Shanghai, Where All the Lights are Bright!

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Geo: 31.23, 121.47

We are down to one day and a wake-up. Understandably, Brennan was talking about home, but we were talking about wanting a few more days. Most of our group (the ones who came from Houston) got an extra day in Shanghai because their flight was cancelled. What a bonus!Following breakfast, we headed out into a light rain with our first stop at the Jade Buddha Temple. It had two Buddhas carved from single pieces of white jade. They were very detailed and expertly carved. There was lots of incense being burned and prayers being said. In one of the rooms, it looked like a funeral or memorial service. Brennan knelt before one of the Buddhas and said an "Our Father".

From the temple we headed to a pedestrian 16th Century Bazaar that was a maze of streets with eight entrances. Jo showed us around to get us grounded so that we would be sure to meet up at the correct rendezvous in a couple of hours. If we wanted the famous soup dumplings, this was where to get them. Unfortunately, there were 40 people in line and we opted to walk outside the market area for our second pizza fix, this time at Papa John's. Back in the market, we found Brennan a silk-like robe, the famous Shanghai White Rabbit candies and had a tea tasting where we got Bligh and Dan some green tea.

Our cultural visit was next -- a couple of hours in the Shanghai Museum. It was the kind of place you could spend 30 minutes or three days. We had a hard time filling our two hours!

After our last dinner at a restaurant near the Bund, we had a fantastic river cruise. It was a three-decker boat and we were some of the last ones on so the top deck was already full. However, we found a great spot on the rail of the stern on the second deck. The light show on the buildings and boats on the river were spectacular (rivaling Times Square and Las Vegas). We have never seen so many lights. Every building on both sides of the river were lit with many scrolling messages or pictures. Every camera on deck was getting a work out!

Got Brennan off to bed as we started the fun task of packing our bags and calling for a 4:30am wake-up call.

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