China Trip - Overview

On August 16, we left on a big adventure in China with our daughter-in-law Weina and our grandson William Haoren ("Hao Hao").  Weina wanted to take little William back to China to meet her family and friends, and Matt couldn't get leave from his new position, so we volunteered to travel with Weina and William as sherpas.

To get ready for the trip, we put the RV and truck in storage locally here near Portland, Maine, and put the three cats into the tender care of a local pet sitter, then flew from Portland to JFK airport in New York City, where we met Weina for a flight connection through Toronto to Shanghai.

The trip would last 5 weeks, with us arriving back in Portland on September 20, and Weina and William arriving home in Guyaquil on September 21.  Most of the trip went according to schedule except our final flights home, when our plane from Shanghai arrived in Toronto two hours late.  This forced us to change our flights and leave Weina and William in Toronto.  However, all got home safe and on schedule.

When the trip started, William was just 10 months old.  When we returned, he was 11 months.  Here's a short video of him, taken in the home of William's grandfather (or Lao Ye), Weina's father, Xing Yu Lian.

Mr. Xing lives in the village of Dao Ji, located in the town of Ze Tou in Wen Deng County, Shandong Province.  Dao Ji is located on a large peninsula on the East Coast of Shanghai, Southeast of Beijing and across the East China Sea not far from the border between North Korea and South Korea:

Our itinerary called for us to:

1. Arrive in Shanghai and drive to Nantong, which is Northwest of Shanghai, to stay in an apartment of Weina's sister, Hai Ni, and Hai Ni's husband Fan, for a few days.

2. We were then to fly on to Chongqing, in South Central China, where Weina and Matt met when they were teaching at Chongqing Jiaotong University.

3. After that, we took the train to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, located West of Chongqing, where Weina wanted to visit a friend who also has a baby.

4. A few days later, we flew from Chengdu to Yan Tai and drove to Weina's family's village, Dao Ji, where we stayed 12 days.

5. During our stay at the village, we took a 2 day trip up to Wei Hai to stay at a beautiful resort hotel on the beach.

6. After the village, we flew from Yan Tai back to Shanghai and spent another 12 days in Nantong, visiting again with Fan's family.

7. Finally, we drove back to Shanghai and spend two days there before flying home.