A small delegation from our hosts in Huzhou, led by Madame Hui Qin Li, Vice President of the Overseas Friendship Association of Huzhou City, met us at Pudong Airport. They greeted us warmly, then loaded us and our luggage on a minibus and drove us to Huzhou. This was the beginning of our introduction to the tremendous hospitality of our hosts throughout the trip.
As we would discover during the trip, the minibus was a common mode of transportation for delegations visiting industrial parks, enterprises (businesses), and traveling to meetings. Almost immediately upon boarding, we were given a bottle of water. Generally, we - the guests - were given the seats just inside the door, and the hosts sat in the back of the bus. The host's appointed translator sat with or near us to help provide an introduction to the area, answer our questions, and to translate questions and remarks directed to us.
The trip from Pudong Airport - located outside Shanghai - to Huzhou took about 2 and a half hours - r
ather than the hour and a half we were told it would take. The trafffic was relatively light and most of the other vehicles on the road were trucks. We took a modern highway past rice paddies, farmers houses, and a lot of open fields planted with crops. Tired as we were, we tried to take it all in while our hosts told us about the area, which is located in the delta of the Yangtze River. As we turned off the highway, a special landscape display told us we had reached the city of Huzhou.
We arrived in Huzhou during evening rush hour. Though a small city, we could see the vitality as we drove toward our hotel, which seemed to be in the heart of downtown. There were cars, buses, small trucks, bicycles, motorbikes and people sharing the road as we inched along.
There didn't seem to be room for the minibus to pull into the driveway at the hotel - the Zheibei Hotel - but the driver didn't hesitate. Somehow he manuvered the bus through the chaos of cars and people to the front door of the hotel without coming into contact with anything. We were greeted like royalty, handed our room keys and escorted upstairs. We were told that our luggage would be delivered soon. We were nearly late for dinner, so they took care of the check-in process for us - something that surprised even Jinshui. We had about forty minutes to prepare for our first dinner in China.
As we would discover during the trip, the minibus was a common mode of transportation for delegations visiting industrial parks, enterprises (businesses), and traveling to meetings. Almost immediately upon boarding, we were given a bottle of water. Generally, we - the guests - were given the seats just inside the door, and the hosts sat in the back of the bus. The host's appointed translator sat with or near us to help provide an introduction to the area, answer our questions, and to translate questions and remarks directed to us.
The trip from Pudong Airport - located outside Shanghai - to Huzhou took about 2 and a half hours - r
ather than the hour and a half we were told it would take. The trafffic was relatively light and most of the other vehicles on the road were trucks. We took a modern highway past rice paddies, farmers houses, and a lot of open fields planted with crops. Tired as we were, we tried to take it all in while our hosts told us about the area, which is located in the delta of the Yangtze River. As we turned off the highway, a special landscape display told us we had reached the city of Huzhou.We arrived in Huzhou during evening rush hour. Though a small city, we could see the vitality as we drove toward our hotel, which seemed to be in the heart of downtown. There were cars, buses, small trucks, bicycles, motorbikes and people sharing the road as we inched along.
There didn't seem to be room for the minibus to pull into the driveway at the hotel - the Zheibei Hotel - but the driver didn't hesitate. Somehow he manuvered the bus through the chaos of cars and people to the front door of the hotel without coming into contact with anything. We were greeted like royalty, handed our room keys and escorted upstairs. We were told that our luggage would be delivered soon. We were nearly late for dinner, so they took care of the check-in process for us - something that surprised even Jinshui. We had about forty minutes to prepare for our first dinner in China.
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