Blogs from Shanghai, China, Asia - page 14

We flew into Shanghai last pm and arrived at our hotel a little after midnight. After a good night's rest we ventured out to the Bund - the waterfront along the the Huangpu River. Apparently this area was largely rice fields until the early 1990s when the Chinese government started implementing free market policies. Since then, there has been a huge amount of construction resulting in a remarkable skyline, including the Jin Mao tower, which at 1,368 feet is the tallest building in China. Shanghai is incredibly crowded. It's population is 24.9 million and there are more than 3 million pedestrians on its most busy street (Naping Road) every day. The traffic at midnight was stop and go almost all the way to the hotel, and we were told that during the weekdays, only residents of ... read more

Jerry is still not up to par but is going along with the program in spite of a cough, and blocked ear. He has seen the doctor twice and been given medications but so far not so good. Tomorrow we fly to Xian, China to see the terra cotta soldiers, staying two nights there before flying to Beijing for an overnight and then back to the ship. Fingers crossed. The sun was shining on this lovely Spring day and so we took the shuttle to the Bund and walked around. Since it was Saturday, there were so many brides out on the Bund (a promenade around the harbor) getting pictures taken. I was fascinated by the poses and clothes as evidenced by the pictures. We walked back to the ship and watched 3 weddings in the ... read more

Took us several hours to navigate the river into the awesome port of Shanghai this morning. Shortly after our arrival, we left for the water town of Zhujiajiao, Shanghai, China. The traffic was quite congested and although it wasn’t very far, it took us a couple of hours to get there. We found a charming village that has been preserved for tourists. Others water villages of this type have been destroyed to build new structures. Shanghai is a very modern and clean city which has the hustle and bustle of New York and other large cities. The new construction is phenomenal and fairly recent. Cranes dot the horizon as new buildings continue to be built. Back in time for dinner and to take in the same beautiful landscape at night! WOW! We have the best viewpoint ... read more

We survived the flight and we survived the first day and we are still friends. LOL What a day, we are 3 hours behind here so we left the hotel at 7.30am and headed down the Bund. What a wacky place in the morning. People in groups doing Tai Chi and soooo many people walking backwards. Not only walking backwards but doing some elaborate clapping routines. We were accosted by a guy wanting a photo with us and other random strangers. The bund is like an esplanade along the river leading to the port, lots of barges to and fro on the waterway. We used the hop on and hop off bus system and ended up exploring lots of places, actually temples, yes sue loves temples. Sharon, Noelene and Judi got some retail therapy at a ... read more

They sell good vegitables and fruits too, not only frogs and wierd animals. Buying foods in China is quite difficult because Chinese products sucks, but local veggies and fruits are good. Communication is hard, but I just point out what I want, and I just learned how to count numbers in Chinese. That's enough.... read more