China Day 3 -- Shanghai to Yichang (Yangtze)

Rise and shine! Wake up in Shanghai, head for the breakfast buffet, grab your daypack and get on the bus! All packed luggage has been picked up and on it's way to the Yangtze.

Our local guide has taken us to a local shopping area where there are no locals. We wander through this shopping area, but buy nothing.

We work our way through to the Yuyuan Gardens. These are 400 years old and cover five acres.

It's raining hard, and I'm ready to leave Shanghai. I like it and everyone is friendly, but I am done with the big city.

We wander around the Yuyuan Gardens in the rain and humidity. It's a thousand degrees outside and I am sticky.

One of the cool things about the Chinese is that they are into roofs, doorways, and floors. Everywhere we looked, we saw ornate carvings on the houses, doorways, and ceilings. Check this out.

This little cutie was posing at the Gardens to the delight of her proud mother. She looks older than four, huh?

We continue wandering around and eventually board the bus for the Jade Buddha Temple.

Inside the inner courtyard of the Jade Buddha Temple.

Lots to say about this place, but what amazed me was the dress of the people who came here to pray. They were all very sincere and seemed very religious. This speaks again to my point about the new and modern China: this is a good example. Religious, local Chinese kneeling and praying before their God, and looking like we do.

And, of course, the ubiquitous Chinese red lanterns. Chinese red lanterns are a symbol of happiness and good luck. Raising the red lantern is a tradition that began in China back in the 1600's during the Qing Dynasty.

And finally, we leave the beautiful, cosmopolitan city of Shanghai. We saw the many Koi ponds, the locals, and the kite fliers. We were always impressed with how well the people converted a bicycle into a truck, bus, flatbed, paint hauler, or produce bin.

In the late afternoon of the third day, we leave Shanghai and head for the airport to Yichang, the gateway to the Yangtze River. I loved the Chinese signs that they could never get quite right.

Although a thousand photos follow, we were so excited to reach the Yangtze and board our boat. We check into our small , but cozy room and settle in. The little deck looks to the outside and we watched a hundred towns and cities roll by.

I stick my head outside and this is the first view I see of the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world.

Our boat, the President #1 was just fine and had a large dining room with great breakfasts. We go to bed looking forward to waking up on the Yangtze and continuing our adventure.

China Day 2 -- Shanghai

We wake up in our Shanghai hotel and are pretty excited to be here. The whole trip is ahead of us and we are looking forward to learning more about this country that has been hidden from the outside world for so long. I enlarged the pics, so clicking on them will bring up a full-screen view. Words in red are hyperlinked.





Today's China seems very modern and very clean. The people are generally friendly and often helpful, especially in the smaller cities. Check out this billboard. Not sure what they're advertising, but they look pretty western to me. We saw this look all over China. Even in the small towns that we eventually saw, the young people tried to dress as western and modern as possible.


In almost all cases, the Chinese love having you take pictures of their kids. They are very proud and often tried to get the kids to smile and look cute. At the Three Gorges Dam, the parents offered to hand us their kid, so we could get a photo holding their baby. We took pics of kids all over our tour, and only once did a mother say "no".


This guy was playing on his Gameboy in the back of the silk factory. I let him take pics with my camera, but then had to wrestle it away from him since he liked it so much. These blue glasses were the style for all boys his age and seen everywhere.


OK, after a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we board the bus and head for the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. This baby is over 1,500 feet tall and offers great views of the city.









The TV Tower is a popular tourist site because of the great views of the city. Here are the four corners of the tower and the four views. All good stuff, but I was anxious to see the "real China" whatever that was. At this point, all I knew about China was this tour of Shanghai.

At the TV Tower, our local guide John, our overall guide Vivian, and I enjoyed a rest from the frantic pace. John is happy because we are all leaving in the morning, Vivian is happy because no one had died as yet, and I am happy because I heard there is beer at the next stop.

Everyone who goes to Shanghai talks about the "Bund." I asked several people what this was, and few could explain it. It is cool, but is nothing more than a famous waterfront that has been the symbol of Shanghai for many years. A little like Fisherman's Wharf, it is a series of shops, bars, and restaurants along a pretty waterway. Like many places, it is a teenage hangout, vendor mecca, and tourist photo spot. Lots of fake Rolexes sold here.
As for our tour, we boarded the bus and headed for the silk factory. We learned about the history of the silk worm and its role in the process of creating silk products.

Here is the picture pile of the craftspeople, scarves, and comforters. Lisa and I bought nothing, but our tour group spent thousands on silk comforter sets.

Here's the good part: Many of the guys, tired of the silk shoppe shopping, find this beer corner. One-by-one, our group grows as we chug our Tsingtao. Mellissa finds us and takes a picture of us looking (for no reason) guilty. Mac, to my right, looks like he's getting chewed out by Bertie, but he is not. She is too nice for that, however she is asking him for his wallet.

We leave the silk factory and bus to the Shanghai Museum. The museum is divided into eleven galleries and three exhibition halls. The eleven Galleries cover most of the major categories of Chinese art: Ancient Bronze, Ancient Ceramics, Paintings, Calligraphy, Ancient Sculpture, Ancient Jade, Coins, Ming and Qing Furniture, Seals, and Minority Nationalities.

We go upstairs to view stone carvings thousands of years old.

I'm not a big museum guy, but I liked this place a lot.

After the museum, back on the bus. Shanghai, being a big city, is very crowded and there are zillions of people on bikes and scooters. Sometimes, three or four people will crowd on one scooter. No helmets, rules of the road, or driving knowledge required. People ask if it's dangerous in China. My answer is, "only if you try crossing the street on a green light."

After dinner, we are taken to an acrobatic show that is the Chinese version of Cirque du Soleil. Although no photos are allowed, we have a great time. I think Lisa, covertly and bravely, took several videos.

We like Shanghai, but are anxious to leave in the morning in hopes of seeing more of China and getting out of the big city. We are looking forward to boarding a ship and cruising up the Yangtze River.

China Day 1 -- Shanghai

China!

We're back and glad to be home. For nearly three weeks, we've been touring China and having fun. We took 5,800 pictures and videos (and then deleted 3/4ths of them.) We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the vast beauty of China, learning some of its history, and interacting with as many local folks as possible.

We visited too many cities and took too many photos to post them all, so I think that I will just take you through the day by day highlights.

Here's the first day: (Shanghai)

We fly from LAX to Beijing for about 12 hours. Changing planes, we then head to Shanghai for another few hours of flying.

The good news is that you get to eat stuff like this: (Be sure to click on the photos -- especially this one -- to get the full view.)







We land in Shanghai, get through customs and head for the bus that eventually takes us to our first hotel, built in 1932, the Broadway Mansions Hotel,

I walk outside the airport toward the bus and and here's the first thing that I see. No joke. More on this later....

By the way, we are on a Friendly Planet Travel Tour called the Best of China. Check out our itinerary and a description of the tour cities here.

OK, let's get right to the important stuff: Donde' esta el Bano? Que? You must be kidding me. No bano? Get this: the waste basket is really for, uh waste. It's where the toilet paper gets deposited. I was surprised how well I was able to perfect the technique required of the "Muslim toilet." (Let me know if you want photos.)

Try using this bad-boy after you've eaten a Chinese Big Mac, sweet 'n sour pork, and three pounds of fried rice. The stall is about 110 degrees, 90% humidity, and filled with mosquitoes. And by the way, I really wish someone had told me that you had to buy toilet paper before you go in!

We are anxious to meet our tour group. At our first lunch, shown here, we start to get to know the people that we will be living with for the next 15 days. Fortunately, we have a pretty good group and enjoyed hanging out with most. It's amazing how Mellissa's mess made it all the way onto my spot.

Shanghai started as a fishing village in the 11th century, but is now called the "Paris of the Orient." It is a very modern city. And a very western city. Gone are the Mao pajamas and conical hats, replaced by the same western fashions you would see in SF or LA. Where was this photo taken? China, or anywhere in the US? Lots to see and do in Shanghai, (as you'll see in the next couple of day's posts) but I was glad to move on and get to the "real China."



It is said that Shanghai has more in common with New York than it does with China. Being there, one sees that this is true. Our local guide said that there is no China in Shanghai.

We head for Shanghai's famous 1,700 year-old Zhouzhuang, a Town on Water. Like Venice, this town has gondolas, which we board and ride around the old waterways.

At this point, we are exhausted, and after dinner we gladly spend our first night in Shanghai.

Next post: Day 2, also in Shanghai.