NOTE：No photos as of today - I took them - but Blogger, as well as Google, Facebook, and probably a bunch of other stuff is blocked in China. Using one of the Duke University computers I have been able to get the text loaded up --- but haven't figured out how to do the photos. I will put them in as soon as I get home.
Tuesday night has now turned into a giant blur, but I will document as much as I remember. Monday was a Long, long day. After a 6 hr layover in Detroit ( in the nice Delta Sky Lounge) I hopped onto my 14 hr flight into Shanghai. Immigration lines were not too long but it was a challenge finding Penny in the sea of hundreds of other dark haired people. The diversity in the U.S. makes locating a person in a crowd so much easier. We used DiDi ( pronounced deedee ) which is the Chinese knockoff version of Uber to get to Penny's apartment which is about 90 minutes from the Pudong airport. He was a great driver (fast but stayed in the lines) except the car quit in the middle of a busy intersection. A lot of honking and a little pushing was involved. My reward for traveling that far was a trip to a nearby foot massage place.
Today we spent registering and acclimating me to Kunshan. For breakfast, we walked about a mile to a little apartment complex with a shopping village. It was actually about a block "as the crow flies" but everything here is gated with limited access. You never get to take short cuts. Security guards at each gate - that profession must have a lot of job security here in China. I made Penny take me to Duke Kunshan University by bus so I could learn how to get back by myself in the afternoon. (Bus 22 - get off one stop after the Party School - not that kind of party - the government party).
We toured her office area and part of the small and very modern campus (lots of Gold certified LEEDS buildings). Each building had key card access and of course a security guard. Next chore was going to the local police station to register. Since I am not with a tour group I am SUPPOSE to register in every new city I go to.
After lunch at the schools cafeteria - garlic shoots with duck and a noodle bowl - I left Penny and walked to the bus stop for my first Kunshan solo ride. After successfully finding my way back to our breakfast street food area, I went to the local supermarket and tried to find all my favorite snack foods, I found a couple of my favorites, milk peanuts and the tiny pineapple jello cups. They are so small you just slurp them down. Yummy!
Back to Penny's 16th floor apartment to cool off in my underwear and take just a short nap - oops 4 hrs later I woke up from a hard sleep - hopefully it won't screw up my time change adjustments.
Boy working on this blog is sort of like trying to walk to the 2 block away store and it takes 40 minutes and a more than a mile of sweaty walking. No short cut - it has taken me more than an hour to copy and paste just the text from my ipad to Penny's Duke Windows computer and I know a lot of tricks .....Part of the problem is that the keyboard will randomly start translating my English into Chinese characters. I haven't figured out how to get the photos transferred yet. Looks like this might be the last one until l get home -- no more VPN after Friday - not sure if the providence of Zhejiang (where we are going next) is as tough with their internet filtering.
Tuesday night has now turned into a giant blur, but I will document as much as I remember. Monday was a Long, long day. After a 6 hr layover in Detroit ( in the nice Delta Sky Lounge) I hopped onto my 14 hr flight into Shanghai. Immigration lines were not too long but it was a challenge finding Penny in the sea of hundreds of other dark haired people. The diversity in the U.S. makes locating a person in a crowd so much easier. We used DiDi ( pronounced deedee ) which is the Chinese knockoff version of Uber to get to Penny's apartment which is about 90 minutes from the Pudong airport. He was a great driver (fast but stayed in the lines) except the car quit in the middle of a busy intersection. A lot of honking and a little pushing was involved. My reward for traveling that far was a trip to a nearby foot massage place.
Today we spent registering and acclimating me to Kunshan. For breakfast, we walked about a mile to a little apartment complex with a shopping village. It was actually about a block "as the crow flies" but everything here is gated with limited access. You never get to take short cuts. Security guards at each gate - that profession must have a lot of job security here in China. I made Penny take me to Duke Kunshan University by bus so I could learn how to get back by myself in the afternoon. (Bus 22 - get off one stop after the Party School - not that kind of party - the government party).
We toured her office area and part of the small and very modern campus (lots of Gold certified LEEDS buildings). Each building had key card access and of course a security guard. Next chore was going to the local police station to register. Since I am not with a tour group I am SUPPOSE to register in every new city I go to.
After lunch at the schools cafeteria - garlic shoots with duck and a noodle bowl - I left Penny and walked to the bus stop for my first Kunshan solo ride. After successfully finding my way back to our breakfast street food area, I went to the local supermarket and tried to find all my favorite snack foods, I found a couple of my favorites, milk peanuts and the tiny pineapple jello cups. They are so small you just slurp them down. Yummy!
Back to Penny's 16th floor apartment to cool off in my underwear and take just a short nap - oops 4 hrs later I woke up from a hard sleep - hopefully it won't screw up my time change adjustments.
Boy working on this blog is sort of like trying to walk to the 2 block away store and it takes 40 minutes and a more than a mile of sweaty walking. No short cut - it has taken me more than an hour to copy and paste just the text from my ipad to Penny's Duke Windows computer and I know a lot of tricks .....Part of the problem is that the keyboard will randomly start translating my English into Chinese characters. I haven't figured out how to get the photos transferred yet. Looks like this might be the last one until l get home -- no more VPN after Friday - not sure if the providence of Zhejiang (where we are going next) is as tough with their internet filtering.
