Shanghai 15 Days

Aug 17 – Arrive in Shanghai after a long journey across the Pacific. Wen Jie Xi was also on the plane to visit her sick father. The plane lands at about 6:00 pm local time and we clear customs by 7pm. Lulu is not there but luckily Wen’s sister-in-law is there so I can call Lulu. Lulu finally arrives at the airport and we jump into a taxi to head back to the condo before meeting her cousins for dinner. We go back to the condo and I take a shower. After 14 hours on the plane, I needed to scrub my body to get the clean feeling again. We have dinner with Lulu’s cousins who help Lulu with traveling from Bengbu to Shanghai. It is my first time to see Vince. He is so dark and small at first glance. So strange to look at my son and wonder.

Aug 18 – We head to the American Consulate in Shanghai early in the morning in order to get the most important thing taken care of which is to get Vince a US Passport. We head there and have breakfast at McDonalds, then we head to the Consulate. We see many Chinese waiting in line and are worried when Lulu tells the guard I am an American citizen they speed us to the beginning of the line. Wow what a feeling as a US citizen. We go to the American Citizen Services area and are directed to fill out the paperwork, then a consular officer came over swore us to the truth and 10 minutes later we were done. Then we had to wait since they said the passport could take 10 business days. They would email us when it was ready. Let the waiting begin.

Aug 20 – We head to the train station to travel to Hangzhou while waiting for the passport to get processed. Arriving at the train station, it is a mad house, screaming shouting all from one Chinese to another. We buy first class tickets and travel in comfort to Hangzhou. The train ride is about 1 hour and 20 minutes which is way quicker than the old train. Arriving in Hangzhou, the wait for the taxi was almost 30 minutes and it was in an underground tunnel. After getting in to the taxi we head to the hotel which was a really nice 5 star hotel. We head to ChaMate for dinner and enjoy dinner with dessert Bao Bing.

Aug 21 – We wake up and plan to head to the mountains. First we go to grab breakfast and during this time I think I ate something bad. I knew after a little while I was not feeling well. We went back to the room to rest planning to grab a little lunch and then head into the mountains for some hiking. After lunch I felt ill so we headed back to the hotel. That evening I wanted American style food so we went to eat at the hotel where I ordered a steak sandwich. That evening I got even more sick … food poisoning.

Aug 22 – Today we are supposed to head back to Shanghai, I am sick, with a fever, stomach ache and diarrhea. We go to Sailin’s house for lunch where I have no appetite. While there we check Lulu’s email and were greeted with good news. Vince’s passport was ready for pickup. We were so happy and jumping up and down hugging each other. After lunch we head to Kerry and Yi Beng’s home in the suburbs. It is a really nice place and we spend the afternoon there. Later we go to dinner and after dinner I get the chills really bad. I start shaking from it and we head back to Kerry’s home to wait for a taxi. While there I was feeling horrible.
When we got back to the condo, Lulu checked my temp and it was 39.8 C which was high enough that Lulu was worried. She took me to the hospital. At the hospital they made me pay 20 Yuan to check my temperature, then 18 to see the doctor, then 18 to test my blood and finally another 41 for my shot and medicines. Considering it was quite crowded with many sick people, I was lucky to get done so quickly. Oh the kicker the shot they gave me was in my ass.

Aug 23 – Went out to dinner with Lulu’s co-workers from Ritz Tours. We had dinner at a nice restaurant with her co-workers that I had met once before when they came to the US. Afterwards Lulu's co-worker drove us back to the condo.

Aug 25 – Went to consulate to pickup passport for Vince. Afterwards we went over to the exit-entry bureau in order to get Vince an exit visa. After some work, we were able to get the paperwork required and will return two days later to get the visa.

Aug 27 - We go out to dinner with Lulu's co-workers from her first job. The retired director has me seated next to him as a seat of honor. If course that meant I had to drink this horrible yellow rice wine ... talk about moonshine. Later on I switch to red wine but get pretty good and buzzed at the end of the night. After dinner we are taken home by director's personal driver.

Aug 28 - We go out to dinner at a nice restaurant with friends, walk down to the Bunde and get some dessert. The river has many nice spots and little shops to eat at.

Sep 1 - We get up early to finish packing for our return trip to the US. We arrive early at the airport and get some lunch at KFC. It took a little while to checkin as our luggage was overweight. We take off and land in Los Angeles 12 hours later. US CBP give Lulu trouble for her expired green card and we end up spending an extra 45 minutes waiting for her to clear customs. We finally arrive home around 4PM and Justin does not recognize either one of us at first.