Here is a picture of Meg going to the breakfast building. It reminded us of a turn of the century home with huge rooms. It's next door to our hotel and adds to the charm. The other photo is taken on The Bund, which is Shanghai's famous boulevard along the Huangpu River. It is a beautiful boulevard with beggars and people everywhere and it's only winter! Fortunately the lines have all been minimal because it is off season. Across the river is the tower where we shot the high pictures - the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the landmark on the waterfront with its park and adjacent aquarium. That is also where we found the river boat ride for Y2 (.20c). The Old Town alley shopping in yesterday's photo was amazing. You could buy ANYTHING in the 3 blocks of alleys. Each storefront was maybe 8 feet wide and specialized in some product. Imagine the Palm Desert street fair in an alley and you might have an idea. You can cross under the Huangpu river between each side in an underground gondola type ride with this cheesy laser show making you feel like Disney World. There is always music blaring wherever you go, and all we could think of was "It's a Small World" at Disney World! There are always people shouting too, for tours, newspapers, fake rolexes and everything. This morning we are catching a tour bus to Wuzhen. Most of the TV news here still is dealing with the southern China blizzard from two weeks ago. Apparently the infrastructure of electricity and construction was really affected in the country, but the areas we have traveled have been fine. It apparently never snows much in the south. It must have been 45 degrees in Shangahi yesterday which was balmy! The 3rd photo here was taken in the Yu Gardens and shows the architectural style there and in China. It is the heart of Shanghai and is a beautiful park giving a good idea of life in the mid 1800's. It is also near the Zig Zag road that was so crowded yesterday - you feel like you are in a hockey game with the shoving and elbowing. One thing Chinsese people are not is patient! Meg of course slows down because she will not be pushed!
After the modern city of Shanghai, we turned back the clock 1000 years in visiting the town of WuZhen, a small town not yet in any tour books; however, there is information on the internet. It is a city built around a canal system with ancient buildings and a boat fleet shown in the photo. The town is known for producing blue cloth made from a plant, and the picture of Meg shows the cloth hanging to dry. It actually takes 3 years to master throwing the cloth over the tall racks to help it dry! We took a tour bus for 2 hours and had to have Jingyi translate the tour guide's Chinsese. The small, main part of town was bustling with shops and has many rickshaws and bikes for transportation. WuZhen also had a Taoist temple that is one of the famous temples in southern China, but we couldn't go in to see it because the townsperson felt we were the "wrong religion". We ended up spending 3+ hours in WuZhen between lunch, tour and shopping and then stopped at a Buddhist temple and arrived in time to see what apparently was a funeral gathering of Monks and family with a burning pyre (photo). It was interesting to hear the chanting and drum beat. After spending 20 minutes there, we finished up at a tea factory where they make the chrysanthemum tea. After sampling a cup, we purchased two cans to bring home. The final photo was taken at dinner tonight and shows Billy and Jingyi enjoying frogs legs in the bowl. They both loved it - needless to say, although I tried a bite, Meg would not consider it! Tomorrow is our last day in Shanghai and we return to Beijing.
Here are some thoughts from our first week in China:
* the traffic and crowds are ridiculous
* I have sat in the front seat of the cab rides and have closed my eyes each time thinking we are going to hit a car, bike rider or person -the pedestrian traffic is almost as bad as the cars - there are taxis everywhere
* except for the long day in Xian, we have not paid more than $4 for a cab ride
* the street cleaners are everywhere in every city
* the smog is terrible - you never see a blue sky
* EVERYONE smokes here - in the restaurants, in bathrooms - we had forgotten what it is like to be in a smoke filled room!
* I have never seen as many toll booths as here - but the road system is amazing
* It's incredible being here
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