Sea Princess to Brunei, Sabah, China, South Korea, Japan, Iwo Jima, Guam, New Guinea.

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Day 19, 20 at Sea

Day 21. Shanghai.

Shanghai, one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze River basin, is a city of 23 million people - about the population of Australia!

We took a bus to the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute, the Humble Administrator's Garden and a canal boat ride.

The roads were excellent and often elevated except that they had noise limiting walls along each side for much of the distance so sight seeing was limited. The intersections were spaghetti junctions. The airport is close to the city.

Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute was fascinating, but no photography was allowed.

The embroidery was so fine that the individual threads in a smooth gradation of colour could not be seen unless viewed from close to the work. The cheapest embroidery was one sided with knots on the back, the next could be viewed from either side and the most expensive had a different pictures on the front and back. It can take up to 2 years to make the finest panel.

The Humble Administrator was demoted by the ruler so he created the garden in penance. His Garden is very detailed and large. It is divided into 3 groups one being bonsai trees. Narrow paths wound up and down and around buildings and water and were filled with many busloads of people. It would be a delightful place for groups of 2 or 3, but our group was much larger and those at the back could not hear the guide.

We had a good lunch at the Glamour Hotel followed by a canal boat ride to the bus. We saw both the front of some shops and houses and the rear of some houses - certainly not dressed up for tourists.

At night Shanghai is a rival for Hong Kong.

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