Bye Bye Shanghai

- July 16 & 17, 2007 -

I spent about 27 hours in Shanghai. It was very nice to be with my friend and former student Ivy (Chen Yuanfen) who's become quite the lady, Jack (her boyfriend), and big, muscular Mr. Lin (Jack's brother-in-law). They are all working for their small family owned and operated international trading company. She and the two guys really helped me so much during my stay from driving me around in a luxurious car to booking me a cheap but very nice hotel room to taking me all around Shanghai.

On Tuesday, I spent nearly the whole day walking around Shanghai with Jack and Ivy. Papa provided a train ticket right away to Beijing. None were available in the South for four more days! Then, we walked down Nanjing Road, a famous shopping street for pedestrians, returned to the Shanghai Harbor, rode the metro (subway), visited the old part of Shanghai (SH), toured the SH Science & Technology Museum, and crossed the beautiful Huangpu River.

The museum was really fun for just Ivy and I! My favorite part was the Robot Theatre. I thought of you Michael as this trio of robots worked on a car and then danced; I also thought of you Craig and Cali as other robots fought like samurais and still others danced a distinctly Chinese dance routine. We also walked through an amazing animal display themed like the rain forest. It was all oh so very lovely and perhaps my favorite site in SH.

Shanghai amazes me! It is incredibly modern and almost as Western as Hong Kong. The buildings are tall, incredibly tall, and diverse in architecture. The streets were very clean (something I haven't seen much in China), and the traffic was extremely orderly (also something I don't see much here). It is probably the biggest city I've ever been to. My time there made me think of NYC and being in Hong Kong.

The best part of my time there was that the Chinese people were so friendly to me; even the police smiled and were warm-hearted. If I ever come back to SH, I'd like to go to the art and history museums here; I really appreciate how they appreciate both here and prominently display so much beautiful art. Bye bye Ivy and Shanghai. :)