Shanghai'd in Shanghai

I can't move this picture, so I have to start my information here. This is the view from our hotel room in Shanghai. Just had to show the traffic and the construction. The building on the bottom left is a school with a school yard set up for soccer and basketball. Note the amount of traffic and the construction in the area. We went for dinner at a restaurant about 5 minutes walk from our hotel. The guide said that the staff spoke English and they had English menus and the food was great. The food was great, the menus were in English but the staff spoke very little English. I had a card from some Chinese friends which explained that we didn't eat meat, chicken, etc. That helped a lot. We went back a couple of days later and forgot to show the card and got a great eggplant dish, which looked good in the menu picture, but contained pork.(oops)







We went and visited a garden area one day. Beautifully spaced rocks and trees and flowers. Very peaceful and quiet, even with all the tourists all over the place. The pictures are below.





Oh look!!! Another Starbucks. You couldn't go more than two blocks without seeing a Starbucks or a 7-Eleven.


On our way to visit a market and temple, we went past a smaller market area where our guide said we could buy knock-offs. At that precise moment, the police arrived and confiscated and stopped the sale of items until they could see that they weren't knock-offs. The sellers had spies and people posted at all entrances to places like this so they wouldn't get surprised by the police. We saw many examples of this in China. Not so much in Bangkok, though.


On one of our coach tours, we went by the Stadium in Shanghai which would host the soccer games of the Olympics.


A statue in the park. Note the large buildings behind.


Moving merchandise to the stalls for sale to the public.

The YuYuan Market for shopping and also a temple. Our guide took us all to a back stall down an alley where we could by Gucci purses, gold jewellry and watches, all for very cheap. (Knock-offs) and very high pressure.

Again, another peaceful setting. Gail Seemann loves dragons and so does Arone, our son.






Four views of the downtown business district of Shanghai. This is from the area called the Bund.



A subway entrance in the Bund area. We never took the Subway although we used the tunnel entrances to go from one side of the street to the other, in order to eliminate pedestrian crosswalks.




Some pieces of art in one of the temples we visited near the market.


Our coach was parked outside this factory shop, which also contained a restaurant where we had lunch, and there was a bit of commotion because he was blocking traffic. There was a huge argument and the woman passenger in the car almost came to blows with our driver.


But this man never got to sell any of the produce and fruit he had in these baskets.

SPLIT PANTS, AGAIN (sorry Greg, just had to put the picture in)

Then, we visited a small co-op village by a small river.




Three pictures of the Shanghai Acrobatic Show. This was a fantastic evening and I can't wait to see Marilyn's video of the evening. There was no way I could take enough pictures that weren't blurred because of all the movement.



Shopping on Nanjiing Road, the main shopping road in Shanghai. Very High End shops, but we were still offered cheap Rolex watches.


I saw this poster and knew that Daorcey and Natalie would love it.


Then, on a special trip, the four of us went to the commune. We were supposed to take a train to the city and then have a tour. We ended up in a van for over an hour to get here and almost two hours to get home. But, the visit to the city was great and we got to see what life must have been like just after the Communists came into power. Above is the map of the area and below are some pictures around the city.





We went on a little ride down the canal of this city. These dwellings look pretty original. Our guide said that hot water is very expensive, so it is used sparingly. That must be why Jannose saw the airport workers washing their hair in the airport washrooms.

Note the girl wahing her hair in the photo above. There is a pail beside her and there are water stains coming up the stairs. I would suggest that she got water from the canal. I don't have the picture in here of the guy urinating into the canal just up from where she lives. Oh well, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

We also visited the Humble Administrator's Garden. Pictures are below.


Greg, Marilyn and Jannose and I in fromt of one of the many beautiful buildings there. Notice that we are all smiling. We weren't three hours later after our van ride back to our hotel in Shanghai.



Below are pictures of the interesting buildings of Shanghai.





This was a sculpture in our hotel lobby. The woodwork was very interesting. It was a huge piece of art.

The skyline of Shanghai as were heading to the airport to leave to Hong Kong.

Moose, Mooses or Mice?

Thursday morning, August 8th, quickly eating breakfast before going off to work. A movement caught my eye and it was a moose by the clothesline. I dashed off to grab my camera and then had to walk to the front of the house to follow the moose. Took a couple of pictures and then took a movie of the big beast. check out the video.








We have had our share of wild animals here at the acreage this year. Porcupine ate the bark all around an ornamental crab tree and I think it is dead. Deer are munching the fresh vegetables in the garden and so had to put up some fencing to keep them out.(Those are our veggies. Of course, the boys wouldn't have complained about losing the beets, just the peas.) Three weeks ago, Jannose spotted two skunks in the back yard sauntering past the deck. We have seen them a few times since then, walking in the back yard. As long as we don't surprise them, we'll be fine. But, Jannose has spent some time reading up about them.

Also, the hummingbirds have been at the feeder. Check out this picture.




And the other birds munching at our Bird and Breakfast.


Add that to the robins and their nest outside the front door.



So, that's what retired folks do, eh?

Three Gorges Dam

In Chongquing, we visited a display which presented information on the Three Gorges Dam. This was to help prepare us for our cruise on the Yangtze River. There were some very nice pictures and a mural but we weren't allowed to take pictures of them. The structure on the far right of the model is the elevator which will move ships from one side of the dam to the other in less than an hour. The five locks will take over three hours. We were told by our guides that there is no charge for this service.(only in a communist society) The dam will provide 5% of China's elecrical power when finished by November 2008.


This display was very informative. You can see the locks and the difference in elevations. Note the wonderful park areas here. One thing I noticed in China was that there were a great number of planted trees everywhere. The designs here are very reminiscent of the gardens at Chenonceaux or Versailles.

The view of the locks from the front of our cruise ship.

We were able to walk around the area of the dam. Note the cutouts on the bricks on the left. This is a little waterfall design. Of course, in November, when the water level will rise to its uppermost, this area will be all under water. The water level will rise to two or three meters from the top of the dam.



The water bubbles out of the top and then flows down to the base of the observation tower.


The water level will rise to cover these flower beds.


This work crew is taking apart the original area at the dam site.


The locks at the dam. Again, note the grass and the designs.

Look closely and you can see a ship on its way up to the next lock.

There was a very nice, quiet park near the Dam Display. It was nice to walk here and be away from all the crowds.