from New York was also traveling to Shanghai and we later found ourselves together all the way to down town Shanghai.
Upon finally reaching the head of the line to a United agent that I presumed could help me, she tossed me off back to American because her own people had erroneously accepted my earlier rebooking from American. Needless to say I was by now very angry and I almost went off on the poor lady. To make matters worse, in the confusion over the issue, she inadvertently kept my ticket jacket with my bag claim check that United had given me and I didn’t discover the fact until I had made my way to a different terminal in which American was located.
By now, about 9 pm, the lines at American had dissipated, and they were very helpful in rebooking me onto their corresponding flights to Shanghai on the following morning. Having now discovered the bag check being missing I made my way back to the United terminal to look for it, but of course the United agent had now also gone missing. So I got the number from the United baggage service people so that if it went missing in Shanghai I could at least have something to trace it.
The American agent in New York, anticipating me having a problem when I reached Chicago, had authorized a hotel room for me if needed. But with the big upset in the schedules due to the weather, all of their rooms had been claimed by the time I was ready to claim mine. So I made my way to the hotel booking kiosk to find a room, and after a few tries, I had to settle for a room at Days Inn near O Hare. Not a bad place if you don’t mind the White Castle restaurant, adult book stores, and drug dealing activities being nearby. And of course they were out of toiletries, such as tooth paste. But after a shower and change of underwear, I was ready to face the next day, probably only having to worry about my main suitcase not making it to Shanghai.
All in all a really bad day at the airports, but so typical of traveling these days!
October 5 – The American flight to Shanghai went very smoothly, with the service being very good. The seat was not particularly comfortable but the food wasn’t too bad. I was seated next to the same oriental lady from New York, who had booked into that seat separately by mere coincidence. Unfortunately, the bag from United did not get onto the American flight, a fact made known to me earlier, so upon arrival in Shanghai I had to wait an hour or so for the United flight to land.
The airport in Shanghai is relatively new and is remarkable in its similarity to the airport in Singapore. I am sure the Chinese copied many of their features from the Singaporeans. While waiting near the head of the queue for a taxi the oriental lady from New York, who had been at the tail of the queue, asked if she could cut in line and share my taxi, offering to pay the fare as an inducement, an offer I couldn’t refuse of course. And it proved helpful in speaking to the taxi driver in order to direct him to my hotel. I arrived about 6 pm local time.
The hotel is very nice but I had a bad experience with the bellboy. Finding that I was in China for the first he scammed me with one of the oldest tricks in the book, one that I had heard about long ago but had since forgotten, and one I was too tired to discover until it was too late. He handed me seven US quarters and asked if I could take them in return for their Chinese equivalent. Anticipating that I would have only large RMB bills (100 RMB in this case, about 12.50 US) to do so, he would give me change in smaller RMB bills. But of course the smaller RMB bills were from an earlier edition and are no longer in service, and with me being unfamiliar with the nature of the bills, it was buyer beware. So I was out about 10 bucks.
This hotel is in the central shopping district, an area called the “Bund”. At night it is similar to the Ginza in Tokyo but it is not as large, not as bright, and not as clean. The architecture here is not particularly interesting, they seem to have an interest in illuminating the top portion of their taller buildings, so much so that it gives a gaudy effect. I went for a long walk in the area and it was very crowded with people, this day being one of their important national holidays. Nevertheless all the stores appeared to be open. Being a westerner I was approached numerous times in the street by strangers, some selling copy watches or something similar, but most selling sex, or perhaps scamming by claiming to sell sex. In any case, with the above mentioned experience with the bell boy I was not about to enter into any such discussions. I had an ice cream cone and then a beer, hoping to stay up long enough to overcome the time change. Shanghai is exactly 12 hours time differential from eastern time USA.
October 7 – This was a day of rest and relaxation waiting for my work companions to arrive from the USA. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was very good, but maybe a little expensive. I found a good rice shop at lunch time and ordered one of my favorite dishes, string beans zsechuan style. It was better than any of the ones we have tried in the USA. I enjoyed it so much that I went back later for dinner and the cashew chicken was equally good. Both dishes were also very inexpensive, maybe $12 or so total for two meals, including a beer. I spent most of the day out walking and taking photos. I had particular fun with some of the strangers and street people that I met. The only negative of the day was the surprise that the hotel does not have direct access from my computer to the internet, either wireless or direct cable. They only have access in the business center using their computers, making my communications almost useless because I could not get into our office e mail system. My companions arrived safely late in the day and we made arrangements to meet in the morning and transfer me to another hotel closer to the factory.