So, even after being exhausted, I still woke up at three in the morning and did not fall back asleep. So I decided to watch some television, even though I have no idea what the people are saying. First thing I hear is Gangnam Style. Nice way to start the morning.
We had decided to eat breakfast at the hotel, which was about 20 yuan a person. It was a buffet of many different breakfast foods, all of which were good.
After breakfast, we all piled into the van that brought us from the airport and that would take us to Qufu. We were told it would be a seven hour ride.
We had decided to eat breakfast at the hotel, which was about 20 yuan a person. It was a buffet of many different breakfast foods, all of which were good.
After breakfast, we all piled into the van that brought us from the airport and that would take us to Qufu. We were told it would be a seven hour ride.
The first hour or so was ok, but then we hit some traffic. I thought it would clear up soon, but we just sat there. Eventually the driver got out of the car to see what was happening. After 20 minutes of sitting there, the traffic started to move again and we saw that an off ramp was backed up onto the highway, causing the traffic. So, we we grateful it was a short delay and were soon off again...
Until we hit some more traffic. This time it was construction. Summer time here is construction time. So there is a lot of traffic and backed up highways. But no one in China knows when or where construction will be, so when one is driving, it is always a gamble as to whether or not one will get stuck in a construction traffic jam.
Anyway, the driver turned off the engine, which was miserable, since it was hot and humid that day. Matt, Makenzi, Jeremy, and I all got out of the car and walked around, which felt good after sitting in the car for so long. I got curious about what was happening, so I walked towards the area and much to my surprise was told by Andy that I could go look at the construction if I wanted. In America, construction worked will not let one get too close, but here in China, it is easy to go up to the site and "inspect" the work. Turns out they were fixing some foundation support beams under the road, so they had to close all lanes of traffic to let the crane work.
This took about two hours of sitting and waiting, during which time us four walked around and talked. Finally, the crane was finished, and so they let one lane of traffic through. By this point, I am guessing that there was at least five to six miles of traffic backed up behind us.
After a few hours, we stopped to use the restrooms and to get some lunch. Makenzi and I decided to share a plate, so we got a celery salad, tofu, some sort of noodles, and a cucumber salad, all of which was very good.
From there, we headed straight to Qufu (with a couple stops along the way) and after ten hours of travel from Beijing to Qufu, we made. Such a long, tiring day