Monday Shanghai

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Monday in Shanghai:
I decided to try the metro yesterday, and hopped on near the hotel, had to take a taxi to the metro station. It was easy and not crowded, and got me to the bund area fine. I walked around a big pedestrian shopping area for a while, was actually walking west when i thought i was going east, so i rode a little shuttle back to the other end, towards the Bund waterfront. walked towards the water, and met some people from interior China near Harbin. They were going to a tea house so I joined them in a ceremonial tea sampling of high end teas. Their names were Mari, Li, and Super. Super was the guy (superman). The presenter told the history of the tea, it's special qualities, how and where it was grown, etc, then served us. It was pretty cool. One of the people was translating for me so I could understand the details. Then my 3 new friends mentioned they were going to see acrobats in the theater that night, and would I like to go. I thought that sounded good, so I got a ticket. They had the tickets delivered from the hotel. After tea, they went back to their hotel, and I walked a little more and headed for the theater. I took the metro again, but this time it was super crowded, and I barely fit in. Got to the closest exit to the theater, and got out and looked for a taxi. I saw a motorcycle taxi, and thought "that's what Hailey would take" so I showed him the brochure, he said he could take me, and we were off. About 5 minutes later, he pulled over, and said we were there, but I didn't see a theater, so he looked again at the brochure, and turned around. A few minutes go by, and I see the place we started out. Then he stops again, obviously lost, and I called one of the 3 who got me the tickets, Mari. She gave him directions, and we were off again. Then we circled around a street, again lost, and he pulls over and aske a bike cart driver. Finally, the next stop we arrive...
The show was really cool. It started with acrobats on ropes, then had hoop jumping, balancing, contorting, juggling, bike riding, and even a ball of death motorcycle trick at the end. Oh, and hula hooping. I have a great video of that. I'll put up some pics. Sam and Blaise: They had some amazing tricks on bikes, I have a video of it posted. These were special bikes for tricks, so don't try any on your bikes!!!
After the show I came back to the hotel, watched some soccer on tv, and went to sleep. Now I'm off to explore some more before business trip to Wenzhou tomorrow. It looks like the weather will be ok.

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Photos

pipe balancing
he fell the first time

ball of death
eventually they had 5 motorcycles in there at once!

Comments

[Bon]

hey Banks! i love the moto-taxi story. and it sounds like you still managed to make it there on-time! its amazing to me how you manage to just meet people that take you along to see/do so many different things. good luck with those cup-rolling machines~

[bon]

ps. did BR get to see the acrobats?

[gonzomama]

not for public display.
wow! it looks amazing! We're just chilling here at Eli's house. no big bike tricks, but lots of nice hot (we're actually sweating!) weather, and maybe a spit ride this afternoon. Hard to get the boys to sit still long enough to look at pictures, but maybe during lunch. Got our vaccinations this morning at public health. We're still behind, guess it must be because of my "religion", so we'll take the exemption. Chicken pox vaccine is now suddenly required - no one seems to know why the school board suddenly put it on the list of required vaccines. We can't get it for at least a month after the measles one Sam got today. So all is well here. Hope you made it to Wen Xiao, or whatever your next city is called...

[mamasita]

wwhd?
What Would Hailey Do? A question by which to life your life. And that starts with lots of mototaxis!

[Sophie]

wow that looks amazing, hope you get to see more fun stuff and stay safe from the floods, Grammas here and I saw her this morning!