A late flight that is 4 hours, not 3 as we had hoped.  One bus to take two groups and not enough seats on the bus.  Not a good start.  We get to the hotel at 3:30AM and have to show up ready to go for a full day of sight seeing at 7:30!  Yikes!  When we awake we discover that our room overlooks a river that is busy with all kinds of boats.  There are little sampans all the way to tug boats pulling 3 or 4 barges.

We’re troopers and we all show up almost bushy tailed and ready for anything.  Our guide, Rio, is engaging, funny, and personable. 

First stop is a traditional coconut plantation and home.  It reminded me of when we stop at the home of the traditional family in Santa Elena and they demonstrate how to make tortillas, henequen rope, etc.  Here the house is on stilts and we take our shoes off to enter.  There is a Buddhist shrine and photos of the ancestors.  The sleeping area is open with low beds where night breezes would keep one cool.  There were parakeets, Koi, a monkey, a dog and some chickens wandering the grounds.  They were selling coconut products of every variety.

A short drive takes us to the launch point for the floating market.  One of the James Bond movies was filmed here with long, low boats zooming down the canals.  We zoomed too!  Quite a network of canals lined with houses.  Some of them seemed like they were about to fall into the water and others were quite big, beautiful and well maintained.  In the past, the canals were the main method of transportation for all but now it is mostly tourists.  After about 30 minutes, we arrive at the market area.  We are greeted by vendors of every age hawking everything from small bracelets to huge teak furniture.  Rio recommends the coconut ice cream from a stall on a bridge over one of the canals.  After wandering and my buying a dress, we end with the ice cream.  Rio was right.  It was delicious and refreshing.  It was served in a carved out coconut shell. Many from the group were enjoying the ice cream there too. 

Back to the bus – Luckily, the group is good at getting to the bus at the designated time so we haven’t had to wait for anyone.  Next stop is  a delicious buffet lunch at a beautiful place on a small peaceful lake.  After lunch we walk to an area where they demonstrated traditional crafts.  The people demonstrating tended to seem rather bored with what they were doing.  But, we still had fun trying our hand at making a clay elephant and flower petal hair decoration.  Then everyone entered an auditorium area for a show of traditional dance.  The grace of the women is beautiful. 

We stop for a quick buffet dinner and back to the hotel.  We’re all happy and ready for bed!

  Sept 19^th

Whew!  A long day! – quick overview – drove about 3 hours to Hongzshu for boat ride on West Lake.  Visited a dragon Tea tasting place  Fly to Bangkok but not expecting to get in there until  1:30 in the morning.

We enjoyed a rather leisurely big breakfast buffet at the hotel.  Today I had an egg roll up type of thing with crispy bready center, some fresh fruit, some good sausage with vegetables.  

We load all of our stuff  into the bus and are off about 9:30.   Our destination is Hongzshu.  We have a potty break after a few hours at a travel comfort type of place.  Besides lots of restrooms, there are various eating places that range from very simple to quite extensive.  There is a shop that sells local delicacies packaged in an omiagi style.  There is a monument with pictures of the leaders that were at the first national congress of the Chinese Communist party held in Shanghai in 1921.  This is really the first monument to communism that we have seen. 

Back on the bus for another couple of hours.

Lunch is another mass buffet on the lazy susan.  This one really seemed pretty mediocre. 

Melodie and I discussed the great discrepancy of wealth in Shanghai. 

The road to West Lake was lined with Sycamore trees.  We park and then walk about 15 minutes to the lake where we board a traditional style boat.  It is electrically powered which keeps the sound and pollution down on the lake.   The day is rather cloudy but pleasant.  I seem to be a bit of an oddity as several Chinese people want their picture taken with me. 

After the boat ride, we went to a Dragaon well tea plantation.  This was another one of the government sanctioned tourist stops to sell their product.  The landscape driving there was beautiful and green.  The presentation seemed a bit like selling snake oil as drinking the tea was the cure to pretty much everything.  The grounds were pretty and peaceful.  

After the tea plantation we go for another lazy Susan dinner.  Everyone is getting pretty tired of scrambled eggs with tomatoes in it.  

From there we go to the airport to catch a plane to Bangkok.  No one told us it is a red eye....  It is about 1:45 AM when we get into Bangkok, have to go through immigration.  Exhaustion!  We all make it through only to discover that we are supposed to share a bus with another Sinorama group to the hotel.  Oh bother!  There aren't enough seats on the bus for the two groups.  We smush in and drive for an hour to the airport.  Arrive about 4:00AM and are to be on the bus ready for a big day of site seeing at 7:30 AM.  One couple is quite upset but the others are all going  with the flow.  

To bed for a short nap.

A short update

After trying several different combinations of trying to get on the internet without any success, realized that Google and China are oil and water.  Since this blog is a google product, I couldn't access it or do anything to it.  Hence, nothing being posted while in China.  Then there was a little problem with a sciatic nerve flare up and all I could really do was cope and didn't have any energy to devote to blogging besides which we were really busy off doing things.
Melodie is keeping up so you can always check her blog and know the low down and see her beautiful pictures.

So, here is what I wrote while in Shanghai -

Full day in Shanghai

A night of sleep and am feeling human again.  Feeling human means looking for breakfast.  There is a HUGE buffet with foods to appeal to the tastes of people from many cultures.  There are the basics of fruit, yogurt,  cereals, breads and rolls.  The Western breakfast bar area with fried eggs, potatoes, bacon, beef and chicken sausage, French toast, bread pudding, fried bread dough.  Then there’s the Asian area with fried rice, miso and a bunch of other things that I didn’t recognize.  There was also an area that it looked like they were making crepe like delicacies.  Need to check that one out more tomorrow. 

The place was full of Sinorama tour people.  Most of them are French speaking Canadians.  We don’t find an empty table but a nice couple invited us to join them  at a table outside as they were leaving soon.  Quite a satisfying breakfast and way to start the day.

We met up with our group that we will be spending the next two weeks with.  There are 20 of us.  Eight of us are from the States – 4 from the Seattle area, a mother and daughter from Pennsylvania and St Paul and Melodie and me.  A Canadian from Ghana and her husband, a couple from Australia and I’m a bit fuzzy on the others as they sat at a different table at lunch. 

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On the hour long ride to the Shanghai museum, our guide shared interesting facts about Shanghai.  You have to read Melodie’s blog to find out what they were as she was taking notes.  Shanghai is huge!  21 million with about 3 ½ million that they call floaters – people coming and going by air, land and sea.  Oh, found out how we were so far from the airport and yet there were planes flying right over  head at our hotel.  There are 2 airports in Shanghai. 

First stop is the Shanghai museum.  Four floors of amazing stuff and we have an hour to see it all.  Our guide recommended that we start at the top and work our way down.  He also recommended the display of furniture from the Ming and Quing dynasties and the bronze section.  The first gallery on the top floor was dedicated to regional dress.  I could easily have spent all my time there. 

The next gallery was carved jade.  It was interesting to watch the ornateness and craftsmanship improve through the years.  The furniture gallery held ornately carved chairs, cabinets, tables.  Such beautiful, peaceful areas are created. 

  The area devoted to bronze objects and how they are made was extensive. 

Our hour is up and we didn’t even get to browse in the gift shop.

Onward to our next adventure of the day.  A museum showing how the silk worms are raised and the silk is processed.  This is a state run facility so very similar to the one I visited back in 2004 with the Tritt teachers – even found the same duvet pattern that  I bought in 2004.  Still beautiful.  Melodie bought the silk comforter but resisted the sheets and pillow cases.  There were also silk rugs and clothing.  What a tactile heaven.

Lunch time  on the Bund (river front)  -  All of the Sinorama tours seem to go to the same restaurant and they are set up and expecting us.  They bring out about 8 different dishes, a big bowl of rice and place them on the large lazy susan in the middle of table.  We all dig in.  There is sweet and sour soup, pork nugget kind of things, Fried fish pieces, an onion dish, a cabbage dish, black mushrooms and I think a few others.  All very good.  We get a taster size glass of beer (If you call the exotic foreign beer, Bud light) a beer) with our meal.

After lunch, we had a leisurely walk on the Bund.  Across the river is the financial district with beautiful tall buildings.  A nice breeze and people enjoying themselves. Several bridal couples getting their pictures taken.  Very few refreshment stalls but numerous photo stalls.  We walked several blocks and then walked back on a lower level closer to the street.  This is where the older financial area is.  We crossed the street to enter the  China Merchant’s bank .  The sense of history was strong.  The guards were very aware of us as we entered and indicated that we weren’t to take pictures. 

The day continues with a visit to an embroidery demonstration and shop.  Well, that’s right up my alley.  A short demonstration of the art and then looking at the pieces for sale.  To us, it is a museum and not a shopping opportunity.  The pieces are incredible.  Some look like photographs until you get up close, others like oil paintings.  Oh, and more  silk rugs to touch.

Next stop is the big shopping street of Shanghai,  Cute little trolleys are running down the middle of the pedestrian mall.  High end international stores abound but we’re not interested in those.  We’re tired and need a break so enjoy a mint soft ice cream cone in a comfortable place for people watching.  On the way back to the meeting place, we wander down a side street and into a tea shop.  I fall in love with an ornate tea cup that has it’s own steeping basket.  $15!  I’ll take it. 

We meet back up with the group and go to  a huge place for dinner before the acrobat show.  We end up at a table with 8 people from Montreal who mostly speak French.  The food was served in the same manner as lunch but wasn’t as good. 

Back to the bus to go to the show.  It is held in an auditorium in the       Hotel , which is where the Clintons stayed while visiting Shanghai,  The show is good – mostly balancing acts, a magician.  It was good, entertaining but not up to Cirque du Soleil at all.