Shanghai

Yesterday we docked in Shanghai. I was expecting a big city, what I saw was a huge city. Lots of tall buildings; lots of people; lots of hustle and bustle; lots of construction cranes; and lots of road construction too. While the skyscrapers might not be as densely packed as Hong Kong skyscrapers, it looks like Shanghai is trying to catch up quickly.

We were met by our friend, Alan, who lives in Santa Rosa and does a lot of business in Shanghai. He greeted us at 9 AM at the cruise terminal and for the next several hours we were treated to the best tour of the city ever! We went to the second tallest building in the world and took the high speed elevator to the 100^th floor where we walked across the glass walkway and looked down on the city. You are way up there. We then descended to street level and walked to the Bund and marveled at the old colonial architecture. The old Bank of Hong Kong building was spectacular—oozing with old-world marble columns and mosaics and charm—in the old days, you knew you were someplace special when you walked into that bank.

From there we went a smaller shopping piazza, then to his development, into a hypermarket (that was incredible) and finally to the planning museum where we saw models and pictures of old and new Shanghai. It was a wonderful day. There’s a lot more to see, but the ship called us back to reality.

We had a 4:30 all aboard, and we made it back on time. But, right as we entered the ship, we heard an announcement...the pilot was running late and would not board the ship until 11 PM. So, if Alan looked at the cruise port, and saw our ship and wondered why we were still there when we rushed like the devil to get back at 4:30. That’s why…no pilot to bring us out of the river and back to the ocean.

Thank you Alan for a wonderful day in Shanghai, we had a wonderful time! I’d like to on the record that we’d like to share the Tetons and Yellowstone with you like you shared Shanghai with us. 

We now repeat the last journey in reverse. Tomorrow we are in Okinawa, where I think we’ll use the wifi at Starbucks once again.