Seeing Shanghai (Friday for us)

We started our tour today at the Oriental Pearl Tower. Now you know I am into details, but not so much "sight seeing" details. So I am going to let Mark tell you what the TV tower is through our pictures on flickr with his own comments!(link on the sidebar, just click the badge to go to all our pictures) For me it is all about the people and I enjoyed our guide more than I enjoyed the museums. BoBo knows so much about Shanghai and really loves her city. Well ok, I will give you a little insight into what the TV tower reminds me of. The arch in alot of ways for my St Louis friends & family. You ride up in this elevator (and for those of you who have ridden in a chinese elevator you know that this means you are packed in like sardines) and you get a spectacular view of the city of Shanghai. It was a cloudy day, so our view was limited, but it was still neat to see, especially to see it through the eyes of our Shanghai guide. Then you ride down and walk through a museum. So see, we visited the arch right here in Shanghai China! It was a walk through the history of Shanghai and it was neat. I especially liked learning about the pots that are toilets that are still used in some parts of the city today. You think a squatty potty is bad? Think about peeing in a pot! Though I was thinking, that might be just enough temptation for Sage, maybe we should try it. And come to think of it, remember they told us Mavery pees in a vase, well, maybe this is actually what they use? Hmm.. So you can see what details stick out in my mind about our history lessons! ha!
After the TV Tower we went to another part of Shanghai, I think she said the old Shanghai as the TV tower was the new Shanghai. Lots of people, lots of shops. We ate at a Famous Chinese Restaurant, that I do not know the name of, but the food was yummy. We had dumplings and oh they were SO good. We got our lesson again on eating dumplings. 4 rules,

• kiss the dumpling to see if it is hot.




• bite a tiny hole in it to drain the liquid




• drink the liquid




• eat it.

We also had a duck dish, yep, with the head and all. It was stuffed with rice and vegetables and it was delicious. I liked it better than the famous duck place we went to in Beijing last time, for one it was hot. And it had a sweet sauce. And it was much less work, those with Childrens Hope know what I am talking about. Remember you had to roll your duck up in that stuff? This was easy. If you can figure out your chopsticks.

After lunch she took us to Yuyuan Stage which is a tea house and at night they have plays. We had a traditional tea ceremony which means we sat at a little table and a girl gave us a lesson on many different teas, by making them and letting us taste each one. It was really interesting and I am so glad we did that. I think it was Jasmin tea that she put these 2 "things" that looked like a big flower bulb into a champagne glass. She poured hot water into each and said it was the romantic tea. The "bulbs" bloomed into flowers. One was Romeo, which was a red flower and the other Juliet which was this long white flower. It was so neat. The taste was just ok, but I thought it might be worth it to buy because I think it could keep my kids busy watching the flowers bloom in their glasses! She showed us the "special teas" and all the things they could do for you. There was one that said it helped your hair grow. I told her if she could make Marks hair grow with tea, we would all stand amazed! I bought the one for relaxation and for sleeping, so we will see if it works, but it also had the best taste to me. I would tell you the name of it, but it is in Chinese so I have no idea what it is. And according to our tea girl, they are the only place that has these special teas. I also bought a cup that changes pictures on it when your tea is done. So maybe I will be able to make myself "real tea" instead of the little lipton bags when I want hot tea.

We went to the Bund after that and again, I don't remember what that means. All we did there was take pictures, the view was amazing of the Pearl Tower. We were stopped and asked to have our picture taken with a college age boy which is always so funny. Oh and while at the Pearl tower I was playing with a little girl of about 8. She said something and our guide said she said I had a very nice nose. I was thinking yeah sure she said that. Probably why do those crazy white people have such huge noses? ;-)

I have more to say, but I am going to try for a nap before our acrobat show tonight. I am feeling much better than I expected as far as jet lag goes. But i am guessing that is because I did not sleep for so many days before we left. So maybe that is the answer to jet lag, don't sleep for 2 days before you travel OR on the plane and when you arrive you will be so messed up that you will be able to sleep when you get to a bed!