pandemic – HurricaneMaine

Oh Macau, so close and yet so far….

As one of my friends, Heidi, is leaving China soon, I wanted to go to Macau with her and Elaine and Donnie for the weekend. They since opened that border for foreigners as it had already been opened for mainland Chinese. As a special autonomous region like Hong Kong, it is leaving the country.

Despite what would be a rushed visit, I was excited and left for the metro straight from school to get to the high speed rail station. Foreigners are again asked to show more than just their green code since a Chinese man went to Germany, had sex with a man, and brought back the first case of monkeypox. Of course, before those specifics were reported the head of the CDC gave this warning:

The last four are sound advice. But the first…
From a doctor…

They eventually walked back that first statement but the damage had been done and has brought some more anti-foreign sentiment. A person on the metro who could not just stand and had to sit next to me like this:

Back to the Macau story. I was able to leave school early so Heidi and I decided to move up the train booking but we did not notice that lineup had already happened and they would not let us through (totally our fault). Because of this, we took the next train. No problem except they wanted our passport information 20 minutes after we left the station which I thought was odd and then as the train slowed they locked the doors in the front and back of our car. They announced that the code of a person in our car of the train had turned to red in transit. Heidi is from Canada and speaks Cantonese. We did find someone who spoke Mandarin and Cantonese and a couple that could speak English. That helped but the information kept changing often.

He was possibly a close contact of someone who did test positive. Maybe…. We were herded to a gated area on the street where we were tested (2 nasal/1 rapid) and our passports/ID were taken. People who lived in Zhuhai were allowed to go home but isolate and get tested. The rest of us were to be sent to a hotel. When we asked questions, we were given a variety of answers but mostly a day in a hotel. The man’s test came back negative as we waited and we were told we would have to pay for the required stay now. People were upset. When I heard that noise I was just hoping the man did not test positive. No one was happy.

But it gets better. It’s not a hotel. It is a quarantine facility with cameras and sparse interior. We had to pay 1500 rmb ($210) deposit which is roughly a 6 day quarantine. That irked me along with the smell and pond of bleach sprayed everywhere on the floor. We were told the money was a deposit. We started calling it the “Ritz”.

For the record, not as bad as Shanghai. The central room here is all the space I had in Shanghai for 2 weeks. At least there are two bedrooms and I could take the mattresses (only a couple centimeters thick for each one) and put them together. With the two comforters on top as an added mattress, it made for a more comfortable bed. And there is a balcony…

Food was meager (and we had to pay) but you were allowed to order food from outside. But setting up any Chinese app for delivery is difficult. I have resisted so far as I feel I should cook my own food and walk to eat out. Healthier that way. I contacted admin and HR about my predicament and they had an IT guy walk me through. HR had to buy me my first meal as my app wasn’t set up in time to make the delivery window. I do know enough words to type into the Chinese keyboard to search what I want. Will I use it back in Guangzhou? Probably not. But I was pretty happy to know how to type in salad (shala) and eggs and tomatoes (jidan he xihongshi). Oh… And coffee (kafei) but had to look up the translation of coffee powder.

I also contacted the consulate, just in case. I only have so much asthma medicine with me and worried about the lack of communication with us and staff here. My HR is actually wonderful at calling to find information for me.

We were told at one point just one day… Then two days… And at the end, two tests in three days. We were tested Friday night, and each of the next 3 days.

Usually I pack extra things just in case this happens but let my guard down, so I did not have coffee or some other things with me. Lesson learned….. But I am adaptable and so grateful to be able to order in. A few people on the train did not have anything with them. I gave one person a summer dress to wear and others loaned their clothes too. I am glad I had my computer to do some work and read.

We were released Monday afternoon. They refunded some of the money and then just let you find your own way out of the complex.

I had to take a personal day for missing a day of school. I was able to get my Macau hotel refunded. I decided to take two more days off as well. I have already missed my scheduled China trip with the 11th grade and will join a 2 day trip at the end of the week with the grade 12′ s. I also plan to call the government hotline as people are not to pay when they were found in this situation.

Panda volunteer experience, Dujiangyan panda research base and ancient to own

Outside of Chengdu, is the ancient town of Dujiangyan. It is also home to one of the three panda bases here.

It was only a one hour drive outside of Chengdu and our tour guide, Sophia talked with us about trip we planned and even prepared a panda quiz to learn about pandas.

Pandas eat all of those things thought at the pandas base they do not give them meat.

It is the only scientific research institution in China that focuses on preventing and
controlling panda disease and rescuing pandas from the wild. The black and white giant pandas have plenty of space for sleeping, chewing bamboo, climbing trees and wrestling with each other.

Our activities were to act as the caretakers to clean up the old bamboo and scoop poop to prepare the area for the morning food of bamboo.

We then broke up the long sticks of bamboo and placed the sticks and fronds of bamboo leaves for them.

The panda was in the inner enclosure at the time. They let her out for breakfast and we then cleaned the inside. In the end we also cleaned the bamboo prep area in the courtyard.

We were told by Sophia if we were not lazy in our duties we would have more opportunities to feed the pandas. We took a break and walked around to look at all the pandas and other animals in the park. Our park guide was named Jake and he answered our questions and talked about the different pandas. I took a lot of pictures but here are a few.

They also had red pandas and brown bears. The brown bears were rescued from a situation where they had been purchased but not taken care of.

Then it was time to feed the pandas a snack. They get a mid morning snack of apples, carrots, and panda cake made of rice and corn flour. This panda is Yoyo. She is very calm but we are still not to touch them. She loves carrots. Standing over a panda is threatening to them which is why we crouch down. It is also why in a panda enclosure their platform is higher than the people watching them.

We then took a break and walked around some more, then ate lunch in their canteen. They had great fish, noodles with a spicy Sichuan sauce, and bamboo shoots which I love. We were ahead of schedule as we are not lazy.

After lunch we watched a video explaining how the research centers learned about panda breeding and giving birth and their attempts to rewild pandas who demonstrated being able to live in naturally habitats.

We then made panda cake. The dough is shaped tightly to air dry for three hours. I made a heart, a mouse (it didn’t look like it) and a panda head.

We then we’re able to feed Yoyo her second snack. Today dignitaries were there so we waited until they were gone to give the snack. While we waited, we watched the young male have a snack of sugarcane.

Feeding Yoyo a second snack.

At the end we received a certificate of completion, some postcards, and a bag. We get to keep the shirt.

Afterwards we went to the irrigation canal which helped to stop flooding in the area and a build up of silt and sand that would destroy the town. This was created in the Qing dynasty and still used today. It is a marvel of engineering and physics.

Unfortunately, our health code had not updated to show test results to go in which is just as well as we were tired and have had little downtime in the last week. We headed to check into the hotel and rest before going to the pedestrian streets to look around. It is along one of the canals of the irrigation system.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System is a clever utilization of the natural conditions. Built at the site where the Minjiang River’s trunk stream in the upper reaches flows out of the mountains and joins the Chengdu Plain, the System is able to control hundreds of canals with just one diversion passage.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/dujiangyan.htm

There were some pretty cool shops and street food and restaurants. We are in Sichuan, so the food even at mild is pretty spicy.

We were exhausted so went back to the hotel early to get a good night of sleep. Our code finally updated. This is good as seeing anything else and getting on an airplane depended upon the results being there. We actually tested a second time in case results from the airport did not show. At every airport here you test for free and now most provinces require 2 tests in 3 days and they must be 24 hours apart. If you don’t, they turn your code yellow until you do. That means you cannot go anywhere.

Quarantine after one long day of travel to China

Boarding the flight required filling out a China customs app and showing our green health code which made us eligible to fly. We showed them often…. The hardest part of the flight was keeping a mask on for 24 hours. We could take it off to eat and drink but not for long. The key is to change masks often for comfort. There were empty seats so the crew was nice in letting us move for more space. The food was good and I was able to get vegetarian. Add there was wine…. And I was able to lay down across seats to sleep. I appreciate it now that I’m 57 and my legs swell when I sit for so long even with compression socks.

It took 14 hours to get from Dallas to Seoul. It took a little longer than normal as the Russia-Ukraine war has changed the flight patterns to avoid Russian air space. As China covid rules even apply to flight crew, many US crews cannot enter China without giving up weeks for quarantine. We stopped in Seoul only to change crews and we were not allowed off the plane. Three hours later we landed in Shanghai.

The first thing we saw at the gate were the quarantine personnel waiting to deplane everyone aboard. We grabbed our carry-on and walked out the gate.

I have to give the Chinese credit for organization and mobilization. International flights arrive in an area separate from the rest of the airport. It was a long walk which was welcome after being seated for so long. We walked through temperature scanners, people checking passports and assigning a bar code for us to be scanned throughout the process, COVID test (both throat and nose), checking passports and customs codes again…. After getting our checked bags we were then placed in holding areas based upon where we live in China. This makes it easier to move people to the next steps. We also made sure all of us were in the same bus to go to the same quarantine facility.

Following a worker in the final step at the airport to a bus that will take us to the quarantine facility.

Buses lined up to take passengers to quarantine.

It is one thing to self-quarantine and another to be part of centralized quarantine. To self quarantine you may still go get supplies and live with those in a household. Centralized quarantine means behind a door in a small room with meals brought to you, twice daily temperature checks, and COVID testing every three days. You cannot leave the room.

More paperwork and paying 4200 rmb ($662.51) for the 2 week stay and then I was taken to my room. All luggage was sprayed with a bleach solution even though it has been shown you don’t get COVID from objects. This is the Songzhi apartment hotel that used to house workers for the Songz automobile air conditioning company. Bare basic accommodations….

Some basic supplies in the room. Toiletries, laundry detergent, TP, bleach tablets for the bathroom…

Very. small. room. The wide angle shot makes it look bigger. To be able to have space to workout I pushed the bed against the wall. The bed is pieces of wood slats for a foundation and a mattress less than an inch thick. I folded it and the comforter to lay on. I have a run but warm blanket I take with me on airplanes Good thing I don’t roll much at night as I’m sleeping on an area the size of a sleeping bag.

That white chair is the only seating in the room besides the bed. The bar area is the only place to eat and work.

I unpacked necessities and made a little coffee bar. I have the mug I bought from Jess Greene, an amazing artist. I also have the other mug I won in the Resolution run race when I ran with Michele Belak. The kettle came with the room. I planned to make sure I have my coffee.

We can get some deliveries but cannot order meals from outside. I did bring some oatmeal and almonds for snacks.

The hallways are also sanitized with bleach several times a day. Trash can be set out at different times of the day for collection.

Food overall is pretty good. Even if it is not vegetarian there are so many veggies I can skip the meat. It is amazing how hungry you become when you hear the cart roll down the hall.

Starting the next morning after we arrived we were still teaching online which helped the days go by. It is definitely a relief to not have to teach in the middle of the night.

The weekends will be the hardest when there is nothing to break up the time. I have workouts and stretches planned throughout. I also saved books to read and computer files to sort. Wifi is pretty decent except at night. My school sent a couple different extra wifi options which help. In four days I have watched the Loki and Hawkeye avenger series… I also have West Side Story on my laptop but if I watch it anymore I will break out into song as I watch!

My school created a wechat group with support people from the school. Part of their job is to be available with translation help including the apps we need to go from Shanghai to Guangzhou. They were able to help us get supplies we need and even talk to my health office so I can do my third week of quarantine in my apartment!

Over half the people in this chat are support people

They even sent this card to keep track of quarantine days with a stamp of a ram, the school mascot.

I also brought this diffuser Becca gave me that I had not yet taken back to China. With some Patchouli oil, it helps to humidify and scent the air.

Now to keep to a schedule I drafted to make it through the days. I must confess that there are days I wonder why I came back. I almost made the decision to leave China this year. But, I still have a few places yet to visit here and it is a place I have always wanted to be. My school paid a nice bonus to stay and I have another year in a leadership position I would like to finish. The whole process is testing my resolve and this is a fluid situation.

If there is anything we have learned from the pandemic is that things change often and we will adapt. I can come home again in December but I may postpone it until Summer 2023. After all, I stayed longer this time than what was planned. I am also looking at where I would like to be next in the world…

Ahhh….Dallas

We had two flights cancelled in this whole procedure of getting back to China. First the original flight from LA to Guangzhou then a flight from San Francisco to Shanghai were both cancelled. I had looked forward to SF for the weather and opportunity for being outdoors.

But the flight from Dallas to Shanghai was the lucky one. After the Olympics concluded it was only one of two flights allowed to proceed from the US. Of course flying in to Shanghai changes quarantine a bit. Now three weeks will be spent in a quarantine hotel (or a central facility if someone near me on the plane tests positive.) After I arrive in Guangzhou I will have another week and more COVID tests.

I was required to be at the city of departure a full 7 days before flying. There we are to health monitor by answering questions and taking temperatures each day for 7 days. We also have to declare our vaccination status and prepare documents such as passport, visa, resident registration, vaccination form, itinerary, test results….. All of these need to be uploaded to an embassy site to be authorized to fly. Now the waiting begins. Without the code you are not allowed on the airplane.

I stayed in a suite so that I could cook food and not go to restaurants. I still had to teach online from 6 pm until around midnight. A walk everyday, swimming in the pool, and running allowed some breaks.

The hotel was in a corporate area so not a lot of thru traffic. There was even a small nature center 2.5 km away. As it is spring it was wonderful to smell pines and juniper and see everything turning green.

For outings we went to Bass Pro Shops to look at fish and did some mall walking. The weather was pretty decent for early March to be outside. One other colleague stayed in the same hotel. It was nice to walk and talk to someone each day.

It was good to see colleagues and students on the screen. This is my student government students and the other advisor Katie. And the days blended together….

One former teacher, now retired, lives not so far away. I stopped to see her and walk around her neighborhood. Ruth Volz used to live in my compound in China as well. Lots to catch up on!

Two days before leaving we had to go to two different testing sites to get a PCR test. Pretty stressful as the whole plane had to do the same thing at the same places. We prepared all the documents to be ready to upload to the consulate site and then wait to get the green code. I was able to get mine pretty quickly but half of our group were still waiting for their last test result before they could start they process. Needless to say it is very stressful.

Finally we showed both codes multiple times and was cleared to board. Next stop, Shanghai and three weeks of quarantine…

More Pittsburgh

With flights delayed, my time in the US was extended another 5 weeks. This caused a bit of anxiety as I have cats in China and am now teaching online synchronously. That means teaching at 7 pm EST and sometimes going until after 3 am. I have great people back in my school helping and often have a break where I can get a nap.

My beautiful cats being taken care of by students who live in my building in Guangzhou.

One of my classes. I asked them to come near the smart TV so we can take a selfie. I miss them so. Seeing them brings me great joy.

I was able to spend more time with Ryan and my brother Ken and sis (SIL). I am grateful for that. It has been some time since I have been back.

Hiking with Ryan on the Rachel Carson trail. Before that I stopped at the Spring Thaw race to say goodbye to my friend Michele. I wanted to run it but I was tired of the cold and I would not be able to do the hike if I had. The hills here are too intense and now at 57 I need to make choices.

The ice crystals are beautiful. We would do to admire them.

Ryan is an amazing cook.
Noodle soup with perfect 6 minute egg, bok choy, tofu, cabbage, and pickled jalapeno.

My brother and nephew Kevin came down to eat lunch with Ryan and I at my favorite place there Double wide grill on East Carson in Pittsburgh.

Sunni and I traveled to Pittsburgh to go to Phipps Conservatory. We were looking for the butterflies but we are a few months too early. The gardens here are beautiful. The following is a picture dump, but the orchards, bonsai garden, fern garden, and tropical garden are amazing. Smelling the foliage and seeing the great plants always makes me feel lighter. Spending that time with family is priceless.

Wisconsin bound

Note: I delayed this post until I could visit one more time due to the delay in return to China.

Because of work schedules and commitments, we scheduled the trip to see Becca when Ryan could also go on the 7th of January. Finally the day arrived to travel. The night before was a snowfall that actually stuck to the ground due to enough days of freezing temperatures.

View from Ryan’s apartment window in Pittsburgh.

The next day we headed to the airport early. I was glad that the priority lounges was open to get food and have a drink. Yes, it was the morning… It is 5 o’clock somewhere as they say…

At the connection in Chicago……

View of central Wisconsin from the airplane.

At Becca’s we ate some amazing cheese curds. Here they are battered and fried. Really delicious. Later she made a Moroccan dinner to celebrate my birthday. I miss the international dinners we used to make together for my birthday.

We went for a small hike at a sculpture park, shopped at some thrift stores, and drank coffee while waiting for a surprise Becca had for us.

The thrift store had a resident cat named Ivy who found people who obviously like kitties.

Sculpture Park

This sculpture symbolizes slow changes and allowing things to just happen.

This one symbolizes agony and the changes that takes place when you let it just happen and unfold.

Ryan, myself, Becca, and her boyfriend Ryan. It is -9C today and it’s the warmest it will be.

We stopped at a small convenience store. I like looking at the food in different areas.

Individual cheese and meat for sandwiches.

I love the cranberries are called red pearls.

The surprise was a brewery tour. Point brewery is the second oldest independent brewery in the states. The first is a brewery in PA. Their image is a person in an original photo that no one ever could identify. Maybe I could work as a tester inn a brewery. I do have a biology degree.

With Ryan’s dad (Becca’s boyfriend Ryan)

To get the vats in they let them with a crane from the ceiling.

Our tour guide recommended a restaurant in Stevens Point called Guu’s. It was fabulous. Fried cheese curds, mini Reubens, elote corn dip, fried green beans….

At night we went to granite peak ski resort. They had fireworks at night and the kids took turns skiing. I would cross country ski but not downhill.

I loved my new phone. Such good pictures!

It was brutally cold on Sunday. -18C and close to 0 in F. We went on a short hike which was beautiful walking in the winter scenery.

After returning I learned flights to China were cancelled to keep COVID cases down for the Olympics. I managed to fly back again to see Becca and her boyfriend Ryan. She assured me it would be warmer. Not really….. Plus a snowstorm delayed my landing for five hours. I’m glad I made it though!

We went to downtown Wausau. Cold but walked some places they had both been. On the way I saw three houses on the river for ice fishing.

Spring is close. Buds are just beginning.

We then went to the museum of dairy farming. It is a historical museum of the area. I love looking at old pictures and maps.

Here is what you do when you want to soak in the light in a Wisconsin winter!

So grateful that my Friday in the States allowed me time to visit one more time, even if briefly.

Tionesta, PA

Both my mom and aunt live in Tionesta. It is a distance from Pittsburgh and I haven’t seen her in some time as well. Much better to talk in person instead of through Skype.

I helped my mom with some tasks and put together some shelves for my aunt. There was garbage to burn and I loved the little “she” shed of my aunt’s. We thought this was the only visit I would be able to make but when flights to China were cancelled I was able to go visit a couple more times. Snowy winter weather meant shoveling as well as other ways to help. My mom makes great grilled cheese…..

Sunni and I booked two nights at an inn at a winery. We liked it so much we booked it again a month later when we came up to visit. As I start teaching online soon, I will need to be up at night to teach synchronously with my school in China. Traveling to visit again may be difficult.

The winter weather in our second trip made for some beautiful pictures.

Glistening ice on trees on a beautiful sunny day. It’s beautiful, but I miss warmer weather….

Of course we drank wine but made a pretend drink like a coronarita using wine and fireball shots. We didn’t actually drink it, it was a spoof picture.

Worthington

It has been a long time since I’ve seen my brother and sister-in-law. I have really missed them and looking forward to spending time with them. One of the things I have missed is watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel while drinking some wine. For the first few days that is what I did, though I did fall asleep often. Between COVID and flu shots and jet lag, it was a strange first week.

I still managed to get some time in while also spending some great time with my sister in law Sunni and my brother Ken. Ryan came up to celebrate birthday on December 24th and I then went back to Pittsburgh with him. I spent most of them weekdays in Worthington and weekends with Ryan. We didn’t go many places due to COVID-19 and instead enjoyed each other’s company.

Views from runs

After a weekend in Pittsburgh I rented a car and came back to Worthington. From there we went shopping and drove to Tionesta to stay at a winery and visit my mother and aunt (another blog post).

Then one morning (January 5), I woke up and found that China had changed the entry requirements. Now there are more tests and a 7 day requirement to be in the city of departure before leaving for China. Never mind this is literally the day after I return from Wisconsin and that I had made other plans. The good news is that I had done most of the things I wanted to do before that as it was a possibility anything could change.

I then changed my hotel in LA, requested the tests, and cancelled the other things I could. Ryan wanted me to go back to Pittsburgh a day earlier to spend more time with him so I quickly packed everything I had to get ready to bring everything to his place. I met Ryan in Butler at a Mexican restaurant. It was a great dinner with Ken, Sunni, and Ryan.

I will also miss the kitties and puppies, especially Groot and Jax, the coolest cats. Actually Groot is pretty difficult to get along with but I think he liked me. It was difficult to say goodbye to Nina. She’s used to be my dog, and loves her new home, but still remembers me.

Putting a wrinkle into future plans was the announcement a few days later that China Southern flights are suspended due to 5 COVID cases. This means I may be stuck in the US. Though it means more time with family, it also means I have to teach online in the middle of the night.

Not only were flights cancelled for a few airlines, the majority of flights were all cancelled through the end of February. This is primarily due to the Olympics in Beijing and Chinese new year celebrations. They want to keep the cases of COVID in low numbers.

I will be enjoying more time with family and cats and dogs!

Eventually we had a foot of snow and also some very cold temperatures (-8C to -21C). What else do you do besides shoveling? Make snow angels!

The cats don’t know what they are missing outside…

Traveling in the age of covid

I had not posted about the process of having traveled to a medium or high risk area here in China. The last time I was actually quarantined for 3 days and was anxious about this time. This is what happens in China. I must note that high risk area might only have a dozen cases and they quickly lock Dien anxious buildings and test all the contacts of those people. All of this takes the numbers down quickly.

I not only had the covid test to get on the plane in Shanghai, but everyone had one when they came off the plane. They are really organized and streamlined. The process only took 45 minutes. They made sure by taking us by bus so that people did not walk through the airport and mingle before getting the test. Once back home you must contact your community health office. I messaged mine through the WeChat app (they are used to dealing with me….). I must have 3 more tests in the next 13 days. I have documents that get the tests for free but must be completed at a specific center. I can go to work but asked to limit my gatherings with people. At issue will be the Christmas party which is on my 13th day. I may not be allowed to go (and this time many more people from school also traveled to Shanghai). If you miss tests, they will change your code to restrict your movement.

The process: They had an organized line from baggage which gave time to register or open the app. This gives a qr code tied to your phone number and passport. This way it shows on your health code and is tracked if anyone on the plane shows positive test result.

This is the qr code for the app. A worker scans the code then scans the bar code of the test vial.

Multiple stations are used for rapid throat swabs. Then you are free to go. You have to contact the local health officer in your neighborhood or you will be tracked down.

This is the suikang health code that keeps all testing and vaccination records. I show this code every day to go to school and to enter my apartment building. You also show it when you enter any commercial or government building. It can be turned yellow or red if you do not get the tests or was in a high risk area. You cannot enter buildings if that happens or may be quarantined.

In the suikang code you can click to see the Nucleic acid test results. They all show here and is pretty handy so you don’t have to go back and get the result on paper. The first one is my test at the airport and was completed in 5 hours.

This is another app that shows where you have been. There is a little asterisk that shows I was in an area with cases. It will go away after 14 days and then will only show being in Guangzhou. But until then I may not be allowed in some places. Places with high volume will look at this app and not the other one.

This is what a red code looks like. You would be quarantined in your apartment or a quarantine facility and not able to go anywhere. I have obviously been quarantined from travel. Thankfully not this last one.

Changing plans: covid and weather

At night we visited the south part of the wall where much of the Nanjing Massacre events took place. We looked forward to seeing the other ancient city the next day. But disruptions…

Lotus seed. I had been eating them with the green skin which made it bitter. The seed itself is delicious especially without the skin.

Pickled fish, broccoli, and salted duck.

The south gate of the Nanjing city wall.

A performance about the history of the building of the wall and events through history.

From the top of the last section of gate. See the design in the image below.

This was the first time this design had been used for fortifying the city gate.

The top of this gate is massive with ramps for moving equipment up onto the wall.

We knew a typhoon was making landfall near Guangzhou. Jack’s flight to Guangzhou was cancelled by the time we awoke the next day but no indication that our train from Nanjing to Luoyang had a similar fate. We had seen in the news there was flooding in that province but was not sure if it was involved.

We also read the news that 9 covid cases had been identified in workers at the Nanjing Airport putting it at medium risk. We flew in there two days earlier. This will mean a virus test (as it is required if you were there after July 7). Our health code will most likely turn yellow as soon as we arrive to Guangzhou.

We headed to the train station thinking it was all okay but all trains and flights were cancelled going to Guangzhou and anywhere in Henan province. We booked a ticket to Shanghai by train as going east to that city gave us more options to travel out. We also booked a flight to Guangzhou but it was for late at night and was delayed as well. We did manage to find a nice hotel at the airport that charged 150 Rmb ($25) to stay there 4 hours. We stayed a total of 8.

I was bummed that we could not go to luoyang but if we would have been there we would not be able to get out of the flood zone. They received the same amount of rainfall they get in one year in just under a week of rain. It is terrible.

The one thing we did not want to do was to stay in Nanjing any longer. At the time of our flight, the number of cases became 17. A long day to get home.