April 14, Shanghai Our first full day.

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Today was a very long day. We arrived last night in Shanghai about 2 AM local time. Our flight was a little late getting in, plus we had nearly an hour drive from the airport. We are staying at a Marriott property on the south side of Shanghai a little outside of the downtown area. There is not much here to do but the hotel itself is beautiful. So we decided to turn is as wake up was, thankfully late, around 8 AM.



We wiped the sleep out of our eyes, took a shower and headed down to another buffet breakfast. Before I left the room I jumped on the scale in the room to see how much weight I had gained. I could not believe it. The scale said I lost nearly 100 pounds. Then it hit me, the scale was in kilograms!. The good news is, I have lost one pound. I am hoping not to find it anytime soon.



John, our Philadelphia compatriot, joined Rick and I for breakfast . Richard then also joined so we had a quorum. John, the ever adventerous diner, ate a most unique breakfast. A few round pancakes and some cooked squid. Ok it looked a littler weird, but he said it was delicious. I decided to take his word for it and moved on.



John is a well educated and religious person. Some how the subject got around to church. It was amazing that we all had a deep philosophical discussion on what is usually and emotional subject. We discussed the current vs the older church celebration styles of the mass. John and I both preferred the old style to the current watered down, fast mass. The conversation was enlightening on many fronts and we all enjoyed the discourse.



Dick has a bit of a sore throat. We are not sure if it is from a cold, the weather or the smog, but he sounds terrible. Fortunately he has no fever, and no throat pain, but he is taking his antibiotics as a precaution and we all hope he will get his voice back real soon.



Our first stop today in Shanghai was the Jin Meo tower, now the fourth largest building in the world. Before we entered the tower we had a little adventure I call: the cat poop coffee story, or be careful what you ask for. The lovely Chelsea needed a coffee fix after our ride to the downtown tower this morning. We parked outside our destination and right there was the Meo Coffee Shop. She started to head for her coffee fix, when the ever vigilant Jo stopped her. Jo asked, "do you know what that is?" Perplexed Chelsea replied "coffee." Well not exactly.



Jo told this story. This is very special coffee. You see they feed the coffee beans to wild cats. The cats eat the beans but can't digest them. The beans ferment in the cat's intestine and are then passed out through the proper channels. The beans are collected, washed (hopefully) and sold as a high priced specialty brew. The cost of a single cup may reach 350 CYN (about $50). Chelsea wisely passed.



Sans coffee we headed down to the basement of the tower to take the elevator to the 88th floor and the observation deck. The ride was less than 35 seconds, the elevator was so smooth that you did not even feel like you were moving. We reached the top floor and were treated to a panorama of unbelievable proportions.



Shanghai is the most densely populated city on China. The density is about 6 people per square meter. That equates to about 30 people in a 10 X 10 foot room. The solution is to built up, and up they did.



Shanghai is a builders paradise, towers by the hundreds soar into the sky. One building, still under construction, will rival the Dubai Tower in Dubai. When complete, it will be the second largest structure in the world. Our Jin Meo tower pales by comparison. We walked around the entire observation deck and snapped photo after photo of buildings growing up into the clouds. It showed an amazing feat of enginering, as some of these buildings were built in the 1990's and look like they opened for business yeterday.



Unfortunately, with so many people comes pollution and today the pollution hung low over the city. You could actually taste the air. It was akin to the taste and smell of wet cement. Most of us put on our face mask to help with some of the bad air. The air quality was in a purple alert, one step below red. By the middle of the day the back of my throat felt like I had eaten a bowl of cement dust. It was dry, and made me, and many others, cough a dry hacking cough. Fortunately, a drink of water washed out the dust and I felt much better and ready to take on the rest of the day.



Our next stop was a pleasant walk along the Pu River. The Pu plays an interesting role in old Shanghai history. Back in the day, Chinese laborers were tricked into getting drunk, or wiped out on opium. They were then put into a box with three or four other lost soles and shipped to the US, via the Pu river to the South China Sea, to work on the railroad. This is where the origional term SHANGHAIED came from.



The river walk was beautiful. On one side we had the river and on the other we had a view of the banks and financial establishments that made this the Wall Street of Shanghai. The local government kept the building that were built from the late 1800's and early 1900's preserved in this area. It was an amazing contrast to the sky scrapers of today just a few hundred yards away.



After the walk it was time for lunch. Again, a sumptuous, multi course, multi delicacy meal. One of the specialties was a little dangerous to eat as John and I soon found out.



Hidden among the various choices was a plate of what can only be described as Dim Sum. Now those of you who know about Dim Sum, know that these are small balls of dough with a meat or fish or vegetable inside. Usually very delicious. Unfortunately for me and John, some of the choices included a ball of dough filled with hot soup! Yup, some of the dough balls were loaded with a small pork meatball floating in a hot and tasty soup. Well what do you imagine happenes when you bite a dough ball in half full of liquid? Liquid everywhere of course. I spilt my soup all over the table, while John, a little less fortunate, dumped his down the front of his shirt. Well nothing like a little beer to help you forget. After lunch we headed to the local Chinese history museum.



This was an amazing place. The exhibits revolved around the cultural history of China. It included specimens from the bronze age through the Ming and Qing Dynesties and beyond. We saw artifacts that were from 4800 BC up to the early 1800's. On display were pottery, porcelain, coinage, calligraphy, articles of war and many other exhibits. Rick and I really enjoyed the bronze and porcelain items. I even bought a beautiful porcelain fountain pen. I collect pens and this one will be a prized addition to my collection.



Our next stop was some historical sections of Old Shanghai, where we were treated to a different class of classical architecture. Here the buildings were of three to four stories, once used as residences, now all converted to stores, bars and the like. The architecture was like what you would see in the south of France. It was a pleasant time to stroll and look at teh beautiful people sitting in the bars or strolling the grounds with us. A very pleasant and restful day, after climbing the Great Wall and other mountain trails, it was nice to have a leisurely day.



Soon it was time for yet another meal. Again an amazing array of local foods. This time we were in the spicey zone, with some sweet and some really hot items. We enjoyed several different varieties of meats and vegetables and finished it off with a sweet mixture of sweet potatoes coated in caramelized sugars. Delicious. Our next and final stop of the night was the Acrobatic Show.



If any of you have ever seen Chinese acrobats, you could imagine we were in for a treat, and we were. Our entire group were escorted to the theater and were guided to the third and fourth rows, on the floor, center stage. There was no better seat in the house. Our guides and China Spree need to be commended on their efforts to secure for us the best of everything.



The show began at 7:30 PM and for the next 90 minutes it was one thrill ride after another. First the troop of acrobats entertained us with feats of daring, and exhibiting their athletic prowess while jumping over and under and through various items and each other. Then there was a set of acrobats who used a teter totter to launch themselves to dizzying heights where they twisted, turned and somersaulted landing on various chairs, shoulders and feet. The ease in which they accomplished the impossible was stunning. By the end of the first half of the show my hands hurt from applause.



Mixed in with the acrobats were several jugglers, one performer juggled 7 balls by bouncing them on the top of a table while standing on one foot and doing a 360 degree turn. The balls moved so fast they were a blur before my very eyes. There was a magician that pulled white doves out of thin air and several plate spinners, knife throwers and other forms of amazing spectacle.



Finally, it was time to board our bus once again for the short ride home and much needed sleep. I am sure to dream of adventures yet to come for tomorrow.

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Photos

Shanghai
View from the tower

Shanghai
View from the Tower

Shanghai
View from the Tower

Shanghai
The travelers enjoying Shanghai

Shanghai
Me enjoying my day

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Old Shanghai from the 1890's

Shanghai
LOVE this trip