China: Day 2: July 6, 2010

Wednesday (although it is still Tuesday back home). Of course, there is the jet lag: what time is it REALLY? We arrived at 10am, and tried our best to stay up all day. Not an easy task despite how excited I was.

We are staying at the Shekou Merchant Hotel Training Center. This is truly a traditional Chinese hotel with a staff which has very limited English. The manager told us when were gathered for our first meal here that we were the first large American group staying here. They are working very hard at understanding our needs and taking good care of us. It leads to some funny conversations, though. People acting out what they need, like more hangers. Some are struggling to get used to the VERY hard mattresses, almost like sleeping on just the box springs. So far we haven’t been able to sort out whether or not the tea which is drunk with every meal has caffeine or not (I’m thinking it does).

We will be eating both breakfast and lunch at the hotel dinning room nearly every day, and every meal is a feast! Huge platters of food served family style around three large tables. So far it has been mostly wonderful. We have several vegetarians with the group and they are doing fine. Some of the meat falls into the “mystery meat” category…not really my favorite! But baby bok choy sautéed in garlic and butter…lots of amazing chicken dishes, and stir-fries, and fish of all types. The food is so fresh and delicious. It must be serious watermelon season here, because we see it everywhere on the streets and that has been dessert at every meal so far, too.

These first couple of days are just rest, settle in, figure out how everything works, like the internet, what time is it REALLY, the meals, the food and water.

Several of us went walking in the afternoon, getting the layoff the land and some Chinese currency. I had brought along cash and had some of my money rejected as “too old” (some of the older twenty dollar bills….they only like it new and crispy. Luckily, the ATM machines will give us money from Visa or debit cards.

The weather is so humid, and up near 100 degrees. They say it has cooled down, but even the breezes blowing blows hot. We are right next to a High School with a great out door swimming pool, which we are going to be able to make arrangements to swim in.

We were looking for foot massages, and didn’t find it them, but did find a grocery store to buy water. Can’t drink the tap water, except boiled in tea or coffee.

But when at dinner I asked staff where a good place was to get a massage, the hotel manager said that whoever wanted a massage should meet in the lobby at 7:30 and we’d go get one. Four of us women took her up on that, and we ended up being driven by van to a very nice salon. There were all put in a room with four lounger type chairs and each got a 70 minute foot soak and massage, as well as work on our shoulders legs, arms and back. They all happened while we were watching Chinese TV. How much did this service cost? 55 Yuan, which is $8 American. Best deal in town. We all about melted into our seats, the mounds of tension draining away. We will have to do more of this. We still haven’t found the “famous blind people massage center”. Hotel staff swear that blind people give the best massages. We’ll have to see if we can’t give that a try, too.

Finally, falling off into bed at 10:00pm local time, God only knows what time my body thinks it is. But we are here!