March 4 -5,2011:
The adventure began Thursday morning at 7:15 AM in Burlington, VT and ended at 1:00 AM Saturday in Wuhan, China. I arrived at the airport at 4:00 AM Friday, after making the mistake to not go to bed the night before. (I was afraid I was not going to wake up and miss the flight!) After a bit of waiting around at the Burlington Airport, our the trip to China began with liftoff at 6:30 AM to Newark, NJ.
Newark Airport, NJ
Photo: b.wisniewski
Our airplane
Photo: b.wisniewski
After the hour and half flight, we had a four-hour layover until we got onto the plane for our fifteen-hour flight to Beijing, China. TAKEOFF! I felt like we were in the air for an eternity, luckily I had a window seat and was able to amuse myself by looking out the window. During the flight I watched a bunch of movies, ate really bad airplane food, took photos, and took a little nap... and there was still hours left on the plane.
Our flight pathAbout 6 hours into flight
Photo: b.wisniewski
Sunrise over Russia
Photo: b.wisniewski
Mongolian mountainsPhoto: b.wisniewski
WE MADE IT! I couldn’t believe we were in CHINA! After going through customs, getting out luggage, and exchanging money, we were ready for our next flight to Wuhan. We had a quick twenty-minute layover, and before the plane took off I was asleep. After getting our luggage, we met up with Steve, and our tour guides Lily and Linda, and got on a bus for the hour drive to the hotel. Once at the hotel we checked into our room (150 REM/night, $20), and then left for a tour of Wuhan at 10:00PM.
Leafless treesWuhan, China
While beyond exhausted, it was amazing to see the city at night. On our little adventure, we walked through the new Spanish Street, the indoor/outdoor mall, got coffee and stopped at a street vender to get some amazing hot-dry noodles. There were a few things that really surprised me about Wuhan. One of the major things being all of the construction, everywhere you looked a new building was being built. A lot of the construction is due to the fact that Wuhan is a fairly young city, only about 20 years old. The other reason a lot of construction is happening is because the Chinese would rather tare down an old building and build a new one, then renovate an old building. One of the other things that was surprising to me was the diversity of buildings on the street. We would pass a construction site, then the housing for the migrant workers building the building, then a beautiful new outdoor shopping street. After all the traveling, and walking, all I wanted was a nice big cup of coffee! Unfortunately coffee is very hard to come by in China, but we found a Starbucks. (One of four in a city of 6 million!) Then the weirdest thing happened, I was able to order a grande latte with ease, but the man had to walk around the counter to see what I was pointing at in the case because he was unable to understand me wanting to order a bottle of water. ( We were told not to drink the water while in China, to use bottled water for drinking, even brushing our teeth.)
Indoor/outdoor mall
Wuhan, China
Photo: b.wisniewski
StarbucksWuhan, China
Photo: b.wisniewski
Once we returned to the hotel around 12:00 AM, we were told of our 7:30 AM wake up call. Emily and I turned on the TV for a few mins and Justin Timberlake appeared singing Sexy Back, then we feel right asleep. After traveling for about 32 hours and being awake for nearly 50 hours, it didn't even matter that the mattresses felt as if they were made of wood.
Hotel room
Wuhan, China
Photo: b.wisniewski
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