Tuesday May 27
Day 10
Sunday (sat for you) we drove to Hangzhou and immediately went to the theater to load-in. We worked til midnight and slept. Yesterday I spent the day teaching my Chinese girls how to pincurl. They learned well but I think they ultimately got bored with the project. They certainly were willing to leave when we were done. The show went pretty well. It is so humid and Max has to dance prior to Firebird so trying to get his appliances on and made up in 5 minutes was a joke, but it went ok this time. Got all the girls done on time and the show went pretty well.
We came back to the hotel and had a party in one room, got in trouble and moved the party down the hall. I finally left around 2:45 but I understand it didn't end until 5. kinda crazy -- very "kids on spring break" but no bad stuff.
I slept in and finally got up around noon and decided to have an adventure. While I was at the concierge desk Carol, our electrician came over and I invited her to join me. She and I taxied into the downtown area. (The hotel is on the outskirts of town where lots of new building is going on) and we walked around. The downtown stores could have been valley fair except there are tons of clerks who stand and watch you every second… not necessarily to assume you might be shoplifting but to be able to assist you in any way... very unusual. We took a taxi to what was supposed to be the silk museum but it turned out to be a silk store and we walked around that area which was a financial district. We wandered into a hotel which I think was run by a German company for directions. They helped us find the museum on the map and it was close to the city zoo. Carol and I decided to go to the zoo instead to see the panda bear. it is a pretty zoo but a lot was empty and it seemed very old. However, we had fun wandering around. Once finished we spent some time trying to get a taxi back to town. The driver didn't know where our hotel was (I had brought a map in Chinese but it didn't help) so we had him take us back to the Goethe hotel and then we were going to take another taxi back to the Tianyuan hotel. At the hotel the guy told us it was taxi shift change and we should wait for a while. We went to the lobby bar, had ice teas and talked and talked. Btw, the taxi back from the zoo made Mr. toad's wild ride look tame! When we left the hotel it was thundering and storming. I am now back in my room watching the lightening over the city. I’m on the 22nd floor.
We leave tomorrow to bus back to the shanghai airport for our flight to dongguan. Hopefully, I’m going out to dinner now, since neither carol nor I really stopped for lunch -- missed breakfast too for that matter. All in all it was a nice day.

Wednesday, May 28
Day 11
Well, up early to load the bus to go back to Shanghai Airport – about 3 hours. Fortunately, we have 3 buses so no one is crowded. Got to the airport and while I thought we would just go to the plane, no, had to go through airport security and baggage check. We got back on our beautiful plane with Maria as the Firebird on the tail and Karen and Rudy on the other side. The flight crew was waiting with apple and chocolate martinis, champage, well, you name it – and lunch. We thought we’d take off right away but because of the earthquake there are earthquake dams which may break and they needed the runways for emergency planes. We wait about an hour and finally took off for a 2 hour flight to Shen Yuen. We got to Shen Yuen and got our baggage and jumped onto buses for Dongguan. Another 2 hours. Finally got to the hotel and it is s very Chinese hotel – incense and décor – pretty nice actually. My bathroom has both a tub and a huge shower stall. We have been told that this location is the most risky and that we should travel in groups but the hotel is only about 5 minutes from the theater and it is s very busy part of town. So far I have eaten Pizza Hut twice, had McDonald’s last night (only thing open at 11:00 pm) and 2 Japanese restaurants. Had Chinese food in the theater canteens and it was very cafeteria food – plenty of it but pretty bland. The western economic influence is enormous. The Chinese people are extremely kind, willing and smart. Went to sleep and am getting used to the hard beds… finally. Certainly love the cotton duvets to sleep under, light and warm.

Thursday, May 29, 2008
Day 12
Got up early to get over to the theater to start my maintenance on the 9 wigs. Pretty much have spent day getting the girls thoroughly tidied up. They are staying pretty nice, its just that 3 ft of wig takes a lot of brushing to keep up. Les and I had lunch in a very nice Japanese restaurant and I’m back at the theatre finishing up stuff. Our work visas are only good for a short time so we have to have our picture taken again for another visa. More details and rules & regs. The logistics of this trip are a nightmare. So much to think about. Getting people, baggage, sets and costumes from place to place takes a huge effort on everyone’s part. It is really amazing. The city of Dongguan looks like all the cities so far – lots of 1960s buildings, and most in need of repair. The air quality is horrible. I am always sweaty and steaming. I feel like I’m in a steambath 24/7. We had a thunder shower this morning and that reduced the humidity for a while. The hotel air conditioning only works when you have your room key in a special device that activates the electrical to the room. I think they turn off the air conditioning when the building is not in use because it was awful last night but now is s comfortable level. Carol is my “goddess of the day” because she went and got me not 1 but 2 small fans for my room to help Max dry off for the green makeup. I pay homage to “she-who-must-be-obeyed” on all things electrical.