Shanghai

My main goal in Shanghai was not to get Shanghai'd. This goal was accomplished as our family is on board and ready to leave for Taiwan. The city of Shanghai has 20+million people but it feels like no more than 100million. Shanghai makes Hong Kong look like small. I've never seen such a big city full of skycrapers in my life. We managed to see some of the local sights and enjoy what the city has to offer. On our first day we were set to go walking around on our own when a lady said there were openings in the city tour bus for the day. We decided to fork over some yen and go with the guided trip. The trip stopped at a China Town in China, and of course the shopping bazaars. We enjoyed an authentic Chinese lunch which consisted of a lazy Susan in the middle, and the waitresses bringing plate after plate of food. We shared the food in the middle with about 8 other poeple. The kids loved to spin the wheel until the fries or other goodies was next to them. After lunch we stopped at a Budah temple and had some tea. Things were going smooth until William burned his tongue on some hot tea. He managed to recover, but he's not a big temple or tea fan at this point. After dinner (same as lunch), we went to see the Shanghai Acrobats. The show started at 7:30pm and consisted of several balancing, gymnastic, magic, and contortion acts. The kids absolutely loved the show and kept saying "How can they do that?" It was pretty amazing stuff, and William and Vivian each got a souvenoir from the show when a magician was pulling playing cards out of everywhere and throwing them into the crowd. One interesting thing on day 1 was at the temple. William had to go to the bathroom (#2) and when we found the "Happy Room" as they say in China, it had just a hole in the ground and no toilet. So William grabbed onto my ankles and did his business. When he was done he said "That was complicated." Out of curiousity when he was done he opened the next stall to find a regular toilet. I guess they have facilities for all cultures at the temple. On day 2 we decided to walk around and go up the 2nd tallest tower in Asia. We took off directional walking and soon found the prominade. The tower was on the other side of the river, so we found the sightseeing tunnel to cross over. The sightseeing tunnel was expensive but had music and disco lights as you moved underground in a little boxcar. We decided to pay for the ticket to go as high as possible in the tower and ended up spending about 2 hours in the tower. The most fun part was walking on a glass floor 360meters up in the air. The kids had a great time walking around and looking down below. The tower also provided a great view of how big Shanghai is and how many skyscrapers there are. We had a picnic lunch on the prominade, and the locals were taking pictures and staring at us pretty hard. The Chinese are especially fascinated with the kids. At one point Jen waved at a group of Chinese women and about 20 of them came running up and surrounded us. They began touching all of us and taking pictures like crazy. Vivian ate it up, but William pulled his shirt over his head and went into turtle mode. After the tower we walked around the city some more and ate dinner. We did two dinners with the kids eating at McDonalds and Jen and I eating at a Chinese restaurant. The Chinese restaurant was good, and all the waitresses were extremely helpful. They stared at us for most of the dinner, and were extra polite and quick when my beer got past half empty. On day #3 we decided to split up. The girls were going shopping, and William and I were going to go to an Aquarium. William and I got a cab and made a quick trip to the Aquarium. Cab drivers don't speak English so I used the old circle the place on the map trick. We made it no problem and had a great time at the aquarium. The aquarium had three floors of exhibits and a one way track through it all. They had lots of fish tunnels you walk through and even an escalator going through a fish tunnel. William and I made it through pretty quick and decided to have lunch. He picked McDonalds again, and had his usual Chicken Nuggets and fries. He was elated when he discovered 5 nuggets instead of 4 in his box. After lunch we walked down to Dairy Queen and had an ice cream cone. From there we caught a cab and headed back to the ship. Other Observations/Thoughts I found that China has a huge selection of cheap beer and found the Coors Light of China. It's called SNOW Beer and is about 50 cents a can. The Chinese people are very friendly and dress extremely nice. Even the guy peddling the three wheeled bike with plywood down the road has a three piece suit on. Shanghai is building like mad. They say that 1/5th of the World's crane's are in Shanghai right now. The tour guide said Shanghai's bird is the crane. There are a lot of people in China, and as one Chinese man told me, "All Americans look the same." **I did get a chance to run in Shanhai and it was nice. As for my workouts I've been putting in quite a few miles on the treadmill and doing some Navy Seal workouts with a group. I am working out about 6 of 7 days and trying to keep the buffett at bay. Best wishes to all.