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We quit work in Shenzhen and took a noon flight to Ningbo and our vacation finally began. Our noon flight left on time and we were happy on arrival in Ningbo to find that there was an airport bus. Arriving at airports, railway and bus stations always involves running the gauntlet of hotel and taxi touts which is much easier to bear when you know where and how you are going. The airport bus was economical (5 RMB or 60 cents) and trouble free. The bus driver had no interest in diverting us to a hotel that would pay him commission, so we knew the bus would go exactly where advertised. The fact that we didn’t know quite where that was, didn’t matter too much. As it turns out, it stopped at the train station and just two blocks from the hotel we had chosen out of our CITS hotel guide.

Once at the train station, we used our mobile phone to call the Ningbo Hotel and book a room. We were pleased to find that the receptionist spoke English and that the price was as expected. Our only small surprise was to find that the last half block of our two-block walk (rolling our luggage on a wheeled trolley) was along a street that had been completely dug up for reconstruction. Luckily the distance was short enough that by carrying it like a stretcher we managed to get the trolley and bags safely to the hotel door.

Hotels, as you know, are a big part of our lives. We have lived in them on and off for about a year now. In China, we find the hotels are usually very acceptable, some more so than others. The Ningbo Hotel was above average but is mostly memorable because of a young lady at the reception desk who not only spoke good English, but also was very helpful in making phone calls for us to help us on the next stage of our journey, which was a ferry to the Buddhist pilgrimage site and resort island of Putuoshan. With her help, we called a hotel on the island and booked a room and learned that we could get a ferry at about nine the next morning. With travel plans set, we left the hotel to explore Ningbo for the hour or two left before dark.

We knew nothing at all about Ningbo, but armed with a map we planned to wander towards the center of town and then come back to the hotel for a buffet dinner. Meals are often served buffet style in hotels. We like them because we can see what we are going to eat before we order it, although it does require some discipline if we are not to overeat. Alas we don’t always succeed in that effort.

Soon after we left the hotel, as Gerry was stopping to take a picture, Jan noticed people going into a bulding that looked a little like a temple. At the gate, she met a woman and asked her, in Chinese, what the building was. To Jan’s surprise she actually understood the answer, it was a museum (bo wu guan)! It turned out to be what is called Tian Yi Pavilion. It’s not entirely clear what the recent history of the place is, but it now houses a rich family’s ancestral hall from the Ming dynasty, a private library that the literature said was the largest in China, a wonderful stage, gardens and various other bits and pieces that we didn’t get to see before it closed.

When we emerged from the other side of the museum, we found ourselves in a neighborhood that was as close as we had seen to a traditional Chinese neighborhood. Most remarkable was how clean this place was. Like many third world countries, we find that China does not seem to have the resources to spend on keeping itself clean. Piles of garbage in the street are not uncommon and we frequently gasp at the way that people throw litter out of bus or train windows or simply drop things on the street as they walk. Somehow, however, the neighborhood of Tian Yi Pavilion was as spick as span as any Swiss village. It did not look rich, but those who lived there obviously cared about it and kept it very clean. On the wall of a small square, we found part of the answer. A list of do’s and don’ts that the neighborhood committee seems to have put up.

We continued our walk towards the center of town and happened by a small storefront with an old treadle sewing machine. On Gerry’s urging, Jan stopped and asked if the owner could shorten her pants for her. Jan had bought them in Shenzhen and had misjudged the length by about an inch. The lady agreed and for the exorbitant price of 25 cents (Jan actually gave her 40), did a very careful job. On we went and found an interesting shopping area and a very lovely riverside park. Overall, we liked what we saw of Ningbo. It had a comfortable, small-town feel to it and seemed overall to be very well-tended