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Friday, May 30th:
On the first day of travel, Friday, May 30th, we caught our flight out of New Orleans and connected in Chicago to make the 14 hour flight over the North Pole (actually within 600 miles of the pole) to Shanghai, China. When we arrived it was day 2 of travel at around 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, May 31st.
Saturday, May 31st:
Day 2 - We checked into our hotel. It is a very nice 5 star Howard Johnson located near the famous Nanjing Lu, traditionally known as Shanghai's foremost shopping street. After freshening up a bit, Mark and I met with Nicole and Eric Baird to walk around in search of a restaurant for dinner. After much effort, we found a place. Thankfully it had picture menus. We pointed at the menu and smiled and food showed up. I had an appetite that far exceeded my ability to feed myself with chop stix. The lesson I learned on this particular evening was that it is best to leave the soy sauce off of the rice. It is easier to eat the rice with chop stix when it is sticking together. Soy sauce makes
Mmmmm!
We will have to prepare this for ya'll when we get home. the rice not stick together. After dinner, we crashed!
Sunday, June 1st:
Day 3 - Wow........we were up by 3:30 AM. The sun rose at 4:30 AM. Breakfast was served at 6 AM. That makes for a long morning! We headed down to The Bund with Nicole and Eric Baird and Brian O'Reilly. The Bund is a strip sandwiched between the Huangpu River and the heart of colonial Shanghai. It is a good place to stroll along and view the Pudong district from across the Huangpu River. After being approached by many very aggressive "Rolex distributors" along with sales persons of all sorts, we traveled under the river to the Pudong district to take in the view from atop the Jinmao Tower. It is a 1,379 ft (421-m) building. For now it is the tallest building in China, but across the street from it is the 1,509 ft Shanghai Financial Tower which will soon be the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world. As an added note, the Pudong district has all been built since 1990.
After a relaxing lunch at an outdoor cafe, we took a mega nap and ate at a neat restaurant. We added Carol Skirloff to the group and lost Brian. Carol ordered for the group. They have a strange custom of only bringing 1 or 2 menus no matter how many people are eating. The food was good. One dish had a fish head and tail with cooked fish in the middle. I was glad to find out that the head and tail were just for decoration. After dinner, we took a night walk on Nanjing Lu. It is totally different at night. It is lit up with neon lights. Nearing the hotel, the group split up. Mark and I sat in an open area kind of like a square for people to gather to exersice or play games like bagmitten (sp?).
Monday, June 2nd:
Day 4 - Same group plus Mark and Jolie M., Rich and Amy, and Barry Vinson went to the Yu Garden in the morning. We walked and ended up going down some questionable allies. They were interesting because it was such a realistic look at the Shanghainese people and how they live.
The Yu Gardens are just beautiful. They were built by the Ming-dynasty in the 1500's. There is a market leading up to the gardens. It is a touristy place built to look like the gardens. It has lots of shops and lots of people between the shops trying to sell you stuff. The people here can be really, really pushy. Everyone is getting there own technique of getting rid of the peddlers. Mark peels them off by walking next to objects that they can't get around. I started crossing my eyes............whatever works.
A bunch of us caught a cab home, ate lunch together, and headed out on a bus tour. The bus tour went to The Bund where we had a traditional tea demonstrated in a very nice tea house. Next we went to a Budhist temple. It was quite interesting. The artistry was phenomenal. After that we went to a silk museum which was 90% boring. Finally, we stopped at a district known for its upscale restaurants and shops. At this last location, we finally got a break from the peddlers. Those people will wear you down.
Also........on this morning we spoke with the girls. They had a fabulous weekend of softball. We were all very excited about it!
Tuesday, June 3rd:
Day 5 - I could not sleep past 3 AM. Mark was up by 3:30. After breakfast, which by the way is the best meal of the day, Mark headed of for his 1st day of his seminar and I went to do souvenier shopping and learn about buying pearls. I do not like to shop. It makes my head hurt. This is were I am now.
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