Dispatch: Hangzhou, CN

Ok, so far everything has gone very smoothly. Everybody showed up healthy, happy and excited to be embarking upon our Olympic adventure. The flights were smooth, the planes were half full and each seat was equipped with a multi-media entertainment console. They fed us two meals and a bowl of noodles prior to landing.  The meals were so bad that the flight attendants belittled the food as they served it to us, describing the choices as leather or feather. Even the chocolate pudding had a chemical tinge and odd consistency to it. That having been said it was really quite delicious.

We arrived in Shanghai and breezed through immigration and customs. Once we were sure that we hadn’t lost Stephanie we found our tour guide Johnson. He is a very pleasant young man of 24 who speaks very broken English and sorely requires an orthodontist. We found our van, driven by Mr. Zhang who is a Shanghai man. Shanghai men are dedicated to their family. They earn the money and then give it all to their wife. They clean the house and cook the food. I want one.

It is hot and muggy outside, but at an endurable level. Fortunately, we packed appropriately. The air quality in Shanghai, indeed on the trip to Hangzhou, is surprisingly good. Visibility is unlimited and majestic cumulus clouds dominate the clear blue sky.

It took us about 3-hours to arrive at our first destination, Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a small town of only 5,000,000 people.  It is very cosmopolitan with young lovers dressed in the latest knock-off fashions, holding hands as they stroll down wide, well maintained boulevards. Watching their smiling, carefree faces you would never imagine that they are the very same people, who once they get behind the wheel of the proliferating population of torpedo-cars take on many of the characteristics of kamikaze pilots. Interestingly, I haven’t seen any women drivers yet. Perhaps they haven’t developed the requisite death wish necessary to drive in China.

Upon arriving in Hangzhou we were taken to a very popular restaurant. Kelby and I shared a beer as everyone else used the pot of tea to wash their utensils. And here I was always under the impression that tea was for drinking. The first dish was gray tofu in gray gravy, followed by 8 or 10 other dishes, some of which were identifiable and some which were not. Dinner turned out to be quite nutritious and surprisingly good.
Our hotel is a Day’s Hotel, which is really a Day’s Inn, but in China. We have small, but clean rooms in close proximity to each other. Last night after we got settled in we went to the lobby bar to watch the Olympics on the big screen TV. The cocktail waitress kicked us out so we took a stroll instead. By 8 pm, Violet and I were in our room, overtaken by exhaustion, anticipation and adventure. It is now 2 am. She is reading and just told me that I am being longwinded in my message. Some things just never change.