Mission Accomplished

The "party bus" met us at Logan airport last night instead of a white stretch limo to give us more space and a greater weight capacity for the drive back to Cambridge. We returned exhausted but excited about our trip and the many memories and new friends that were made. Two days before, we had returned from Yibin to Chengdu in a pouring rain - finally the rain jackets were needed! The Longhis were still at Elizabeth's hometown in Yanghzhou and were due to meet us in Shanghai Saturday afternoon. Kiara and Em were looking forward to swimming in the roof deck pool, but with all the rain it did not look promising. Terry our tour guide assured us that it would clear up later in the day but that was looking more like polite Chinese optimism rather than reality. We requested a stop at McDonalds before dropping us off at our hotel, and we ate, relaxed, and wrote postcards while we waited out the rain. The girls and Barb and John went to the gameroom while Debbie rested in hopes of recovering from an upset stomach. The rain let up a little and the girls got their wish to swim in the cool pool. Dinner was takeout from Pizza Hut - yum! - which we walked to from the hotel passing by Gucci, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton stores. Chengdu has certainly gone upscale in the past 9 years. Later that night, Kiara sniffled in bed and said that she did not want to go home. Our trip had gone by so fast and she wanted more time in China. She decided to return with her friends in 2019 and would start planning as soon as she returned home. We could want nothing more than for her and the rest of the girls to feel the same way, coming away with a love for China their homeland and a desire to return.

The next day, we savored the wonderful Dynasty Hotel breakfast buffet after slim pickins in Yibin for breakfast. The girls and John did ok with mostly Chinese noodles and dumplings for breakfast in Yibin, but Debbie and Barb started the Yibin days with toast and lukewarm tea. Terry our guide picked us up for our 2-hour morning flight to Shanghai where we met Sue our local Shanghai guide and joined the rest of the tour.

We arrived at the hotel in Shanghai in early afternoon and oohed and aahhed at the beautiful lobby at the 5 star hotel. Only a few families from the original tour group remained. Our girls were happy to see Carly, Camille, and Molly, their new friends, again. We visited a beautiful garden and then went bargain hunting in the many shops outside the garden. It was hot, hot, HOT and even Sue the tour guide was dripping sweat. Sue treated the girls to Dairy Queen-yup, a DQ right there in Shanghai-and Starbucks was looking good but there was shopping to be done.

Afterwards, we made a quick stop to the Bund along the river for pictures. Beautiful views and turtles. Too bad we didn't have time to see more of Shanghai. Maybe next trip! :)

Some of our group went to dinner with Tony our OCDF guide, but the Burns, Longhis, and O'Rileys had had their share of Chinese food so we all went to the hotel buffet which was topped off by a white chocolate fountain for dessert. All the girls went for a late-night swim and closed the pool down. Molly, Carly, and Camille joined them the next morning for more pool time before we had to say goodbye.

Fun at the pool in Shanghai with Molly, Carly, Camille, & Kiara

We left for the airport around Noon Sunday and spent lots of time in lines before we boarded our plane for Chicago around 3pm. Long, long, LONG flight with little sleep had by the adults. Barely made it through baggage pickup and customs at O'Hare for the 6pm flight to Boston. We touched down in Boston around 9:15pm with thoughts of China and pizza in our heads.