May 23 - Shanghai #1

May 23 - Shanghai - Beautiful

We woke up early today after having a day of travel and headed to the Ho Jo front desk to inquire about  city tours. Everyone in China is so helpful.  We booked "Big Bus", which is the same company we used in Hong Kong and served us well.  We had breakfast and headed out.

For a side note, this Ho Jo is in a perfect location.  We are Juijung Road in the center of Shanghai, close to the People's Square, Bund, Yu Garden, Nanjung Road, and more.  Plus the Big Bus picks us up right in front of the hotel!  Now that is service!

I am digging this weather.  70 degrees and partly cloudy.  The cooler weather is much much appreciated after my Hong Kong sauna.

We decided to take the tour bus around the city and this bus company lets you get on and off as many times as you want.  The skyline in Shanghai is beautiful.  It is the financial capitol of China and growing overnight, every night!  These buildings are huge too.  The shopping areas are much like New York City and it appears there is no shortage of cash. 

First stop was the Bund.  This is a 2-3 mile walkway along the Huangpu River, beautifully decorated with flowers and lots of strolling people.  We learned that the mandatory retirement age in China is 55 and your new job is moving in with your child and taking care of your grandchildren while their parents work.  Grandparents raise the grandchildren.  There were so many grandparents and grandchildren strolling throughout the Bund.  Beautiful!! 

We also learned that in Shanghai women have all the power (wear the pants in the family).  This is not true in Beijing or Hong Kong.  Here in Shanghai women direct traffic.  Husbands take care of the children, do all the cooking and cleaning, and carry the wife's purse when out shopping or for dinner.  I tried handing my purse to Drew and he laughed, rolled his eyes and kept walking!  I don't think a Shanghai women is for him!  

The Huangpu River has a lot of barges moving up and down the river.  From the banks of the Bund you could see the quickly growing financial district of Shanghai on the east side of the river.  All of the major companies and bank are located there. West of the Bund are all of the beautiful and historic waterfront and grand colonial style buildings.  The architecture is amazing.  East side all new and west side all old.  The newer buildings have crazy different shapes, styles and colors. This is what makes the skyline so unbelievable!  We took lots of picture of the Oriental Pearl, a needle and sphere like building that is the eye candy of Shanghai. 

After the Bund we headed to the Yu Garden which was designed by one of the Emperor's sons to please his father.  It is beautiful,  and the adjacent streets are all very old classic chinese buildings and bazars. We also hopped on another tour which took us over to the east side of Shanghai and got a good look at all of buildings and their history!

We were so busy touring we didn't eat lunch.  We headed back to our hotel about 5:30 and got ready to to have dinner with a colleague of Liz Knight's ( a Minnesota lacrosse family friend) from McCormick (spices).  Our Spice Girl (thats what we call Liz) set us up well!  We had a wonderful evening with Darin, his wife Kim and son Adam.  Darin,and family, originally from Chicago, have lived here for 4 years. He is the head of the McDonald's account, which is ironic since my Dad is from near Chicago and opened up the first 6 McDonald drive-ins in Omaha Nebraska.  Darin got a kick out of that!!  We were awed by each one of their life experiences and travel.  Drew got a chance to talk about working in Shanghai with Darin.  We had dinner at Lost Heaven, Yunnan Folk cuisine on the Bund. The food was wonderful, lots of different dishes served family style.  AND MY CHOPSTICK USE IS IMPROVING!!!!!

Adam, Darin's son, is a sophomore in high school and interested in University of Wisconsin (we were tipped off prior to coming to China).  Drew presented Adam with a Bucky t-shirt! I laughed, the whole family are Wisconsin cheeseheads in China!!  And Greenbay Packer fans!

Darin has his own driver/car service.  Instead of a taxi back to the hotel, his driver delivered us!  Forgot to tell you all about the traffic in Shanghai.  No driving!!  Only crazy taxi drivers allowed, or mopeds.  Ryan Macgregor (Drew's college roommate and moped owner/lover) would be heaven here!!  I took pictures of thousands of mopeds lined up on the street for him!!  He would fit right it!!  Some bicycles, but a lot of mopeds.

We extended our stay one more day.  Shanghai is so beautiful!  Drew booked us flights to Tianjin on Friday morning, where he will go to school for the summer.  Drew has a classmate from Wisconsin going to school and finishing up her spring semester here in Shanghai.  He hopes to meet up with here sometime tomorrow.  

Darin and Kim also suggested getting up early and going to Fu Xing Park where hundreds of folks do their morning tai chi.  I guess it is beautiful!!  All in unison!  Kim also recommended the pearl market at Hong Mei.  So we are starting early and have a lot planned for tomorrow!! 

Loving China!!