Geo: 31.23, 121.47After a very short night, we were down in the Lobby at 5:45am. Armed with our boxed breakfasts, we (along with five others from our group) headed off to the airport. This was our first and only bus ride that was not in heavy traffic.Luckily, our bags would be checked all the way to JFK. Jo stayed with us through check-in. The only hang-up was that Brennan's swagger (sword/dagger) caught Security's attention in his checked bag. We had to go to a back room and open the bag. Happily, the inspector gave us the green light and we were on our way.On our flight from Shanghai to Beijing, Sue and Brennan had the worst food imaginable. Brennan had the "Western" breakfast, an omelet that looked like yellow mashed potatoes and Sue an "Eastern" breakfast ... read more

Geo: 31.23, 121.47It may seem impossible, but the breakfasts seem to be getting bigger! Dave had reached overload and just had a bowl of cereal. The one constant, good coffee.After breakfast, we went through the tunnel to the east side for a tour of Shanghai's 3rd tallest building, the Jinmao Tower. We shot right up the elevator to the 88th floor in seconds. Unbelievably, there was no sense of motion.The views from the observation level on the 88th floor were breathtaking. The new #1 tallest building shot up 40 floors above us as we looked out one side. On the other, the rvier and the Bund were far below. Maybe the most spectacular view was looking down through the center of the Jinmao Tower to a hotel lobby 40 floors below -- the Grand Hyatt, the ... read more

Geo: 30.25, 120.17By the time we finished breakfast, our bags were loaded on the bus and we were off to see one of the two Chinese "Paradise Cities". The Crowne Plaza was on a lake in a remote area outside of the city. It was a beautiful, modern hotel with great lake views, but since we got in so late, we could only enjoy the location at breakfast.Hangzhou is the greenest city we have seen. Wide boulevards with lots of green space and small parks. Like most of the large cities, they have a metro system and almost all the stops have a free bicycle exchange system that is very well used. China recognizes that it has a serous air pollution problem and these bike exchanges are just one way to combat it. Other means are ... read more

Geo: 34.27, 108.9Breakfast at the Grand Noble Hotel was nearly as big as the one in Beijing and Brennan was happy it included omelets. We tried dragon fruit (red peel with white fruit that is speckled with black seeds) which was very tasty. Yesterday we tried dragon eye fruit which had a hard green/brown peel with an eyeball inside (white with a pit). Dave and I liked it very much, but Brennan did not like the texture and it came flying out of his mouth!On our way to the terra cotta warriors, we got a Xi'an history lesson from Jo, a native. Before visiting the actual terra cotta warriors museum, we stopped at a factory that makes replicates. We had fun taking pictures with the soldiers and our heads. Brennan found a small sword that he ... read more

Geo: 39.9165, 116.391We got up very early, before our wake-up call -- still trying to adjust to the time change. Again, we had a huge breakfast.We took the bus to the Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs. The air today is quite polluted and Brennan actually put on a mask for a short time. This burial site was chosen by the Ming emperors because it lies in a valley surrounded on three sides by mountains with an opening to the south protecting the dead from evil spirits from the north. (We could see the mountains, but not clearly due to the smog.) Most of the tombs have not been excavated and several were robbed so we did not visit them. We walked along the Sacred Way which is a beautiful avenue lined with 36 huge stone ... read more