Hangzhou, China 2014

Summer Mission Trip to Hangzhou, China -- July 2014

Having some spare time before our next trip in November, I thought I would post some pictures of our trip to China. Last summer, ChC and I went on a short two-week mission trip with a small group to Hangzhou, China. He taught English to young students and I did some training classes to a group of teachers in a city about two-hour drive from Hangzhou. It was a short but memorable trip.

Waiting for our plane at LAX.

Upper deck of this A380 China Southern flight to Guangzhou. It really made a difference being on the upper deck, with less passengers and a lot quieter even in economy.

Not very appealing.

Second meal was better.

Arriving at Guangzhou airport.

Waiting for our flight to Hangzhou.

Leaving for Hangzhou.

Bread, bread, and more bread but they were good though!

Ride from the airport to our hotel.

Some random street scene while we were on the bus.

A Walmart.

Arriving at our hotel.

We were put up in this hotel by our host organization. Very different from my first mission trip in 1993.

ChC and I shared this room on the weekends while I was in Hangzhou. He got the room to himself during the week when I was teaching in Jiande.

First day out, walking to the nearby West Lake.

I did not know that "Master Kong" has an actual noodle restaurant. I thought it was just a brand of instant noodles.

Beautiful West Lake. We have been here several times before in the past.

Lots of visitors!

Back to the hotel.

We tried the individual hot pot one evening which was very good.

A fantastic dinner by our host.

Attending church service on a raining Sunday.

Young service helpers joined hands in prayer after the service at the foyer. A heart-warming scene.

Entrance

My hotel room in Jiande. We were treated quite nicely by the school officials.

2-week Staff Development training--well-attended

near the hotel

Looking down at the main street of the city from my room.

I could see the river a few blocks away.

Main Street Jiande

Field trip to the river on a hot summer afternoon.

The water was surprisingly cold, icy cold!

Back to Hangzhou for the weekend.

Rock Church in Hangzhou, a very new church in the outskirt of Hangzhou where we held some classes.

Enjoying a meal at a Thai restaurant near West Lake.

We had some spare time on a Saturday so we went on a day trip to Shanghai.

This is an old shopping area which I don't remember the name of.

Had fun shopping and bargaining.

food stall

Then we came to the Yue Garden area.

Busy as always

At the Bund looking over to the Pudong side of the river. With blonde, brunettes and red-head in our group, we soon became THE attraction. People actually came up to have their pictures taken.

"God is the Living Rock" -- at the Rock Church

Santuary

Education Building

Students in Jiande treated us to a KTV (karaoke) afternoon. My first KTV experience, in a huge private room.

Time to go home. We left on a day when they had the military air-traffic control and our plane from Hangzhou to Guangzhou was delayed for several hours. This was what the airline passed out for dinner as we waited at the airport.

When we arrived at Guangzhou airport, our plane for Los Angeles had left already. An airline employee met us at the door as we came off the plane and took us to the terminal to arrange for a flight the next day. They also provided hotel vouchers for the night at a hotel and each of us got our own room. Everything worked fine at the airport but when we got to the hotel that was where the problem started. It was just a total mess. The hotel just couldn't handle all the passengers that were sent to them from the different airlines and flights. Good thing I can speak Mandarin because none of the hotel employees could understand English. I had to push my way through the mass to be served. 

Finally checked into our rooms. Pretty decent room for one person. We were so tired that night we all slept in til late the next morning and missed breakfast.

We did not know where we were but we ventured out to the neighborhood in the morning.

Very different from Shanghai, Hangzhou, or even Jiande.

Time to get back to the airport for our flight back home. No clear direction was given by the hotel regarding the shuttles, so we all waited outside the hotel hoping for the best. We had to literally fight our way on to the bus when it became available. What a trip!

I decided to treat everyone in our group a pizza dinner at the airport as we waited for our flight back home. 

A nice ending to this trip. 

Dinner on the plane

Not too bad, actually!