Jul 25.
We are on our last flight in China, headed for Shanghai, and back from the hinterlands of China. Margaret’s brother (Monty) and sister-in-law (Wendy) reside there. After checking in to the Portman Ritz Hotel, our first venture out is to meet Wendy for a dumpling lunch at Nan Xian Steamed Bun Restaurant. The restuarant was founded in 1900 and as you go move up to the upper floors, the prices go up, the dining gets better, and the lines are shorter.
After lunch, we realize we are in the Old City and decide to bargin hunt, as a group and sometimes individually. Eventually we all make it back to the hotel. For dinner (like we really need to eat more), we head to Monty and Wendy’s to have “snacks” and to look at the Huangpu River at night. Another first, we see a boat that is a floating hi-tech billboard. The billboard is a massive, and I mean like two or three stories high massive, LCD that is displaying full motion video.
Jul 26.
Breakfast at the hotel and a relaxed morning. We head over to the Urban Planning Exhibit building with the intention of making it a brief visit and afterwards to head over to the Shanghai Museum. We got the first part of the plan right but spend most of the afternoon at stop one. There is a full scale model of the city that cycles though a simulated 24 hour period with darkness and fully illuminated buildings. But, more interesting is a series of photographs of the city taken from the past. For each photograph from the past, there is a comparative contemporary picture shot at exactly the same spot and with the same orientation. The amazing thing is not the dramatic change- a street that could be a shot after a war from 60 years ago and the same street today with nothing but high rise buildings in the shot. The amazing thing is that the “historic” picture is only 14 years old.
We pull oursleves away from the urban exhibit and walk over to the Shanghai Museum only to find that it has just stopped allowing entry to the exhibits even though there is still an hour until the building closes. They are worried that visitors will not have enough time and that the exhibit may be too crowded. So much for the free market economy being applied to the running of this museum. But wait, the museum store is still open and available for the crowd to browse and purchase merchandise. Perhaps the free market economic model is too well understood. After leaving a respectable amount of tribute to the new economic system at the cash register, our group breaks up to go their separate ways for shopping and site seeing.
We gather ourselves together to attend the performance of the Shanghai Acrobats. I saw them four years ago and wasn’t expecting to see much of a difference in the performance. I had given myself the challenge to make some photographs that captured motion. I have to say that the performance was just as amazing as the first time for me. And, I believe that I was able toget a few shots that were satisfying.
After the performance, we head out for a late dinner, return to the hotel to pack, and then over tea in the hotel lobby recount the adventure that we have just experienced together.
Jul 27.
The Kildays are the first to head out in the early a.m. We had said our good-byes last night. Next the Hughes and we (Okis) depart the hoel but not after sitting down one more time for a group think on the trip evaluation forms. We board the bus, say farewell to Jason, the bus drops us off at Margaret’s brother’s home (we are staying a bit longer), and then the bus heads to the airport with the Hughes.
Jul 28
Geoff makes the most of the last day in Shanghai by staying out all night with friends that he had made in a prior visit. He makes it back, barely in time, for he and I head to the airport this morning. Margaret and Tricia stay for a week longer. Geoff and I have an uneventful trip back to San Francisco. He transfers to a flight for LAX and I am lucky to have great neighbors (thanks Tom and Susan) that drive out from Sacramento to pick me up.
