Shanghai

What a fun day! Yesterday, the 9th, we were in Shanghai.  We powered up the Huangpu River for 4 miles to the port, about 60 minutes from town.  In about 25 more miles it joins the Yangtze River.  It's full of fishing and cargo boats and our Captain said about 1000 ships are on the river each day. 

Brian rode on the Maglev train (surprise!) which got up to 267 mph (180 on curves).  According to him it was elevated so it was difficult to get a sense of speed except when they passed another train.  It was a short ride to the airport and back (about 7 min. each way), but different as it rides on magnetic rails.  Then he bussed through the financial district, the Wall Street of China, where there are many very tall, beautiful skyscrapers.  He stopped at Jin Mao Towers, the tallest building in China, and rode to the 88th floor observation deck.  The view wasn't that great because of the smog but the inside view down the open center to the lobby was spectacular.  (Tom, keep up the good fight. The air in China has been super polluted and it is nasty.)

I really wanted to ride the Maglev train but finally decided to do something else.  I headed to the town of Suzhou, through Shanghai and then villages for about 2 hours.  I saw quite a lot of Shanghai from the Expressway, even a bit of the Expo.  Our guide told us that the citizens are allowed to own one piece of property at a time and that all of the land is owned by the government, thus when they want to build something new it is easy to clear the land.  The people are given "some money" for their property and then they are moved.  Many villages are being demolished and replaced with high rise condos.  Some of what is gone appears to have been interesting (but maybe slum-like) but they are losing a lot of character and charm.  The guide said now the people are free to do as they like, but I wonder if the new Nobel winner thinks that.  He said that the older people don't like the new system because they have to pay for eveything and they have small pensions but the younger people are happy. 

Suzhou is a UNESCO heritage site and unchanged from the 8th century.  It's full of canals and bridges which were built for commerce from Beijing.  I rode some kind of funky boat for about 1 hour through the Grand Canal which was mostly lined with houses.  It was very pretty and a lot of fun.

I toured the Embroidery Research Institute where we saw beautiful one-sided and two-sided embroideries being created all by hand.  The thread (all vegetable dyed) is very fine.  I don't know the thickness but we were shown one that looked finer than buttonhole thread and were told it would be divided into 48 strands.  To create two-sided pieces they work with two needles of different threads and a mirror to see the backside.  Then they create two different images on either side of sheer silk at the same time.  This takes lots of patience, nimble fingers and good eyesight.  (Linda, want to find a workshop?).

Next, we went to the Bamboo Grove Hotel for a Chinese style lunch which was pretty good except for a couple of dishes.  They served a fish (KO, here's a suggestion for Carl's next catch) with it's head cut off. Both pieces were dipped in a batter and deep fat fried (sort of like tempura).  The two pieces were served "jack-knifed" on a platter with the mouth gaping open like a hungry koi.  It was gross.  I also passed on the shrimp with heads attached.  I don't like my food looking back at me.  Others seemed to enjoy the meal, so I guess I'm not adventuresome.  The rice and Snow beer were great, though.

Then, we went to the Humble Administrator's Garden.  It was created in 1509 by "Mr.Wang", a Ming Dynasty administrator, thus the name.  It is a classical garden with a lot of meaning and a story to each part.  It could have been very peaceful but it was jammed with tourists, mostly Chinese, but I'm glad I got to see it.  It became funny trying to keep up with such a fast paced tour in this maze. 

We did some shopping and a lot of bartering.  That turned out to be fun and I ended up with stuff at great prices because I bartered so well.  Of course, this was stuff (Judy - more SS) I didn't intend buying, but what a deal!  I'm not sure who won this contest but it was fun to haggle. 

I learned that Saturday is laundry day so there was laundry hanging out of everyone's window.  This was most noticeable in Shanghai high rises.  I wonder how often a piece of clothing floats many stories down to the ground.  It looked odd to see big beautiful skyscrapers with various styles of laundry poles and clothes out the windows.

Now, today and tomorrow are sea days and then we are on to Hong Kong.