At 7am, Jo & John Kinser knocked on our door to say goodbye. They would be leaving with the rest of the WOW participants (those who signed up) for the tour to several major cities in China, ending in Beijing. We had spent close to 7 days in the same quarters with them & now consider them our friends. I hate goodbyes.... BUT! thank goodness for the world wide web. We'll be able to stay in touch :)
At about 10am Soo arrived and after depositing her luggage in the apartment, we headed to our favourite restaurant for brunch.
The front of the restaurant
Delicious meats beckoning passers-by to step-in for a meal
The interior. There's a staircase on the right leading to the upper floor.
Hmmm....what should we try today? Choices, choices, choices.....
We wrapped up lunch at about eleven-ish. Went back to the apartment unit to collect our luggage & then came downstairs to arrange our checkout. It had been a pleasant stay. Allan asked the person at the counter how much they usually rented out the place, but was told they do not normally rent it on a daily basis. All units are for monthly rental only. We had thought to stay here again should we return for a visit to Shanghai. Looks like we'd have to look elsewhere for lodgings.
At the entrance, the security guard helped order us a taxi via his wireless. He has seen us going in and out for the past few days but we never had a chance to chat. While waiting for the taxi to arrive, Allan chatted with him and found that he had taken on many jobs before this, one of them being a baker. His goal is to earn enough money to take back to his village (I forget where now) to start his own business selling motorised bicycles (they're very common here). A man with a goal. Good for him & we wish him every success.
Me & Wu Yuet Tong (the guard)
The 3 of us had decided earlier to experience the speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. We got a taxi to Shanghai South Railway Station. The entire station is round in shape, not the usual square or rectangle. It looked very modern & very much like the interior of an airport terminal. There were lots & lots of people. My husband once remarked that in Shanghai you're never ever alone. At any one time, there are at least 5 to 10 people around you....lol.
Busy, busy, busy....
Ticket counters. Long queue for each & every counter.
It was 12:30pm and the next available train to Hangzhou was at slightly past 3pm. All seats between 12 and 3pm were sold out. We had about 3hours to kill. We browsed through the shops, bought some snacks and drinks & chit-chatted till it was time to board the train.
There is no queue system in China. It is every man/woman for himself. When the gates opened for the passengers to take the stairs or elevator down to the railway line one floor below, everyone rushed forward. We didn't understand why since our ticket has got seat numbers printed on it so we were assured of a seat. A little later on, we found out the reason for the mad rush.
The train has many carriages to cater for the huge number of passengers (so it is quite a distance from one end to the other), but only so much waiting/boarding time before it must depart punctually & on the dot. Our carriage (No. 6) was right at the front. The elevator had deposited us at around the teens. We dragged our luggages along looking for our number all the time wondering why people were hurrying past us. Then we heard the whistle & the conductor waving for us to hurry. It was a universal language....no translation was needed to tell us that the train was closing its doors soon & leaving! I was still at carriage 10, and there were two carriages to each number! I must have broken my own record for the 100 metre sprint (with my luggage in tow) LOL!
Soo & Allan were behind me but I didn't look back. I just concentrated on pushing ahead & getting into my carriage before the doors closed on me. I managed to get into No. 6 and only then did I look back for them. Panic gripped me when they were nowhere in sight. Calm down I told myself, they must have gotten into one of the carriages before No. 6 and they're making their way through the carriages right now.
I looked for my seat & waited for them, all the while panting due to the recent exertion & adrenalin surge. True enough, and to my relief, they appeared as the train was pulling out of the station. Phew! what an experience! Quite funny now on hindsight.
View from the train
The interior. Seats were comfortable & clean
The highest recorded speed of the train
The drama over, we could now sit back & doze for a bit until we arrive at Hangzhou Station in approximately 1 hour & 45 minutes.
Part 2: Arrival in Hangzhou
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