Bless Her Heart....

…Miss Pratt will never, ever, leave the United States, maybe even Richmond, again.

(For those who don't know, my mother came to visit China for 3 weeks)

I am not sure how she survived China. I know deep down she was in pure agony from the moment she set foot off the plane. The sad thing is, even at the sight of "KFC" in the arrivals area, she had no idea what she had gotten herself into. Allow me to digress:

I arranged a special "Welcome" dinner party in her honor at a friend's upscale restaurant. The food is from Sichuan Province, which is spicy Chinese. We had a diverse spread of chicken, lamb, vegetables, and the piece de resistance, eel. Even two glasses of white wine couldn't build up her courage to divulge. While she did try some of the food, let me just say, Miss Pratt (a.k.a. Miss Scarlett) went hungry that night. 


The following day the pollution was hazardous, and we waited to go outside for lunch. Western food: I could already see we were setting the tone for this trip, Chinese one meal, western the next. A short visit to the Lama Temple, and we were back to base. The pollution continued to get worse, and we just didn't see any point staying outside. 

Pratt outside the Lama Temple in Beijing. The pollution
will continue to worsen as the day goes on. 

The next morning, we caught the high speed train to Shanghai. Oh. My. God. HERE WE GO…….. It was hot as hell, worse than Richmond. The humidity was killer, and by Josephine, the only things to do and see are outdoors. 

Shanghai is not fun to visit in summer.

We arrived in the afternoon, and Miss Scarlett needed her mid-afternoon nap. I picked the Astor House Hotel because it was one of the oldest and most famous in Shanghai, and I figured there was a good chance Miss Pratt's father had been to the hotel for drinks lest he stayed here on occasion when he lived in China. Our suspicions were confirmed when across the street, in a period building, was the Russian Consulate. Let me fill you in on the back story:

Russian Consulate, behind it
The Astor House Hotel

My grandfather moved to China in 1946. His brother was already living here. He lived in Manchuria, Beijing, and finally moved to Shanghai. When Mao took over in 1949, many of the foreigners were arrested or deported. My grandfather was told to leave but refused (thinking that Chang Kai Shek would return) and was subsequently arrested. His friend, the Soviet Ambassador, arranged it so he could be placed under house arrest. Later, over a poker game, my grandfather won his freedom from the same man. The ambassador arranged for him to be smuggled to British Hong Kong. 

Well, between this old, fancy hotel, and the consulate across the street, we concluded that is was beyond a doubt that my grandfather had at some time been to this hotel, either to parties in the grand ballroom or drinks and cards at the bar, and more than likely, met the ambassador here. Too cool. 

Ancient Water Town

The rest of Shanghai was just a brief tour. We went to afternoon tea at the Park Hyatt on the 87th floor in Pudong, with great views over the city and the Bund. We visited the Old Town, and took a day trip to an ancient water village, which was way, way outside the city (not 30km as advertised). It was peaceful and worth the time, something really different than either of us had seen before. 

The fog cleared by mid-afternoon.

On the way to Xi'an, our plane was delayed 5 hours. When we finally boarded the aircraft, well past when we had been scheduled to arrive, we proceeded to wait another...70 minutes parked on the tarmac. I knew it was bad when they started serving drinks and playing tv shows on the overhead screens. We finally arrived in Xi'an a whopping 7 1/2 hours late, went straight to the hotel, and ordered room service. Miss Pratt was thrilled she didn't have to eat Chinese food - instead, she was treated to a breakfast spread of breads, cheese, and butter, with an ice cold sweet tea to wash it all down. Hot Damn! 

In Xi'an, she only wanted to see the Terra Cotta warriors. One of my clients from Beijing arranged our whole stay (Xi'an is where her 'second' home is) with a driver and guide to take us sightseeing. We really enjoyed walking around the different pits, but like Shanghai, the heat was a lot to bare, not to mention the pollution was pretty bad too. Mom's relief came at lunch when right outside the warrior complex, there was a KFC. I opted for the local food, not knowing that while delicious as it was, the portion was big enough feed a small family. But all in all, it was very enjoyable, and that night, we had a brief tour inside the old city wall - and I ate some street food. Miss Pratt, on the other hand, did not. 

"Where's Waldo Scarlett?"

We had a mid-morning flight to Xining, where we would catch the train to Tibet. However, our driver's car had a flat tire (thankfully at the hotel) and so we had to wait for him to get it repaired. He said he would be back in 10 minutes… I should have known better. 40 minutes later, he still was not back, and we were going to miss the flight. We hopped into what turned out to be the slowest taxi in the world, and got to the check in counter - wait for it - 40 minutes before departure (in the US, this closes 1 hour before departure). Still had to go through security, with what seemed to be a million people. Then, for Pratt's sake, our gate was at the very end of the terminal and we had to "move with a purpose." By time we got to the gate, we were the last ones on the plane.

Xining was a change: our first sign of clean air, mountains, and beautiful evergreens. The train station, however, was far from anything we expected. If all the train stations we had been to so far were "Union Station - D.C.", this one was a sh*t-hole. Literally. It was the first place of many  with bathrooms that did not have running water. Because we didn't have the tickets yet, we were not allowed to go into the station to sit down. Instead, we propped our luggage on the floor and sat next to the entrance for 2 hours waiting for the tickets to arrive. 

En route to Tibet.

Thankfully, the train ride was splendid. We had the compartment to ourselves, and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. The Qinghai-Tibet Railroad is the highest in the world. We passed the highest railway station at an elevation of 5,078 m (16, 663 ft). It is hard to capture the beauty of the landscape in words, with the rolling hills, vast grasslands, distant mountains, and scattered signs of life dotting the land. 

Our ride was mostly uneventful - minus the spectacular scenery - but leave it to a "Stelly" and something is bound to happen. When Miss Pratt decided she was hungry and went to get some supper, the kitchen was closed (literally, right after I had eaten). The next morning, we tried again. All she wanted was a bowl of white rice…. they were serving rice porridge. Quote of the day "(expletive) China and I can't even get a bowl of rice!" 

"Peace, Y'all!"