our trip to china

Last week Derek and I were able to take a short trip to China again courtesy of the same hospital that flew us out last year for their medical conference.  We had a wonderful time and remarked several times to each other how unbelievable it was that we were there in China!  Many many thanks to Derek's parents and his sister, Jeannie, for capably holding down the fort while we were gone.

We left early Wednesday morning and spent almost 24 hours traveling via Detroit and then up over the North Pole, and on to Shanghai.

there was frozen ocean and snow over the north pole as far as we could see from the plane

When we arrived there (14 hours ahead of us) it was Thursday night and Derek's friend Qi (pronounced Chee) picked us up and took us to our hotel.  On Friday we ate breakfast and lunch at our hotel while Derek put finishing touches on his talk.  Then Friday afternoon (while I was napping at the hotel) Derek and some other local and foreign doctors (both MD's and PhD's) gave talks about the latest cardiac research (basic science and clinical).  Derek's friend Jian said he did very well and got a lot of good questions.

Friday evening we attended the conference banquet at another hotel where we enjoyed plenty of delicious (and exotic) Chinese food and entertainment.  One of the acts was a magician who asked me to help him on one of his tricks.  I was pretty embarrassed, but he did a great job and sent me home with a little souvenir handkerchief from my adventures on stage.

Saturday morning we left early with Derek's friend, Qi, to travel via CRH train (electric "bullet" train) to another city called Hang Zhou. Traveling by the CRH train at speeds up to 180 mph we made a typical 2 1/2 hour trip in 45 minutes.

Hang Zhou rests at the end of the Grand Canal and boasts a gorgeous lake and mountains where the most famous tea in China is grown. Qi got us a driver and an English-speaking guide to take us to see the highlights of the city for the next two days.  The guide was really good and explained to us some fascinating history behind what we saw.

We also visited one of the largest and most famous Buddhist temples in China with pagodas and Buddhist grottoes. It was founded in 328 AD by an Indian monk.

That evening we saw a performance of Impressions West Lake by Zhang Yimou who also directed the amazing opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. What an incredible combination of music, dance, water, and lighting!

On our last day in Hang Zhou we visited the new city center by the Qiantang River with it's modern skyscrapers and architecture, and then an outdoor market where we shopped (and bartered) for souvenirs. We also spotted a DQ on the corner--who knew?

the view we enjoyed during dinner through the glass panel wall at the restaurant our last night

We traveled back to Shanghai via train that afternoon and attended a delicious dinner in the evening with the head doctors and guests in a private room of a restaurant located on the 38th floor of a building in the heart of downtown.  What a view!  We could see the Huang Pu river, the Pearl TV tower, the World Financial Center building, and many others with their beautiful colored lights.  We left early Monday morning traveling for almost 24 hours again, this time via Tokyo and on to Salt Lake City.  I think we counted about a dozen missionaries either coming home, or just going out on our plane from Tokyo to Salt Lake.  Maybe that's why we successfully navigated the typhoon that killed 6 people in Japan after we left. =)