Public transportation

We are continuing to work out the best and most convenient route to church without a car. Each week is an adventure.

Last Saturday (September 12th) I took the High Speed train into Shanghai for the Shanghai District Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints (LDS Church) on Saturday and Sunday. A friend, Bonbon, showed me where the train station was, helped me get tickets ahead of time and then decipher what bus route to take to get there on time Saturday morning. The train ride into Shanghai was scenic and convenient.

Deqing Railway Station



Farms

High Speed Train

The train station in Shanghai is as big as almost any airport I have been in, but luckily I was able to find someone who spoke English to help point me in the right direction to the subway and how to get tickets onto the right one. Once on the subway, I mercifully ran into some members of our Hangzhou Branch and rode a few stops with them before we parted ways and I transferred to another subway line to get to my final destination at the home of some members (The Turners) of the Shanghai Branch of the LDS Church. they graciously housed me and two other members who were from out of town. They own and operate "China's First Cinnamon Roll Bakery" called CinnaSwirl (www.cinnaswirlchina.com) and were wonderful hosts.



Shanghai Subway (Line 7)

Exiting the subway (outer Shanghai - Not much of a view)

On the way home Sunday afternoon, the Turners sent me home with hard to find grocery items (tortillas, taco seasoning and cinnamon rolls (from their bakery - well worth the money if you are ever in Shanghai).
One thing I discovered on my trip to shanghai is that the first stop out of Deqing is Hangzhou, where we normally go to church each Sunday and the train ride there was only 20 minutes as opposed to two hours on the bus... Note to self. Try the train to travel to church next Sunday.


Saturday September 19th
We made the trip from our apartment on Bus 111, a small commuter bus to Deqing Railway Station and from there to Hangzhou East Railway Station the next largest train station I have ever been in, next to Shanghai... Big. I learned how to book my own train tickets online this week and made the ticket reservations several days in advance . We picked them up at the train station Saturday morning and boarded the train without any trouble. The train ride into Hangzhou only took us 13 minutes. NICE!

 

Once in the Hangzhou East train station, I went to the ticket office and sweltered in line for at least 30 minutes until I could get our return tickets for Sunday afternoon. Then we transferred to the subway in Hangzhou and rode it as close to our final destination as possible. From there Julie hailed a large clean Honda Odyssey taxi from the Uber app on her phone to take us to our final destination. Very convenient. We met up with friends from our Hangzhou Branch to let the kids all play soccer together, very fun 

 

Then, after depositing our baggage at the Phillip's house, we headed to the church for "Game Night". Super fun and crazy loud. Pizza was provided and everyone brought junk food. Sucha nice event, with several people inviting friends and associates to join them. Highlights included Klora as the new Hanzhou World Champion RPC (Rock, Paper, Scissors) Champion and the Egg Challenge (From Jimmy Fallon's late night TV show). What a fun evening.

The trip back this Sunday afternoon was really close, but thanks to the expertise of Brother Wood, we boarded the train about 3 minutes before it pulled away from the station and were home quick as a flash. Booking tickets on the train does not leave a lot of flexibility in the schedule for time delays, but no one has been left behind yet...

For next Sunday we are working on hiring a local driver take us to church and bring us home... That may end up being the most convenient, but perhaps we may also try a closer local train station with a shorter bus and subway ride...  so much yet to learn.


FYI: Carnival spot near our home made for a nice outing with the kids last week. Here are a few pictures:

These are water caltrops, not to be confused with water chestnuts, but similar texture. Harvested once a year here in the Zhejiang province of China. An old lady on the side of the street was husking these and gave Klarese a hand full because she said Nǐ hǎo (你好) to her. Chinese people are so nice and generous.

From Klora and Kendra

Klora and Kendra have a home school assignment of providing a post for the blog each week.
Here is their first blog project...

Here is the updated 8 minute video:

Spreading our wings

Well we branched out a little further this week. On Friday Bonbon (Maggie Hubble’s cousin) took us to see Maggie’s parents, who live in Shang Bai Cun, Deqing Xian, Huzhou Shi, Zhejiang Sheng, China (Yes, much smaller village than Shanghai). We first met them when they were visiting Maggie and Geff in Idaho earlier this year and they invited us to come to their home when we got to China. We weren’t absolutely sure then if we were coming to China, but since we are here now, we decided to make good on the invitation to visit. 

On the way, we stopped at the local market where Maggie’s dad works as a butcher. We wandered through the market and looked at all of the local items available to buy.  We will definitely have to return there later to buy lower cost meat and produce, rain boots and some umbrellas.



 After that we stopped by Bonbon’s Dads restaurant to pick up Duck soup, a menu item his father is well known for. While we were there, his mother treated everyone to cold drinks (I might have looked hot and sweaty by then).

 



Bonbon's parents






Duck soup - Includes all of the duck





The restaurant



Then we went on to Maggie’s parent’s home. They have a large beautiful home that was built last year. Maggie's Mom (mama, 妈妈) invited us in, gave the kids treats and brought out the fans (It’s still very hot and humid here).

Maggie's parent's house

While Maggie’s Dad (bàba, 爸爸) was still at the market, we decided to go on a hike/walk. Not far from their home is a walking path (Road, trail, not much distinction here people, bikes, scooters and cars all use the same pathways) that winds through a wooded/bamboo forested area. All along the roadway were attractions like a climbing wall (in the parking lot), an animation studio with a large Optimus Prime at the entrance (Not open yet), a horse stable (designated riding path behind the stable), lots of landscaping, a boat pond and a zip line. Kaleb and I (Matt) were the only ones interested in the Zip line. Everyone else went boating. What a beautiful area. Kaleb said, “Look at the mountain covered in “trees”. It was actually covered in a dense forest of bamboo”. No trees at all on the mountain.


At the stables (This is a Unicorn ;)  )

boating

boating - Notice the "trees"

After our walking, boating, zipping excursion, we returned to Maggie’s parent’s house and they had spread out a feast. It was beyond delicious (we don’t mind a little adventure when it comes to eating). There was enough food there to feed us and two other families and they still had left overs. Maggie’s mom was even thoughtful enough to make hot dog/burgers… Chinese processed meat sticks in bean buns… the kids each tried one and we brought the rest home.

Lunch with family

The river, wash basin, swimming hole

After lunch the kids went down to the river to play while Maggie’s mom and the neighbor washed dishes on the riverside. They also ran around in the bamboo forest behind their house for more than an hour. We think it was especially nice for the kids to get out of the apartment and city and play.



Bamboo forest

Bamboo forest

Washing dishes

Chicken... In the forest

 

It was a really fun day. Exercise, food, friendship. Thanks to Bonbon for taking us everywhere and interpreting everything,

An update on church.
Saturday we made the trip in to Hangzhou. It went even quicker and smoother than the week before. We stayed with the Woods, who treated us to burritos, chips, salsa and quesadillas, followed by a movie. Nice treat.

On Sunday there was a convert baptism for Happiness, who is from Nigeria. It was a wonderful service and her life story is amazing. The trip home was smooth and uneventful. On the taxi ride back to the bus stop, we saw a few weddings taking place around the West Lake Resort area. It is a really pretty area within Hangzhou.

 

That's the update from this side of the earth. For those of you in the states, tomorrow was already a great day. 

New Friends

     We knew that, being so far from family, we would be relying heavily on our church friends here.  We were anxious to figure out how to get from Wukang to Hangzhou (about 45 miles) each Sunday for our LDS branch meetings.  On Thursday, Matt was able to go with a friend (our friend Maggie’s brother in law who we met in Boise but is back here now) to actually look at the bus routes, figure out the most cost effective and convenient route and then ride it so that Matt could duplicate the trip with the rest of us on Sunday.  They were gone from 10am-3.  But the trip was a success, they made it to the church building and there they met the caretakers of the building who directed them to the branch president’s house a few minutes’ walk away.  He went there and was welcomed by the branch president’s wife who loaded him up with cheese, tortillas, licorice, popcorn, butter, and cookies!  All things that are very hard to find in our little city.  Besides all those treats he came away with an invitation to bring our whole family over on Saturday afternoon to play and go out to pizza then spend the night and go to church.  Boy were we excited.

   So Saturday we packed a bag of Sunday clothes and headed for the bus stop.  The bus ride took about 1 ½ hours then we got off and flagged down two taxi’s and Matt was able to communicate to them where we needed to go, 30 minutes later we were at the church!  And then of course we realized that we should have got the branch president’s address and had the taxi’s drop us off there.  But Matt knew the way to walk.  We were just a little tired.  But we made it!  Great navigating  of the trip by Matt.  There were times when he was pretty stressed, what if our two taxi’s drop us off at different places, etc.  But we were saying little prayers along the way and thanks to his preparation and a good Chinese friend that helped figure it out, we made it.

     The Phillips (branch presidents family) consist of President and Sister Phillips, daughter who is 11, and sons who are 8, 6, and 4.  We unloaded, visited and played for a little while then they took us to one of their favorite pizza places just a very short walk from their housing complex.  It made me so happy to see Kaleb playing so happily with their boys right off.  The other kids took a little while to warm up but by the end of our visit the kids were all running around playing together.  Anyway, after yummy pizza we walked to McDonalds for ice cream and to play at their play place.  Kids had fun running around, grown-ups got to visit

     Sunday they fed us wonderful waffles with syrup which will be a rare treat for us here as we do not have a waffle iron and have not seen syrup at the markets where we live (they had Kirkland syrup brought back from their visit to the states this summer).  Then we squished into their minivan (all 14 of us) for the short ride to the church. 

     The church building is very unique.  Chapel, restroom, nursery and eating area on the first level, about 4 classrooms on the second level, 4 more classrooms on the 3^rd level, and then up a winding wooden staircase one big room for primary.  There were about 42 people attending on Sunday.  We make up about  one fifth of the ward!  Klora and Kendra are the only YW.  There are 4 or five other families with kids, a few older couples and a few single people.  Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.  When we visit other wards our kids usually say “do we have to stay for classes?”  But this time they all wanted to stay for sure. 

Hangzhou Branch church building

     I guess I am assuming you all know how it works in China—foreign passport holders have their own branches and groups separate from the China nationals (Chinese people).  There are strict rules of segregation and a statement is read regularly from the pulpit on Sundays about no proselyting among the Chinese people, even if you are approached with questions.  There are small congregations of Chinese people (those who joined the church while outside of the country and then came back and maybe their family members who they are allowed to tell about the church I think).  But their leadership and organization is totally separate.

      Anyway, church was great, the whole family felt welcome and at ease and like we have a place to go.  After 5 days of being the only English speakers, only church members, only foreigners, it was so great to fit in.  So comfortable, so comforting.  After church we had dinner with the Branch presidents family and one other family from church.  And then the kids played outside a while.

    Then goodbyes and the home route.  One small hiccup occurred as my taxi arrived at the bus station and we waited and watched and waited and watched for matt’s taxi.  We haven’t been able to get our phones hooked up with a China phone service yet so we had no way to connect with each other.  Not very smart of us, will resolve that before the next trip.  So we waited and watched and a cute, kind Chinese grandpa came and told us in Chinese how beautiful we were, played with Klarese and told Kendra how beautiful she was and took her picture too and Krista’s and just played peekaboo with klarese to help her not be fussy and tried to talk to us in Chinese but we couldn’t understand but that was OK, he could tell we were worried and stayed with us until Matt’s taxi finally arrived and we boarded our bus.  He was really an angel helping us pass the time and feel taken care of.

a shot Kendra got from the taxi ride back to the bus station, no idea what it is but it looks cool.

     So Matt’s taxi driver dropped them off a little ways away from where he was supposed to and pointed for them to walk, they started walking but Matt asked a few people and he got the idea that it was still a ways off so he grabbed another taxi and found us.  Wow, could have been much worse in a city where you don’t recognize anything or speak the language.

     The bus ride back was very full and long or maybe it just seemed long until Klarese finally stopped fussing and went to sleep!  We asked the kids if it was worth it to do that every weekend to get to church—it was a unanimous YES.

Wow, Mint Oreos!  Nope, tried em' Kyle says they taste like alfalfa--it is green tea.

Now this we like--individual coconut oatmeal packages, Yum!

Little turtles and big frogs!  A pet section in the middle of the grocery store?  Nope, part of the meat section.  Klora was a little distressed and thought we should buy them all and set them free!  Sure but the first Chinese person that sees them free is going to take them home for dinner.