Another busy day. We started off the morning as usual, meeting up with the rest of our traveling companions for breakfast. That is, after the porters picked up the luggage that we will be taking with us to Qianjiang. During breakfast the group surprised Shirley by bringing out a birthday cake and singing happy birthday to her. Even though emotions are running high at this time, Shirley was very happy and enjoyed her cake for breakfast.
After breakfast and on the way to the airport we made a stop at the Silk Factory - not to be confused with the Silk Market. This is where they actually make silk, and the products made from it. They showed us the cocoons, which are actually produce by the worm as a single thread. They then locate the beginning of the thread and unravel the cocoon. From here the threads go on to produce fabric, duvets, pillows, etc.. Lots of great things to buy here, and we made sure that we helped to support the local economy. Our guide also has an arrangement here that they will deliver our purchases to our hotel when we return from Chongqing.
Next, on to the airport for our flight, once again an uneventful trip. We have to give a lot of credit to our agency for the great service and coordination. We very rarely need to touch our luggage. They pick it up at our door and checked in at the airport through to our destination. We identify it when it comes off the plane at which time they handle it through to the room in the hotel. This is a part of the travel we could really get used to.
Chongqing turns out to be cooler than we had expected, about 24˚C and raining. This is the rainy
season so we shouldn’t be surprised. Chongqing actually covers an area the size of Austria, with a total population of 30 million. The core area itself houses 6 million, with most of them living in high rise building. Our hotel is the Holiday Inn, which is very nice and ranked as one of the top hotels here. Our room and the hotel’s amenities certainly live up to the ranking. We quickly dropped our things in our rooms and met for dinner then got together to go over the paperwork that we are going to have to submit on Wednesday. Everything seems fairly straight-forward, but we’re sure it would be far more confusing with Samantha screaming in our ears. As much as we’re looking forward to it, that’s something we’re going to have to get used to.
After the paperwork was finished we returned to our room to repack bags again – this time for what we’ll need for out trip to Qianjiang and what we want to leave behind. Again, porters at the door at 9:30 for the bag we’re leaving.
Then to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.
Note 1: Lana, please wish Dad a happy father’s day from us.
Note 2: In case you didn’t notice, we updated the picture of Samantha at the top left. This is her passport picture, which we’ve been told is probably 1-2 months old.
After breakfast and on the way to the airport we made a stop at the Silk Factory - not to be confused with the Silk Market. This is where they actually make silk, and the products made from it. They showed us the cocoons, which are actually produce by the worm as a single thread. They then locate the beginning of the thread and unravel the cocoon. From here the threads go on to produce fabric, duvets, pillows, etc.. Lots of great things to buy here, and we made sure that we helped to support the local economy. Our guide also has an arrangement here that they will deliver our purchases to our hotel when we return from Chongqing.Next, on to the airport for our flight, once again an uneventful trip. We have to give a lot of credit to our agency for the great service and coordination. We very rarely need to touch our luggage. They pick it up at our door and checked in at the airport through to our destination. We identify it when it comes off the plane at which time they handle it through to the room in the hotel. This is a part of the travel we could really get used to.
Chongqing turns out to be cooler than we had expected, about 24˚C and raining. This is the rainy
season so we shouldn’t be surprised. Chongqing actually covers an area the size of Austria, with a total population of 30 million. The core area itself houses 6 million, with most of them living in high rise building. Our hotel is the Holiday Inn, which is very nice and ranked as one of the top hotels here. Our room and the hotel’s amenities certainly live up to the ranking. We quickly dropped our things in our rooms and met for dinner then got together to go over the paperwork that we are going to have to submit on Wednesday. Everything seems fairly straight-forward, but we’re sure it would be far more confusing with Samantha screaming in our ears. As much as we’re looking forward to it, that’s something we’re going to have to get used to.After the paperwork was finished we returned to our room to repack bags again – this time for what we’ll need for out trip to Qianjiang and what we want to leave behind. Again, porters at the door at 9:30 for the bag we’re leaving.
Then to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.
Note 1: Lana, please wish Dad a happy father’s day from us.
Note 2: In case you didn’t notice, we updated the picture of Samantha at the top left. This is her passport picture, which we’ve been told is probably 1-2 months old.