Suzhou Here We Come

One step closer our final destination.

Moving Day

After three nights in our Shanghai hotel, it was time to relocate to Suzhou for the remainder of our quarantine. We were given a window of time from 7:30am-8am, and I was up and packed well before then, excited to leave and jumping at every noise in the hallway. At last there was a knock at the door! Most graciously, an attendant in full hazmat gear offered to take our larger bags for us, so I was spared half of another harrowing journey as I only had to bump a single bag down the flights, one stair at a time. The attendant, as it turned out, was allowed to use the elevator, so our bags were magically waiting for us at the bottom. Outside we were issued surgical gloves, heavy white N95 masks (to wear instead of our own masks), and a large circular orange sticker emblazoned with "Suzhou" in Chinese characters. After our temperature was taken (which made me slightly anxious after my "workout" on the stairs) we each received a stamped paper with our name and passport number before loading our luggage and boarding the bus.

Kunshan

The journey to the transfer facility was under an hour long. We soon arrived at a converted expo center in Kunshan, a city in Jiangsu province sandwiched between Shanghai to the east and Suzhou to the west. This serves as the main point of conveyance and further divides visitors into their respective destinations. After passing through temperature measurement, friendly and fully-suited attendants direct you to various holding areas, designated by city and separated by low, open barrier fences. We were give another sticker, blue this time with "SIP" to signify "Suzhou Industrial Park". Last year, we waited on small stools separated 6 feet from each other until our bus arrived. This time, our names were checked and one of the attendants made a phone call before beckoning us to follow him. Feeling very VIP, we followed him outside and loaded our suitcases into the back of a large van where they were sprayed with disinfectant. We climbed aboard and were on our way, just the two of us! I felt very fortunate to receive such treatment. Traffic was unusually heavy but it was fun to slowly recognize the landscape as we drew closer to our beloved city. I could hardly wait to see where we would be staying!