China Gourmet Trip (1) - 9/20/07 Journey Begins

On September 20, 2007, I began a Gourmet Trip to China for 2 weeks. This trip was planned by me in coordination with the Huaian City Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. There were 8 people in our small group which was a very cozy and convenient size to travel.

Our trip covered 3 provinces in China: Jiangsu, Shandong, and Hebei 【江蘇、山東、河北三省】; and traveled through 9 cities: Shanghai, Yangzhou, Huaian, Linyi, Taian, Qingdao, Beijing, Chengde, and Qinghuangdao.

Since this trip was planned with a "Gourmet" theme, our meals were planned out carefully with many great Chinese food and interesting regional/local specialties including some eye-opening exotic dishes.

To reach my first stop in China - Shanghai, I took the 7:00 AM plane with a transit stop in San Francisco. There I met with my travel companion, Shirley, who flew out from New York City to join me on this journey.
Shirley and I took the 13-hour direct flight from San Francisco to Shanghai on United Airlines.

We left Pudong airport at 5:30 PM and crossed the Nan-Pu Bridge to reach my friend Jennifer's apartment on the west side of Shanghai(Pu-Xi). Since it was during rush hour, the drive took over 2 hours!

By the time we unpacked in the apartment, we were both too exhausted to go out and find dinner in a strange city. Instead, we found some eggs and sausages in the refrigerator and made ourselves a simple dinner.

Our adventure in Shanghai would begin the next day.....