Penny's father and cousin drove down to help load up penny's apartment - into her cousins small new car - of course it didn't fit. Several boxes were mailed. Penny and I shared the back seat with the turtle tank, a small suitcase, our backpacks, purses and the cat in a steam iron box. (Chinese knockoff version of a Cat Carrier?)
It was only a 2-3 hr drive that ended up being a 5 hr drive with lunch, a rest stop and a memorable gas stop. Lunch was at one of those restaurants that was bridged over the interstate. For 20 yuan (3 dollars) you got the normal staple of watermelon, rice and the watery soup as well as your pick of 2 meat dishes and 3 vegetable dishes. It was ok cafeteria food. The reason I mentioned the restaurant was over the interstate was - we exited down the wrong side and of course couldn't find our car. 20 minutes later we are back on the road again.
Close to our final destination we stop for gas. There are not gas stations on every corner there are usually one or two per city and all government owned and price controlled. The attendants are women and they pump your gas. I made the mistake of maneuvering myself out of the back seat and all of a sudden Penny is frantically telling me to get back into the car. They make us pull away from the pump. We wait and then are directed to another pump, more talking and we were moved away again but told to wait. Penny told me to get my registration papers out. Police came and he looked at my passport and visa and Kunshan registration papers. I don't think he understood anything on the paper or visa but I kept smiling and he finally said 'ok ok'. We got gas but with a lot more yelling. Worse case scenario is that we would have had to go to the local police station and register me in their town so we could buy gas. This was most likely related to the fact that G20 is coming to nearby Hangzhou in September. Lesson learned ? - don't travel with an American looking foreigner in the car.
It was only a 2-3 hr drive that ended up being a 5 hr drive with lunch, a rest stop and a memorable gas stop. Lunch was at one of those restaurants that was bridged over the interstate. For 20 yuan (3 dollars) you got the normal staple of watermelon, rice and the watery soup as well as your pick of 2 meat dishes and 3 vegetable dishes. It was ok cafeteria food. The reason I mentioned the restaurant was over the interstate was - we exited down the wrong side and of course couldn't find our car. 20 minutes later we are back on the road again.
Close to our final destination we stop for gas. There are not gas stations on every corner there are usually one or two per city and all government owned and price controlled. The attendants are women and they pump your gas. I made the mistake of maneuvering myself out of the back seat and all of a sudden Penny is frantically telling me to get back into the car. They make us pull away from the pump. We wait and then are directed to another pump, more talking and we were moved away again but told to wait. Penny told me to get my registration papers out. Police came and he looked at my passport and visa and Kunshan registration papers. I don't think he understood anything on the paper or visa but I kept smiling and he finally said 'ok ok'. We got gas but with a lot more yelling. Worse case scenario is that we would have had to go to the local police station and register me in their town so we could buy gas. This was most likely related to the fact that G20 is coming to nearby Hangzhou in September. Lesson learned ? - don't travel with an American looking foreigner in the car.
