Old and New Shanghai

We have had 2 wonderful days in Shagnhai.

Sunday afternoon we went on a half day trip with Susie. We saw the east side of the Hunagpu River. Until 1990 the area was farm land. Susie, who was born in Shanghai, remembers taking the ferry across the river to buy fresh vegetables.

We rode the Magnetic Train- a 7 minutes roide to the airport. It is the fastest train in the world and travels at 270 miles per hour. Over the doorway to each car is a digital readout that shows the time and the spped. When the train was 2 minutes out we had reached the top speed of 431 kph (or 270 mph) and everyone took out camaras and made photots. It was quiet and smooth. What a ride.

We visited the Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower. There was in interesting museum of the history of Shanghai there.

We also went to a Silk Reeling Factory and learned about the cultivation of silk worms and the making of silk comforters. Naturally we bought a comforter for ourselves.

Yesterday we joined the Viking River Cruise group of 30 other folks. We have a tour escaort who will be with us the whole time and she is excellent. We headed about about 9:00 and went to the Yu Gardens built in 1559. The photo of the dragon is from the garden. We walked about a mile through the city market to get to the gardens. The sideways photo of Elaine is from the market square. You maybe can see out hotel in the smog behind . It is the one with crown on the top.

After our garden visit we walked back to the bus in the street among the cars, motor bikes, and bicycles.

In the evening we went to the most amazing performance of the Shanghai Acrobats. Never have we seen such balance and percision. We gasped and oohed with every breath.

Today we are off to fly to Yichang and the cruise on the Yangtze River.