The TRIP day 1
As usual, we packed the car in rush and tried to get on the road as fast we could. Where is my driving license? Still not found as I write this blog. Wonder what the penalty in China is for not having your driving license with you? Able to rent the RV with wife’s driving license as it was required, wonder what she does with it as she never drives here? Anyway, we did not let this stop us and drove to the shop (if you can call it a shop, check the Easter 2021 Road Trip day 0 blog). KIA Sorento 2.2CRDi is a big, car but in this case, 2 adults/ 2 kids/ and a dog + one week changing clothes/food + we took our own bed-sheets which are taking a lot of space. Next time we will leave them home.
KIA was packed full and headed for the road to reach the rental in a timely matter. Of course, while driving our cleaning lady sent a picture of kids’ luggage in their room waiting to be picked up. This means we need to drive back thru Shanghai. Additional 40km on the elevated road back and forward. Hah what a wonderful start to the day.
Warning for the roads in China
Some words of warning for the highways in China. Try to avoid driving in dark and when it is raining. We have seen before that in these weather conditions, there is a huge risk of accidents and also the highway will be totally jammed. The evening after dusk with rainfall there were 4 accidents in short distance and the road was totally blocked for some longer periods and travel time exceeded a lot what we have planned.
Night stay at Tonglu (桐庐)Service Station in
Due to this, we decided to stay overnight at the service station parking lot. KFC was shining in the night welcoming us, eat me!
It would be much safer to continue the trip in the morning. As a relief, these big service stations have the restaurants/shops and toilets in use 24/7 and security available all the time. To mention, nice to have a Latte in the morning fresh from Starbucks.
This would be the end of the first day of our journey of 8 days. Continuing the second day soon when arriving at Qiandao Lake with beautiful views and fresh air!
Early morning wake up and prepare to continue the journey
After waking up at Tonglu Service Station and enjoying Starbucks + morning brushing of the teeth, we headed for the road again. Roads were much more empty and we could drive at normal speed. For RV in China have not checked out what is the speed limit so I drive 80-90km/h. That is also the comfortable and economical speed for these as the pots and pans are keeping noise.
