Where are we today? The China Sea heading North

-



Dajia Hao!

Yesterday was our second and last day in Shanghai. Dave and I took a long shuttle ride to near the Bund River Walkway.  Shanghai is magnificent, but overwhelmingly large and there is no way we could do more than scratch the surface of this great city in just two days.  Being in the Bund Area let us see and interact with one piece of Shanghai's heart.




One place we visited was the beautiful Fairmount Peace Hotel, which was built in 1929.  I noticed that near the Hotel, there were some women who dressed in styles from the 1960's to the 1940's.  How fun it has been to see the care that so many Japanese, Korean, and Chinese young people put into their dress. For us as tourists, it's kind of like visiting not only a place, but a time, as well.








Our plan had been to go to the Yu Gardens for some of Shanghai's famous Xiaolongbao, but our trip to the Bund took longer than we anticipated, and our time was limited. I am sure we were surrounded by authentic restaurants, but we weren't sure, so we gave up and satisfied Dave's craving for Pizza Hut. (Lame, I know.) Our waitress was a delightful teenager with a playful demeanor.  We communicated through Google Translate, though I am sure her English was better than she thought it was.  Even with the language barrier, she managed to get a joke about our order across to us.  

We wandered a street near the Bund for a bit. 









We caught the last shuttle to the port that would get us back in time for All Aboard.  It was rush hour in a city of 26 million people! (Much of Shanghai consists of high rise apartments and offices, as you can see in the picture above). We made it to the cruise terminal in time, but that was the closest we have ever cut it on the world tour! 

Today, we are heading to Dalian. 

Zajian from the China Sea! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where are we today? The Salvation Islands, Devil's Island -- French Guiana

-
Image
 What a fascinating place!  Monkeys, huge rodents, peacocks, tropical flowers and jungle, and macabre history -- what more can you ask for.  I wasn't expecting it to be as compelling a place to visit as it is. Although our itinerary says "Devil's Island" (Ile du Diable), we technically explored Île Royale as the Ile du Diable is off limits nowadays.  Royale is one of the three Îles de Salut (Salvation Islands). They were called Salvation because early missionaries sought shelter there when there were plagues on the mainland of French Guiana (Guyane). The prisoners who were sent here when the Îles de Salut were part of a notorious prison colony didn't think this place had anything to do with salvation or health.  French people sentenced to be sent here called Devil's Island the Dry Guillotine; in other words, a certain -- if bloodless -- death sentence. In the Islands' worst years, 75% to 90% of all prisoners perished. Journalist who brought attention to th...
Read more

Where are we today? Nashville!

-
We leave in three weeks and three days! We are getting our first taste of adventure in that we are hanging loose with our itinerary.  As it stands now, we are scheduled to cruise all the way down the Amazon to Manaus and back again.  Of course, there is a massive drought going on there, and the river is at its lowest point in over 100 years.  A ship our cruise vessel's size and make had to turn back from its leg in the Amazon in December. The rainy season is coming soon, but likely won't raise the water level much before we get there.  If we can't do the Amazon, we will go somewhere else, but I feel for the people who make their livelihoods from the river and the rain forests. Also due to low water levels, the Panama Canal authorities are limiting the number of ships that can be on the canal at one time.  So, the line to enter and pass through the locks is longer than normal. The other sketchy stretch includes ports in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, around Yeme...
Read more

Where are we today? The East China Sea, Bejing memories

-
Image
 Yesterday, we awakened at 4:30 to meet for our trip to Beijing at 5:30.  Beijing is about 2 1/2 hours inland from the Tianjin port.  Our first stop was Tiananmen Square, where so much related to Chinese history and government has happened.   I don’t have a picture of the exact building, but one of the modern buildings around the square is Mao’s Mausoleum. Though Chairman Mao wanted to be cremated, his body was embalmed and is kept in a specially cooled room.  Our tour didn’t include a visit, for which I am thankful. All around the Square is modern China.  When we passed through the Tiananmen Gate (The Gate of Heaven Sent Peace), we passed into China of the 1400’s.  Since the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976 destroyed a lot of China’s traditional beauty, this massive complex of buildings from the Middle Ages is a treasure. I didn’t know before going was that The Forbidden City was just part of the old Imperial City, which must have been huge for tha...
Read more