Well, we are currently pulling away from the train station in Shanghai. It was a packed afternoon- which is good because it kept our minds off the emotional goodbye.
After posting this morning's blog, I slept the whole way to Shanghai. I didn't wake up until Coco came up to the front of the bus to talk to me. The city is so beautiful. Coco told me she always comes up here for vacation and pointed out some of her favorite spots.
We switched buses at the Yafan hotel, where we'll be staying in two days. I am so happy that the students grew so close in the last week, but it made for a sad goodbye. There were definitely tears as Andi begged to come with us in someone's suitcase and Blair pushed away after hugs. It makes it a little easier to know that we'll see each other in one month. It was a bittersweet goodbye because now we get to start the next part of the journey.
Our tour guide for Shanghai, Angela, met us at the hotel. She is, by far, the most knowledgeable and best English speaking guide we have had thus far. Plus, the boys LOVE that she is easy on the eyes ;) As we drove around Shanghai, she gave us a lot of great facts.
The city is so large and it seems like it will never end. There are 20 million people living in Shanghai and the number is growing at a rapid pace. There are fewer bikes and motorcycles here than in the south, but the traffic is so much better than Linhai and Hangzhou. Angela said that they refer to Shanghai as "The Jungle," much like we call our urban areas concrete jungles. There are over 2000 high rise buildings in Shanghai- and you can see all the cranes building more. The old districts are being destroyed to make room for all of them. The government will buy people out, then put them in an apartment of equal value, which means they won't live downtown anymore. Angela told us that the apartments in the northwest district cost roughly $7000 per square meter.
Our first stop was The Bund, an Indian name for the river bank. This waterfront location has the most famous view of the city skyline- where construction only started in 1990! Before that, that side of town was all rice paddies. They just finished the construction of tunnels under the river, which helped to reduce traffic across town. It was rainy (it's monsoon season) and we were very lucky to see all the buildings. They are typically covered by clouds during the daytime. Behind the Bund, we could see the British district of Shanghai, constructed after the Opium War in the mid 1800s over British trade rights in China.
Next we went to Old Town. Angela led us into the market and we stopped at a silk museum first. The kids really liked seeing the silk being made and getting to try the stretching out for themselves. They got to prep the silk, then work together to stretch it for a comforter. They had a shop there as well, so you knew you were buying the real thing.
While in Old Town, we had the choice of shopping for an hour or going to visit Yu Garden. Your children are shopping fanatics- Mr. Kline and I were the only ones who went to see the garden. It was BEAUTIFUL. The garden and the Lantern Zig-Zag Bridge leading up to it were originally private, then the government bought it out in the 1950s. It was built as a retirement home for a high ranking official's parents, but construction was not completed in time. We got to see Happy Fish Pavilion, the Magic Jade Stone, the international union trees (400 year old gingko and 100 year old magnolia, a symbol of Shanghai) and all of the residential parts of the estate. The furniture was unique to the Qing Dynasty era because it was large, had intricate patterns, and marble inlay.
We met the students at 5:15 and they were starving. We went to an early dinner at a Szechwan restaurant. It was my favorite meal since we've been here for a number of reasons: I like spicy food, nothing had eyes, and no one was smoking. It was a great meal & it was nice to see some Chinese food from a different region of the country.
We had a little more time before our train left, so we went to Nanjing Road. It's like Times Square and the Magnificent Mile combined. It is a one kilometer pedestrian shopping street. There were so many lights! It was nice to see it after dark. There were places to people watch, entertainers, and people trying to sell you fake Rolexes and Louis Vuitton wallets (our kids bought some of each). I FINALLY got decent coffee at a Starbucks :)
We got to the train station a little after 8. I have never been to the train stations in Europe, so I was very impressed with it. Security there is so-so, but apparently it's been beefed up for the Expo. There were SO MANY people in there, but we'll have to get used to it from here on out. Our train for Beijing left at 9:15 and we will arrive tomorrow morning at 7 AM.
The train is pretty nice, but small rooms for 4 of us and all our luggage! As John noted, "These rooms are made for 4 small Asian women!" Everyone is in the cafe car now (in their pajamas) playing cards and eating snacks. I hope to get to sleep some time soon, but the walls here are pretty thin! Oh and no showers for us after a long, humid, rainy day. We will have to get used to one another until the hotel tomorrow night!
Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City are on tomorrow's schedule. Mrs. Guan, the Chinese teacher at Gurney and the Intermediate school will be meeting us at the station for this portion of the trip. She is VERY excited to see all of us- she's been talking about the trip since February!
Can't think of anything else to add. I will put up a short post in the morning to let you know we arrived in Beijing. Have a nice day :)
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