The End of the Road

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(Pictures soon...we are boarding)

So the tour officially ended last Saturday night with our big group dinner, some mildly sappy goodbyes, and lots of drinking and dancing into the wee hours of the morning at Zapata's (which I think we already told you about)...but it wasnt the end of our trip. We stayed another 2 days ON OUR OWN in Shanghai. We were a bit nervous about how we would manage without the assistance of our wonderful tour leader, Vivian, but we managed just fine!

We slept in Sunday morning -- the only morning of the trip that we didnt wake up to an alarm -- but not the only morning that we both woke up with hangovers!!! We had lunch with a few others from the tour group that hung around an extra day or two and then headed out for an afternoon full of shopping (I think Sarah may have purchased more than Robbie on this particular afternoon -- but Robbie's total amount of purchased goods still far exceeds Sarah's)! Sarah's big purchase was shoes (multiple pairs not to worry). Robbie bought some R7 Taylor Made golf clubs (for the equivilant of $150 dollars in a back alley shop). Our first stop was a painiting gallery. But we didnt bother buying paintings that were hanging on the walls...oh no...we had ours painted right there...while we watched! It was AH-MAY-ZING! We visited a few other shops, Sarah bought a gazillion pairs of shoes, Robbie bought a few more small gifts and souvenirs, and then we decided that we totally didnt have enough cash to keep shopping so we'd better get the heck outta there!

So we hopped on a fairy to cross the river and check out the other side of Shanghai. The Pudong, as its called, is the newly (and extremely rapidly) developing side of Shanghai thats got the famous skyscraper skyline that's always shown on CNN. It also had the 4th tallest building in the world, so we decided to go to the top of it. The top 33 floors of the 88 floor building is the Hyatt (very swaky) and Robbie's cousin Meghan had suggested having a drink at the top floor bar called Cloud Nine. (which sounded fantastic). Unfortunately, Robbie had decided to wear flip flops and after getting to the 87th floor we were DE - NIED. Fortunately, our traveling partners Jacko and Tania - an awesome Aussie couple - were with us and I could fit into Jacko's shoes so we got to go after all (and got to drink 7 dollar ice teas while were waiting). The views (and food) was spectalcular. We packed it in a bit early because we had a busy day on Monday...

Monday we met our chauffer in the Lob-bby at 8am. We had arranged a private car to take us (and Jacko and Tania) to a small 14th century water village called Tongli. This ended up being one of our favorite days - the city is much the same as it was then and there was a bunch of temples and cool sites as well. Most importantly, the pace was one MILLION times slower than busy Shanghai so it suited our travel weary bodies well. After a brilliant day we had a great final dinner and packed.

Tuesday was a travel day from Shanghai to Fukuoka to Iizuka to Fukuoka...with a shitload more luggage than one girl should be able to collect in two years. Sarah took Robbie out around Fukuoka to her favorite spots for one last goodbye and are traveling back to the States today.

We plan to add a few more blogs in the next couple of days after we recover so stay tuned!!! Thanks for reading...Can't wait to see you all. Good night...and Good luck.

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Comments

[Helen and Dick]

Piggybacking
Robb and Sarah- Thanks for letting us "piggyback" as you traveled through Japan and China. Your trip spunded (and looked) awesome.