Blogs from Shanghai, China, Asia - page 276

Early morning arrival at the slightly depressing glass/concrete monster that is Pudong Int'l. We are being hearded through a long corridor with a big group of travellers. I stop by a lonely ATM and stock up on the ever present big and useless yuan bills (nobody ever has any change). Customs and immigration is as hustle free as ever in China and soon we're faced with finding a map and the transfer services. I immediately want to check out the maglev train, which we find after slowly wandering and exploring our way through another walkway. The staff speak as good as no English but manage to convey the fact that the train service doesn't start until 8.30, and we're a good 1.5 hours early. Although Kay doesn't mind hanging around I suggest we head for the ... read more

Today we are flying back to the States. In Tai'an we spent a day visiting the Dai Temple complex and traveling to the summent of Mt. Tai, a mountain that has been considered holy for centuries by Taoists, Buddhists, Confucianists and Maoists. This was my favorite part of the trip. We took a cable car to the top and the views were spectacular. Are Tai'an we visited Daming Lake in Ji'nan and traveled over the Yellow River on an overnight train to Suzhou, a city filled with cannels that many refered to as the "Venice of the Orient" We went to a silk spinning factory, the Garden fo the Fishing Net Master and took a cruise down the Grand Canal. We also had a chance to wonder through the town on our own and do a ... read more

Of course, this was not about to be my last time in Shanghai as I would return in 2004 and probably many more times in the near future. What did I expect when I visited Shanghai in 2002? I expected it to be the city of the future, the model for all Chinese cities to come and it sure did meet my expectations. Word of advise though, don't go in the winter time. Its cold. If you look at pictures I took of myself, it really appears that I am wearing the same cloths everyday. Another word of advise, things are cheap there, but don't buy everything you see. I think that year I came back with tons of cloths and goodies... only to have to recycle or donate most of them within a few wash ... read more

a walk in Shanghai... read more

Nihau (Hello). Well, we’re back with a new update from the most bustling city in all of China. Here’s an account of what got us here. Our last update was from Beijing where we pretty much did nothing but sit around and drink for the latter half of our week there. We ate at our favourite local restaurant once or twice per day and had fun ordering from our own menu (provided by the faithful Lonely Planet). The food here (both at this restaurant and all over the country) is absolutely fantastic. After exiting from Mongolia (where the food is … hmmm … crap) it was even more enjoyable to have such culinary delights as Sechuan Chicken, Stir Fried Vegetables and Beijing Duck. I swear Eric is making up form Mongolia by eating twice as much ... read more