Unexpected stopover in Ningbo

Before leaving Taichung on June 25th, we bought face masks.  Not that we ever wore them, however, even in the smog of Beijing! 

We had one enormous mango left, which we ate waiting for the train to Taipei to catch our flight to China.

Sweet and delicious!

Again, I set my shutter speed on 1/500, and took pictures of the country side as we speed towards Taipei. You never know what you're going to get at 100+ miles an hour!

I was pleased when I saw that I had inadvertently captured a Daoist temple in the field!

Many of the freeways were raised, especially in the cities--a very expensive way to build, according to Bruce.

Amazing to see lush green fields right next to bustling cities.

 It's a little hard to see in this photo, but every once in a while we would past a cluster of rooms or small houses attached to each other around a courtyard.  Based on the book I've been listening to, The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck, I wonder if they would just add on a room when needed.

Here's Bruce's account of our adventure when our flight landed in Ningbo:

No  matter how you look at it, it is unsettling to be in an airport where your connecting flight has been cancelled.  Such was our case in Ninbo, China.  We were headed for Xi'An from Taipei and our flight had been delayed about an hour.  There was nothing we could do.  We knew we were going to be in thick trouble when we saw the lines and realized that we needed to get into China with the usual passport check and visa review, then get a boarding pass, go through security and finally make it to the gate.  I gulped hard when I saw the sign, "Gate closes 15 minutes before departure."  I glanced at my watch again.  The connecting China Eastern flight to Xi'An was supposed to leave at 2:00 p.m. and my watch said 10:50.  After correcting for the 15 hour difference between Tucson and Ningbo, I realized it was 1:50 p.m. local time and there was no way we were going to make the scheduled connection.  When we finally made it through the first line admitting us into the country, we had nowhere else to go.  It took Craig only a moment to assess the situation and ask someone with a name tag and then lead us to the customer service counter.

There were three young girls, probably in their twenties, at the desk.  With a broad smile and sparkling eyes, Craig greeted the girls.  I could tell from their surprised expressions that they were amazed that this tall blond American would be speaking so comfortably in Mandarin.  From their manner it was easy to see that somehow Craig was making them feel at ease.  His friendly and laughing demeanor had to have been a welcome approach after handling complaining customers.  When Craig explained our predicament to them he was surprised to learn that our flight hadn't departed after all--it had been cancelled!  His friendly approach coupled with his appreciative compliments had all three of the girls not just wanting to help, but  vying for his attention. 

He asked for the comment book and began writing in Chinese how kind and helpful these girls were.  He complimented their boss on hiring such capable and helpful people and signed his comments with the added note--Craig Call, BYU International Folk Dancer.  He even did a little ditty as he explained what that meant.  The girls laughed and joked, pleased that they had the good fortune of meeting such a celebrity.

As it turned out, there was not another flight to Xi'An that day, but Craig's playful banter had not been in vain.  He arranged for a hotel and meals (dinner and breakfast) plus shuttle to and from the airport all on the airline's nickle.  The attendant's were happy, their boss pleased, and we had an adventure awaiting us in Ningbo for a day.

Back to Mary Lee: 
We checked the guide book to see what might be interesting in Ningbo and found only a short paragraph describing two worthy sights:  Tianyige, the oldest private library in China, and a Portuguese Catholic Church.  We opted for the library, and it was very interesting.  It gave us a sense of how a wealthy family lived in the 1500s during the Ming dynasty.  It looked similar to what was described in The Good Earth about the home of a wealthy family.

Stone mosaics on the walkways

The hotel that Air China put us up in was located only a few moments from the airport. The translated name was charming:  "Fly With Pleasure Hotel."  Bruce said it was constructed well, but it was practically deserted and not very appealing--dusty and dark. Even though there was a restaurant, I seemed to recall that the attendant at Air China had suggested we have dinner elsewhere.  So after visiting the library in downtown Ningbo, we crossed the street into what looked like an area with hotels and restaurants. We spotted the Howard Johnson, a very tall, very large hotel complex, and headed for it.  We weren't disappointed!

There was a dinner buffet, but it cost $45 per person, so we opted to order a la carte. While we were waiting for our food, I walked around the buffet, and when I returned to our table, I said, "Well, I'm disappointed that because we're not doing the buffet, I won't be able to have the poached bull frog."  Without missing a beat, Craig replied, "Oh, I know how you have missed that," and we all burst out laughing!

Poached bullfrog

Our food was very good--I had a seafood stew with local shrimp:

As we were finishing dinner, two musicians came up to a small stage and began performing love ballads from the 1970s and 80s in English. The girl had a lovely voice. Later they set up in the lobby, where we took this picture.