2010 - China

June 1. The plane ride over was very smooth, no bumps, 13 ½ hours long, and we flew during complete daylight the whole way from Los Angeles to Shanghai. We had two meals in-flight, one of which was a Thai curry chicken dish and the other one was beef with noodles. Watched movies on the plane to pass the time-a good Korean love story, a Bollywood movie from India, and a Chinese Kung Fu movie. We were met at the airport by Frank, a friend of the Chinese-American guy from whom we rented our apartment in Shanghai. Frank spoke good English and took us to our apartment in the city via bus and taxi. We dislike having guides and taking tours. We like to travel like the ordinary citizens , but it was nice to have Frank take us to the apartment and explain things to us, like how to unlock the door and use the washing machine.

Our apartment is very modern with Internet service, TV with lots of Chinese channels and only one channel with the news in English. We are on the 24th floor of a hi-rise. With a population of 20 million people in downtown Shanghai, there are lots of hi-rise apartments. We have two bedrooms, a nice kitchen with microwave, large dining and living room and one bath. The washer/dryer is one machine and located in the bathroom. Didn’t know where to empty trash, but we found out from a neighbor that you just put it outside your door and someone comes along and picks up trash tand sorts through it to see if anything is salvageable-soda cans, etc. We saw several folks going around to small businesses on their bicycles and tricycles collecting the trash. Sure beats large garbage trucks going around town! And, the trash is picked up almost immediately after you put it out. We buy and drink bottled water as the tap water may not be good to drink.

June 2. Nancy got a cold and needed the day to sleep and recuperate.

June 3. We ventured out on the subway and went to Carrefour, a large store based in France that is like Walmart in the US and has everything. We bought some groceries and headed back home for lunch. We ate a couple of Chinese dishes, including meat filled rolls. We understand that filled doughy rolls or dumplings are the specialty of Shanghai. We traveled to Carrefour by bus with some help from the local girls that worked at the cinema on the next block from our apartment. However, coming back on the Metro (subway) we took a longer way than intended. We are learning how to get around on the Metro. The METRO has signs at the stops in both Chinese and English, but it still doesn’t mean it is easy to figure out. The English signage is in very small letters. We had dinner at McDonalds tonight near the fancy JW Marriott at Peoples Square. We got our best maps so far from the hotel concierge. The meal cost about the same as USA. Talked with a young German fellow who is in Shanghai for an internship with Volkswagon. Tourists are far and few between, but the locals have been nice and try to help us as much as they can. We were able to get Chinese money from our Wells Fargo account at an ATM next to our apartment building, which is very convenient. Of course, we have to get used to the actual currency so we know what we are paying and make sure we get the correct change back when making purchases. The currency is RMB or the Yuen. There are quite a few Starbucks, KFC Subway, and Pizza Hut restaurants around town. But, we hope to eat at some local places after reading up on where to go. We stopped at a huge restaurant that had tons of fish tanks with fish of all kinds and different sea creatures in them. You pick out your choice of seafood and they cook it to order, along with side dishes. It looked good, except for the dish with a snake, turtle and other slimy things. I don’t think we would want to eat. that. They did have nice looking shrimp and mussels.

June 4. Today, Doug decided we needed to register with the local police per a document they gave us on the plane when we went through immigration. We stopped by an official building in our neighborhood with military guards outside. We proceeded to try and explain to them what we wanted to do and asked where the local police station was located. Of course, they did not understand us, but they dialed our cell phone and put us through to a local police station with an English speaking person on the other end. That person tried to tell us where to go to get to their location. We could not figure it out , and in the meantime, the local guards were talking and called a police car and they escorted us to the police station in their car. What an experience to ride with two young Chinese police officers. One of the guys spoke a little bit of English and they were real nice. When we reached the police headquarters, which was quite far from our apartment, we were told to get in line and wait for someone to help us at one of three windows. The way to get in line is to sit in numbered seats. As a person is served, you move to the next lower numbered seat. This works fine except, Chinese even more that Americans want to JUMP the line. We finally got to talk to a woman who told us we needed several documents before we could register and we would have to return. To the police station with them. We decided it was just too difficult to do, so Doug notated on one of the documents the address of the police station and we decided if anyone asked, we could tell them we were in the process of registering. So amazing that they tell you to register, but fail to tell you how difficult it is to do it!

We also went to the Expo today for the first time. We took the subway and it was relatively easy to get there. It was crowded, so we didn’t get into any of the “big country” exhibits. We did visit the exhibit for Mongolia, South Pacific Islands, and a few other small countries. There were about 345,000 people there when we visited. They have video screens in the subway which tells you throughout the day how many visitors are at the Expo. There are 20 million people in Shanghai and 30 million people when you count the surrounding areas of Shanghai. The Expo area is huge and you need good walking shoes as you will walk a lot. We plan to go back several more times so we can visit all the exhibits.

June 5. We went to a children’s concert at the Shanghai Grand Theater. An orchestra with classic Chinese instruments played and the audience was comprised of families and children. There was a young woman dressed up like a Disney princess who was the narrator and the orchestra conductor asked different children to come on stage and play some instruments. They played a lot of American music-Yankee Doodle, Red River Valley, and others. The kids seemed to know the words to the American songs and sang along to the music. They had some very interesting Chinese instruments that we would not ever see anywhere else and the concert was very entertaining. We asked one guy how he liked the program and he said that there was too much American music played. I understand , as we would not want another country’s culture to take such a big role in a concert we might attend in the US. We also made a second trip to Carrefour for groceries. We have been eating at the apartment most of the time, but snacking when out and about.

June 6. We took the subway to a popular shopping area called East Najing Road. There are lots of different stores, both upscale and regular shops. The weather is getting hotter-about 80 degrees, but high humidity. People seem to dress in warmer clothes even though it is hot. The women all wear jeans or long pants and even sweaters and jackets. Very few wear shorts and if they do, they might wear hose with their shorts. I don’t know how they stand to be so covered up in the heat. Men wear long pants and jackets too. There are lots of young people in Shanghai and they dress like Western young folks-T-shirts and jeans.

We attended the Shanghai Symphony and the music was wonderful. A famous Chinese violin player who studied at Julliard in NYC also performed. There were no cheap tickets available at the box office so Doug stood outside the door with a 100 RMB bill ($13) in his hand raised in the air to get the attention of anyone who might sell us tickets. A young woman came by and gave us one ticket for free and we bought one ticket from a scalper. Tickets only cost us $13 total for the two of us. We sat upstairs in the balcony during the first act and the music sounded great. We moved to the orchestra section after intermission and the sound was not as good. The theatre is very nice and was recently renovated.

June 7. Doug went the headquarters of China Eastern this morning to see about changing our airline tickets to return via Europe. He had no luck in getting them changed and was told to talk with a travel agent. We’ll have to see what the best way to get back to the US will be. Of course, we have a ticket leaving Shanghai on June 30 to LA, but we would like to go to Europe from here.

We went to the Expo this evening and visited the business and city pavilions. Several cities have exhibits at the Expos like Montreal, Canada, Vancouver, BC, Bologna, Italy, Madrid, Spain and others. Also, there are huge pavilions that represent futuristic technologies. There are several restaurants in this area of the Expo representing many different countries. However, we ended up eating at KFC, fried chicken and Cokes. The Expo is always crowded and there are long lines for many of the exhibits, but we go into those that are easy to get into and have a good time. The theme for the Expo is “Better City, Better Life.”

June 8. Today, we walked to a beautiful park, Coshocton (or something like that) and had lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant in the park. We also rented a small motorized boat and rode around on a small lake. The boat was very small, given our big bodies! It is a bit like Central Park where you might rent canoes, but here you rent motorized boats. The restaurant we went to in the park had a fancy section downstairs and a casual section upstairs on an outdoor patio. We didn’t know where we would be seated and couldn’t understand why it took so long, but we figured out that because we were casually dressed, we had to be seated upstairs. Once seated, they gave us a menu in Chinese, which we could not read. They brought us a “picture” menu and we pointed to what we wanted. We had two veggies-asparagus and bok choy, cooked in real good sauces. Also, we had duck with a good sauce and rice. They brought something else which we had bought as dessert, however, it turned out to be another veggie wrapped in a pastry. We had ignored the dish when it was brought and looked forward to it for dessert. We were fooled! We used chop sticks as that was the only utensils offered. Now, we know why the Chinese are so skinny. It takes a long time to eat a meal with chop sticks. After lunch, we went to Carrefour and bought some more groceries. We stopped into a nice bakery in our neighborhood and bought some good bread. We also bought some plastic forks to keep in my purse for when the chop sticks don’t work as well for us as we would like.

We went to see an original Chinese opera at the Shanghai Grand Theater. It was called “The King of Chu” and dealt with the historical war between Chu and Han, ending in an empire’s decline. The music was modern, but enjoyable. The staging and singing was very good. Again, we did a lot of walking to get to the opera from the bus stop and back home again. We are still learning the best way to go to different places and where bus stops and subways are situated in relation to where we want to go. Hopefully, we are losing weight with all the walking and we are eating pretty light most days. However, we did discover a delicious pastry at a shop where many items cost only 86 RMB, about $1.20. The name of the café is “85 Café.“ The name represents 85 RMB, which is about $1.20.
June 9. Today, we went to the Expo again to see if we could get into some more pavilions. We did get into the Africa pavilion, which was huge. Different regions of Africa such as Rowanda and Dafur were represented, along with the Congo, Senegal, and others. Of course, many of these regions have terrible fighting and killing going on, but they still managed to tell about their regions at the Expo. Iran and Pakistan and North Korea also have pavilions, but so far, we have not got into those. South Africa has its own pavilion, but we were unable to get in due to the long lines. We also visited the pavilions for Serbia, Bosnia, South America, and the Caribbean. All of the countries have exhibits built around the theme of “better cities, better life,” the theme of the Expo, but they also provide information to entice people to come visit their country and use the opportunity to promote tourism. It is all quite interesting. We walked all day and our feet felt it when we returned home. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant at the Expo and the dish we ordered was one we always enjoy at a favorite Japanese restaurant in NYC, and it tasted just as good as in NYC. We are seeing the city using the Metro and city buses, which means we get most everywhere very inexpensively. The buses only cost 25 cents to ride no matter how far you go and the subway rides cost about 60 cents on average.. We bought transportation passes and all you do is have money put on the cards and you swipe the cards on the bus or subway. We add money to our cards when they get low Taxis are cheap for those who prefer them, but not as cheap as the bus and subways.

June 10. Today, we took the metro to the Pudong district, across the river, where the tallest building in Asia is located. On the way, we walked the BUND area along the river. We walked by the Chinese Stock Exchange. We took a tourist ride across the river, through a tunnel. We rode in small cable cars underground and they had interesting lights flashing all around us as we went along. We explored Pudong and got on a city bus, not knowing exactly where it would take us. But, it took us in the general direction of our apartment and we got off somewhere along the way and shopped. We also shopped in a busy district, East Najing Road, before going across the river. Lots of shops with inexpensive clothing, some name brands like LaCoste, Swatch, etc. We also stopped in a huge shopping center in Pudong and walked around. We had lunch at McDonalds, always consistent food and a fair price!

I mentioned earlier that both men and women wear too many clothes for the hot weather here in Shanghai-long sleeves, sweaters, jackets, hose, and they layer clothes when the weather is hot and humid. I asked a young woman at the bus stop (who spoke English) why so many clothes? She said everyone wants to be dressed professionally at all times. I don’t think this would work in the US in the summertime in most of our big cities!

We went to a chamber music presentation at the theater in People’s Square tonight. The performers appeared to be music students, but they were very good. All the performers were female-a pianist, cello player, and violinist. Afterwards, we hoped to eat at a nice restaurant we passed while on the bus home, but the bus did not stop near enough the restaurant and we would have had to walk a long distance to eat there. The stops, both on the subway and buses are far and few between. You only hope that where you are going is near one of them, but it rarely is, so lots of walking. And, the bus stops and subway stops are not always clost by each other. Transferring between subway stops often takes a long time and you may walk a long distance. We had stopped at a Subway restaurant before the performance and got a sandwich, so that became our dinner. We did have a salad at the apartment before going to the concert, but it is hard to eat as healthy as we would like here. But, we are doing so much walking, we must be losing weight!

June 11. Today, we visited the Shanghai Museum where lots of old Chinese artifacts such as jade, coins, and pottery is housed. It was quite interesting. We also visited the Jingan Buddhist Temple, a big temple in the middle of the city that was built in 247 A.D. It was very beautiful. In the evening, we attended the Peking Opera called “The Prince of the Desert.” The characters sing in high-pitched voices and there is quite a bit of action. Reminded us of watching a Gilbert and Sullivan musical, lots of exaggerated movements and humor. We shopped at Carrefour and stocked up on groceries. We have talked with several students and young folks riding the bus and they have spoken relatively good English. There is a university near our apartment so they are often on the bus when we are.

Traffic is heavy in the city and walking can be treacherous. Cars plow right through intersections when people have the right of way and the multitude of bicycles and motorcycles, (which have their own lane on the right side of the road) also plow through intersections into the people. On right turns, the bicycles and scooters have the right of way over pedestrians. Another issue is that OSHA does not seem to be alive and well in China in that we encounter several obstacles while walking down the street. You might be walking down some steps that you don’t even know are there because they are unmarked and then a corner of the step might be chipped off. You might encounter a hole in the ground that is unmarked. But, they have ridged bricks in the middle of the sidewalk to guide blind people. They just need to help us folks who are sighted!

June 12. Today, we set out to find a bookstore that a college student on the bus told us had English books. We found the store on a street that had several bookstores, but only one with English books. It was very large and the English books were on the top floor, the 7th floor. We found an inexpensive travel book on Shanghai to help us get around better, hopefully! They had English magazines, but the average price was about $11-more than most books. They had a lot of books throughout the store, but they also had lots of security guards throughout the store to make sure you didn’t take anything. We picked out our book, took it to a salesman and he kept it. Then, we went to pay a cashier using a slip of paper the salesman gave us with the price of the book on it. Then, we took the receipt the cashier gave us back to the salesman and he gave us our book. When we left the store, a security guard put our book in a bag. Amazing how many people we interacted with just to buy one book. But, in a country where there are so many people, you definitely need a lot of jobs. We went on another adventure to get back to the apartment by jumping on a city bus, not exactly knowing where it would take us. But, it took us in the general direction of our apartment and we got off and walked the rest of the way. Doug is a good navigator when he has a map to follow. We have been getting free maps (in English) from Expo volunteers who sit at tables around town and in the subways to assist people in getting around. Shanghai is trying hard to make it easy for visitors to get around, but it is still not easy.

Tonight, we went to a movie at the Shanghai Film Festival. The theater is just around the corner from our apartment. The movie was “Surrogate” with Bruce Willis and it is a 2009 US movie. It was a science fiction flick with lots of action. Another movie being shown from the US is “Shanghai” with John Cusack. After the movie, we had dinner at a local restaurant in our neighborhood. We had steamed bok choy and curry chicken casserole and rice. We also had a cold beer. The entire meal cost only $11. Such a deal.

June 13. We went to the Shanghai Fellowship Church this morning at 10:00 a.m. for a service. It is a Protestant church not far from our apartment and near the American Consulate. The service lasted about 1 ½ hours and the sermon was over an hour. We were directed upstairs where we were able to listen to the sermon through headphones in English. The Chinese folks sat on the first floor. It was a bit difficult to follow the translation, but it was interesting. There were two women preachers and a small choir. It seemed odd to be attending church in China. They also have a 4:00 p.m. service in English . PS.. Every seat was taken. The windows were open and people were on a lot of benches on the outside. Also, for the 4pm service, a person has to have a foreign passport to get in.

After church, we went to a shopping district we had not visited before. It was very French and there were expensive shops and restaurants. We ate at an Asian restaurant we found that was very reasonable. We had chicken and rice with a pepper sauce, beef tips with rice and spicy sauce, sautéed mushrooms, a coca cola, and beer for only $14. Most of the restaurants in that area had $25 to $50 meals. There was even a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream café, but we had a “Magnum” ice cream bar from the local grocery store at half the price of the Creamery. We got on a new bus and rode it until we thought it was time to get off and headed home. Riding the buses is a great way to see the city and learn the geography. Of course, we have a map with us at all times and try to figure out where we are in relation to our apartment. When we got off the bus, there was a Catholic Church and the Catholic Diocese of Shanghai. We walked into the church. It was very basic and did not have many statutes or fancy stained glass windows. The Fellowship Church we attended reminded us of the Dutch Reformed Church we attended in NYC-Middle Collegiate. The architecture was very similar to Middle Collegiate. Not sure when or who built the Fellowship Church in Shanghai.

Tonight, we went to the Shanghai Film Festival again and saw the movie “Shanghai” with John Cusack and a cast of Asian actors. John Cusack and Adrian Brody, American actors, are actually in Shanghai for the film festival, but we didn’t see them. The movie took place right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor when Japan took control of Shanghai. It was about spies and covert operations and was very good. A famous Chinese actress, Gong Li, played the lead female role in the movie and she also was at the opening ceremonies for the Film Festival. We were unable to get tickets to that event as it was sold out.

June 14. Today, we went back to the Expo to try and get in some of the pavilions we have not gotten in before. We did get into some-Brunai, Ukraine, Slovakia, North Korea and a huge exhibit on global warming and other bad things we are doing to our planet. It was very interesting and there was a huge globe that spun around and changed topography every few minutes. These exhibits are done on such a large scale and you would not generally see anything like this except at a World’s Fair. We had lunch at a restaurant near the Canadian pavilion. They had “French fries Poutine,” which is French fries with gravy and cheese-delicious, yes-healthy, no! We have had French fries made this way many times when we have visited Canada. We did a lot of walking, probably on our feet for 5-6 hours. It rained today, a misty rain and it was very humid. However, it cools off in the evenings and we have a wonderful breeze in our apartment when we open the windows. We have air conditioning, but don’t use it all that much because of the nice breeze. We plan to go to Beijing and Xian by train early next week. We will be gone from Shanghai for about six or seven days and then return to our apartment.

Tonight, we went to another film at the Film Festival. We saw “Shutter Island” with Leonardo DeCaprio. It played in the US a few months ago, but is premiering here at the Shanghai Film Festival. The movie was quite good and a real thriller with a surprise ending.

June 15. We headed out today to explore some new areas. The first stop was the Shanghai Library, near our apartment. We walked through the library, which is quite modern, but they don’t have as many books as we see in most big city libraries in the US. The library was real clean and the books were all arranged in order. You felt like if you forgot to put a book in the right place, they might do something to you. The research books are order the same as in NYC. Fill out a form, Turn in and wait in a set of chairs for your number. They had a nice café in the lobby area and we split a muffin for breakfast.

We then headed to the museum of Sun Yat-Sen, which is housed in his former home. He was a promoter of democracy in China in his early life and he was in politics from 1910 to 1925 when he died. The home was in a nice neighborhood and there were lots of artifacts related to his life. We then headed to the former French Concession area of the city, full of shops and tons of tourists buying stuff. We had lunch at a restaurant recommended in a travel book we bought. The specialty was thin dumplings and the restaurant was very nice in an upscale shopping mall. The name of the restaurant was Din Tai Fung and it is a popular Tawainese restaurant with several locations throughout the world, even one in Los Angeles. The dumplings were so good. They were brought to the table in a steam basket. They also brought us fresh ginger and chili sauce. You make your own sauce of soy sauce and vinegar to dip them in. You poke a hole in the dumpling with your chop stick to let out the steam and then eat it using a Chinese spoon. We got two kinds-one filled with beef and the other filled with pork. They were filling and to die for. The restaurant has been recommended by the NY Times.

Next, we headed to the Old City of Shanghai where there are also lots of shopping bazaars and shops for tourists. It is very crowded and feels like a fake China Town in NYC, only it is in China. We were there to sample some dumplings at a chain restaurant, Wu Da Niang, like the McDonalds of the dumplings. It was located upstairs over a shop in a crowded area and next to KFC fried chicken. We ordered beef and pork dumplings at this restaurant too and they were as good or better than those at the upscale restaurant. We paid about $10 for 10 dumplings at Din Tai Fung and about $3 for 12 dumplings and a big bottle of beer at Wu Da Niang Dumplings. You can get just as good of food at the inexpensive restaurants, but you have to know where to find them. With so many restaurants in Shanghai, that is not always easy.

June 16. We went to the Shanghai Circus this afternoon. It was thrilling. They had acrobats, lions and tigers, dancing bears, bareback riders that flew up on trapezes, and lots of clowns. Lots of children and of course the staff tried to sell lots of nic-nacs. It is a permanent circus that has shows everyday inside a big tent-like building. A fun experience!

We went to a dance performance at the Shanghai Grand Theater this evening that was spectacular. It was modern dance, but the theme of the performance pertained to the Tibetan culture. The costumes and staging were very elaborate. We had never seen anything quite like this before. The music was chanting, drums, and sometimes sounded like rock n roll. It would be hard to explain what it was all about, but it was beautiful. But, as we have found at performances some Chinese keep their cell phones on and even answer them during a performance. Some also talk to one another during most of the performance and they even bring food and eat their meal during the performance. Not sure how they would fare at performances in NYC, but my guess is those around them would throw them out if they made noise and ate meals and answered cell phones during an opera at the Met or a NY Symphony concert at Avery Fisher Hall. Everything is an adjustment in China! But hey, it is their city-We are the guests.

June 17. Today, we went to the Expo. I can’t believe it, but Doug managed to get us into the China pavilion. The only way into the China pavilion is to get in line at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. to get a free reservation card. Then, get in line at 9:00 a.m. when the pavilion opens to get in. But, we went to the China pavilion around 2:00 p.m. and Doug looked for a scalper with two reservation cards at the entrance. Not seeing one, he held up his arm in the air with two fingers up, indicating he wanted two tickets. A couple of people came by and had tickets, but they wanted 200 RMB (about $26) for two tickets and we wanted to pay 100 RMB (about $13) for two tickets. Finally, a young couple with a child sold us two tickets for 100 RMB. We got into the line to get in and it took about 45 minutes. The pavilion was the best we have seen. They had a beautiful, huge wall that represented Chinese tapestries and the figures in the tapestry moved. The tapestry was at least 200 feet long. It was all done with lights and motion. We also rode a roller coaster through one exhibit, not a big roller coaster, but a small one. The exhibit had all kinds of structures and lights. We also saw a movie on a huge screen that surrounded the big room we were in. The movie was on China’s past, present an future. The pavilion was very impressive and since China is the host of the Expo, it was to be expected. Doug sure is a genius when it comes to getting tickets to events!

In the evening, we went to see the Tapai Symphony. They played traditional Chinese instruments and a famous female percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie played with the orchestra. The music was modern Chinese, but interesting and different from what we are accustomed to. We met a young fellow from Paris during intermission who is studying in Shanghai for a few months. We had met a young Chinese woman on the way into the concert and she sat near us. She spoke some English. Doug decided to play matchmaker and told the Parisian fellow about the young woman since she was sitting near him and us. Doug introduced the two and we gave them our tickets, which were located in the orchestra section, so they could sit down there during the second act. We had decided to sit in the balcony because we think the music sounds better up there, even though we had orchestra seats. It was fun to see the two of them walk off together and sit with one another downstairs during the second act. It sure looked like they had hit it off when we introduced them. We left before the concert was over so we don’t know what happened to the couple, but we can envision them getting married and having babies and living happily ever after, all because of us! Or, perhaps they had one Night to Remember!

I wanted to say that the Chinese folks are very courteous on the buses and subway. When I have been standing with no seat, often a man or even a woman will offer me a seat. I notice that all the young folks offer seats to older men and women when they get on board. We don’t usually see that kind of courtesy in the US. Nice to know the young folks value their elders, but not so nice to know that we are now the elders!

After the concert, we went to a restaurant in our neighborhood and had vegetables. They were so good. Stir-fried green beans and another stir-fry dish with snow peas, onions, mushrooms, and small, yellow things that looked like big kernels of corn that were delicious. The food here is very good. For lunch, we ate food fro Sri Lanka at the Expo. It was more like snack food-fried samosas and other doughy balls filled with vegetables and meat-very good.

June 18. Today, we went shopping at some local bazaars. They had lots of fresh veggies and food, but since we are leaving for Beijing in the morning, we didn’t buy any food. We also went to a big shopping center at Zhoshan Park called Cloud Nine. They have 11 floors of shops. Doug and I split up and I explored the shops and he explored the restaurants!

In the evening, we went to a concert by the Shanghai Symphony at the Oriental Theater in the Pudong District. The sound in the theater was wonderful. Unlike the theaters in People’s Park, here the ushers made sure that no one made any noise or took pictures. This was unlike other theaters where people eat, take pictures, and talk during the performance. It is nice to know that some of the theaters take the music seriously and make sure the audience does too. We met an older gentleman from Finland who lives in Toronto, Canada during the intermission. He said in Japan the people always talk at concerts as it is considered a night out and is a social event. He is staying at a hostel and pays $12 per night. For better or worse, he is sharing a dorm room with four women. After the concert, we stopped at KFC and got a bucket of chicken for dinner so we didn’t have to cook. For $10, we got 6 hot wings, 6 pieces of chicken, two rolls and a delicious ear of corn on a stick. They could sell the corn in the USA and make a mint, it is so good. We went home, had our dinner, and packed for our trip to Beijing.

June 19. We got up early to catch the train to Beijing. We walked to the subway station and took the Metro to the Shanghai Railroad Station. We walked with the crowds through security and to the waiting area for the train. We boarded the train shortly before it left at 8:21 a.m. Our seats were on the lower berth in a car that had 4 sleeping beds-two up and two down. These cars are used for four people sleeping at night, but six can be seated during the day trips. We sat on the lower bunks with two business men traveling to a town about 3 hours from Shanghai. We will be on the train for 10 hours to get to Beijing At least there is a toilet bowl and not a hole in the floor. However, they do have a hole in the floor for those who prefer it.. At the Expo, the toilet stalls have signs on them that say either “bowl style” for the Western toilets or “squat style“ for the hole in the floor. So far, we have found Western style toilets everywhere we have needed them. The train will average 85 mph on our trip to Beijing, as fast as any train in America and this is one of the slower trains. We were able to lay down and sleep in the bunk beds on the train. Two young guys from Beijing sat with us after the business men left the train. They too slept in the other two bunks. When we arrived in Beijing one of the guys in our train car offered to help us get into the subway and gtold us which stop to get off at to get to our hotel. He spoke a little bit of English and we appreciated his help.

We had made reservations at the Grand Mercure hotel in Beijing, near Tianammon Square and the Forbidden City. We splurged and spent about $90 a night for our room with Travelocity. The hotel is very nice and they even have a n indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi. It is very hot in Beijing and we have enjoyed cooling off in the swimming pool after long walks in the hot sun. We ate dinner at a restaurant near the hotel that was recommended by one of the receptionists.. She said she eats there and that the tourists did not eat there-just our kind of place. We ordered three or four dishes and they were all delicious. One of the dishes was seseme crusted mutton and it was really good. Beijing seems more suburban than urban and we quickly decided we like Shanghai better. Shanghai is like Wilmington, NC and Beijing is like Raleigh, NC. Well, the comparison of the cities sort of conveys the difference between Shanghai and Beijing.

June 20. Today, we went to a protestant church in Beijing. Again, like last Sunday at the church in Shanghai, the sermon was long and we left after about 45 minutes of it. Last week’s sermon was one hour and that is only the sermon, not the singing, bible reading and other parts of the sermon. And, just like last Sunday, all the seats were taken and people kept coming after the service started. There were headphones for those of us needing English translation of the service. The church was located on an out of the way street, but not too far from our hotel.

We rode a local bus around the city to get the lay of the land. Beijing has a lot of office buildings and we didn’t see as many shopping areas as in Shanghai. However, we did find a Walmart Super Center and checked it out. It’s not quite like the ones in the US, but it was large and had all kinds of stuff, including groceries. It seems more suited to the common folks and is not as upscale as Carrefour. Carrefour is more like a Target store in the US. We decided to go into the Forbidden City late in the day and we hired a guide to take us through it. The fellow spoke good English and was very informative. We plan to go back again as we were a bit rushed since we entered about an hour before closing time. The Forbidden City was the home and administrative center for the Chinese emperors for 500 years, ending in 1906. Nothing about it was surprising if you have seen the movie “The Last Emperor” or other movies about Chinese history. Seeing it in person reinforces the immensity of it. After we left The Forbidden City, we walked through a nice big park where lots of Chinese folks gather each day to sing, dance, discuss politics and enjoy the outdoors. As you walk through the park, you hear various groups of people singing songs. Some are singing opera songs, others are singing what sound like patriotic rally songs, while others are singing using karaoke machines. Some groups have live musicians playing accordions and other instruments. There must have been thirty groups ranging from 5 to 150 people. It was quite joyous to see so many people enjoying themselves. We even danced with the folks that were dancing to recorded music, supplemented by saxophones. They were actually dancing simular we do in NC-sort of a “shag” or jitterbug style of dance. One of the best things we discovered today was bottled water that had been put in a freezer and was all iced up inside the bottle. Several street vendors were selling bottled water this way. It was so hot and the water tasted delicious.

After a hard day of walking in the hot weather, we went swimming at the hotel and had dinner at the same restaurant as last night. Tonight, we had some new dishes, which were delicious. One dish was sliced then fried potatoes in a very hot sauce and another was chicken with onions and greens. The potatos reminded Doug of childhood fried potatos. They actually brought the food to us in small stir-fry skillets and heated the skillets from the bottom so the food was sizzling at our table. Although Beijing doesn’t seem to have the variety of restaurants, at least we haven’t found them, that Shanghai has, we are very pleased with the restaurant in our neiborhood and don’t need to find any others! Tomorrow, we are headed to the Great Wall of China. We are taking a local bus rather than ride with the tourists on a tour bus. It should be an interesting trip.

June 21. Today is the longest day of the year and we had a long and interesting day. We got up early and took a train to the Great Wall of China. The train trip was nice and we wound through the mountains to get to the Wall, which is located about 50 miles outside of Beijing at Badaling. Finding the train station and purchasing a ticket was a challenge, but a local helped us with the ticket and a policeman at the train station told us which platform to get on for the correct train. The Great Wall was amazing. Once we got off the train, we walked up a long winding path to the ticket window where you purchase a ticket to walk up the Wall. The cost is only about $3, but it is a bit challenging going uphill on a stone path with lots of other people. The scenery is spectacular and we took lots of pictures. When we walked down, we ended up getting on a path that took us down the other side of the mountain and not where the bus was that we planned to take back to Beijing. We walked a long distance and a taxi driver had followed us, hoping to get tax fare from us to get back to the city. Actually a couple of taxi drivers had followed us and Doug was getting perturbed at the guy following us walking down the road. We saw another guy standing by his car and we went up to him and acted like we were calling the police so the taxi driver would leave us alone. It worked! However, we kept walking and finally a taxi driver who came along explained to us in broken English that we could walk no further without getting on a big road. Sorry to say, he was right so we proceeded to bargain with him for a taxi ride to The Ming Tombs, another site we wanted to see in the area. We agreed on a price, about $12 to go 40 miles to the Ming Tombs. We learned there are several Ming Tombs and we finally told the taxi driver which one to take us to-the Dingle Ling Tombs. He dropped us off with instructions on how to take the local bus to the nearest subway stop. We toured the tombs and took the local #22 bus, which took us 20 miles into Beijing. The bus was very crowded as school kids and locals got on and off. At one point, Doug was sitting across from me and I could not see him because a guy with a hairy armpit was standing in front of me with his hairy armpit practically in my face as he hung onto the rail. A baby (with no diaper) was sitting next to me with her mother. Not all babies wear diapers in China and I don’t know how they manage to not have accidents when out and about on the buses and subways. I was sure that at any moment the baby would pee or do something worse as it sat right next to me and the mother fed it water from a bottle. Needless to say, the bus trip was an opportunity to see how the country folks live in the outskirts of Beijing. We finally got to where the subway started and got off the bus and took the subway to our hotel. The trip took about 2 ½ hours, but was very interesting. The folks on the bus were all curious about where we were going and why we were riding the bus with them. Of course, they couldn’t speak English and we can’t speak Chinese. We know three words-Nee-how, which is “hello,” shen-shen, which is “thank you,” and “bye-bye,” which they say for “goodbye.” When we walked the Wall and at other times, Chinese folks have stopped us and asked to have their picture taken with me or Doug or both of us. I guess we are an oddity to them. We figure they don’t see folks as big as us on a regular basis. They probably show the pictures to their friends and family and say “look how big those Americans can get.” But, folks are very friendly and treat us with respect and we have enjoyed interacting with them.

Tonight, we took the bus to Tiannamon Square again to see it at night. You cannot enter the square, but there are lots of lights and folks are wandering around outside the square. We also ate at our favorite restaurant near the hotel and ordered a couple of new dishes. This place is so good and the meals only run about $14 total. Tonight, we had stir-fried kale and stir-fired baby cabbage, and a chicken dish we like that has cilantro in it. We also enjoy having Chinese beer with our meals. They have some good beers.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Science Museum and some other sights around town. We are taking the night train to Xian to see the Terra Cotta soldiers and will arrive on Wednesday morning.

June 22. This is our last day in Beijing before taking the train to Xian tonight. We headed to Tianammon Square to visit Mao Tsu Tong’s body. His body is actually preserved in his casket located in a big building at the Square. You must check all your bags and no cameras are allowed. We were in a long line to pass by his body. It was strange to see a man that passed away over 25 years ago still preserved. After this interesting experience, we went back to the Forbidden City to explore it on our own without a guide. The hotel allowed us to check out at 3:00 p.m. and take a swim in their pool later in the day. We left our bags with reception and it worked out well since we could shower and swim before dinner at our favorite restaurant and leaving for the train station. In the afternoon, we went shopping at a couple of huge malls. One was called Joy Shopping Center and was about 10 floors full of shops. We took an escalator that went up six floors without stopping. That was a bit scary. Each floor was labeled differently such has “Happy” for the floor where restaurants were located. And, “Sexy” where many women’s shops were located. We had a donut at a shop that said all the ingredients were imported from the USA and they were advertised as “homemade in America.” They were very good! There are so many beauty counters at the malls selling cosmetics. There are lots of Sephora cosmetic stores in both Shanghai and Beijing. Chinese women are just getting into using cosmetics and facial products and they are bombarded with choices. Many brands I have never seen in the USA. Not all women wear make-up, but the young folks seem to wear it. But, not many Chinese women wear lipstick, not sure why.

We were at the hotel during the day and chatted with some folks from California who were going to Shanghai to the Expo. Doug told them they could scalp tickets to get into some of the more popular pavilions. Later in the discussion, we learned they were associated with the Mayor of Pasadena and they had contacts at the US Embassy and would be getting into any pavilion they wanted to get into to. I’m sure they thought we were crazy to talk about scalping tickets at the Expo!

We headed to the Beijing railway station west to catch our train to Xian. The station was crowded in the waiting area, but we managed to find seats by asking some folks to move their bags off seats. We boarded the train and our roommates were two Swedish guys, about 30 years old, Lars and Eric. They were very nice and we all chatted until about 11:00 p.m. before getting to sleep. They liked movies and we discussed our favorite movies, including movies by Ingmar Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock.Both Eric and Lars are school teachers.

June 23. The train arrived in Xian around 8:30 a.m. We didn’t know if we slept all that much, but we didn’t feel too tired until later in the day. We got outside the railway station and proceeded to check on tickets back to Shanghai from Xian. A fellow approached us about hiring him for the day to take us to the sights we wanted to see. He helped us to get our train tickets to Shanghai and he spoke pretty good English, so we hired him to take us around. He had a nice, new van with air conditioning so that was nice. It was very hot in Xian. It just keeps getting hotter in China as the month moves along. I think the temperature in Xian may have hit 100 degrees on this day. Before, we could get to the sights we wanted to see, our driver had to take us to a shopping spot where all tourists are taken to try and sell them souvenirs. We told him in no uncertain terms we were not interested in shopping. So, he then took us to the Terra Cotta Warriors, about 30 km outside of town. The warriors were most impressive and they have not yet excavated all 10,000 of them. Next, we went to the Big Goose Pagoda, a famous Buddhist temple in the city. It was beautiful. The last stop was the Great Mosque in the Muslim section of town. It is the only mosque located this far east in the world. It also was quite beautiful and very old. The scenery traveling both to Beijing and to Xiam has included some beautiful mountains. The Chinese like to take pictures of Doug and I. While we were at the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum a huge group of Chinese kept asking us if they could take a picture with us. I bet 10 or 12 different people posed with us while their friends took our picture. We felt like we were movie stars and being photographed by the papparazi! I guess they don’t see enough Westerners around that they find us unusal. Even little babies look at us like we are different, and we are.

We boarded the train to Shanghai around 4:30 p.m. and will arrive at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 24. We were unable to get soft sleepers, one up and one down as we had before. We had to take two upper berths. Doug had been sleeping on the upper berth on our previous train trips so he had figured out how to get up to the top berth. I had to take some practice runs before I could do it. They have a foot step about mid-way between the upper and lower birth, but it is quite high and it takes some strength to hoist yourself up to the upper berth. We shared a cabin with two young Chinese women who slept most of the time. They were in their 20’s and spent some time on their cell phones and texting. We were not able to have discussions with them, like our Swedish roommates last night since they spoke no English, but at least they were somewhat quiet. The next morning we took pictures of the two girls with Doug and he likes to think he spent the night on the train with two hot women, but of course, I was there and Doug and I were sleeping on the upper berths while the women slept on the lower berths below us. On the train, there are always lots of people who congregate in the hallway and chat. You just have to tune out all the noise of the people around you and the sound of the train clicking along the tracks. Ten and fourteen hour train rides can be tedious, especially back to back, but they beat flying and the price is reasonable, around $130 for both of us from Xian to Shanghai, a long distance.

There was a Subway sandwich shop at the Terra Cotta Warrior museum shopping area and we got Subway sandwiches for our dinner on the train, along with coca colas from the train station. We had KFC chicken sandwiches for lunch. It’s best to eat familiar food when you don’t know which Chinese restaurants to eat in or you are short on time. Looking forward to a shower and a good night’s sleep when we get back to Shanghai. It’s hard to clean up on the train and the bathrooms aren’t always that nice either, but it is an adventure. And, they always have a Western toilet on the train with a toilet seat so life is good.!

June 24. We arrived in Shanghai around 8:00 a.m. and we were late, but it was good to get back to our Shanghai apartment and take a shower. We have gone almost two days without a shower and sweated a lot while on tour in Xian. We were able to use a wet wash cloth on the train to rinse off our faces, but no shower on the trains and if there were, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to use it. We rested during the morning and headed out to Tesco, a grocery store chain based in the UK. We stocked up on groceries and went home and rested some more. We had planned to attend a performance of the world famous Shanghai acrobats, but found out after we got there that there was no performance until June 28. We stopped at a restaurant we had wanted to eat at called Laifu Kitchen on Huaihai Street, near our apartment. We had a wonderful dinner for only $16. We had a beef dish that was rather hot, but good and the best green beans with bulgar. Also, some stir-fried greens that you dipped into a milk-based sauce and then put sugar on it. We didn‘t put sugar on the greens, but they were good with the sauce. We are definitely enjoying Asian food.

June 25. It is cooler in Shanghai that it was when we left for Beijing, but it has been raining. Today, we decided to go to a big shopping mall we had seen one day from the bus called Metro City and another shopping center called Gateway Towers, both located in the same area. Shopping centers in China can be huge-10 floors with multiple escalators and lots of shops. One of the shopping areas had only upscale shops-Fendi, Armani, Louis Vitton, among them. But, this shopping area had a restaurant floor called “Food Republic” with all kinds of Asian restaurants-Japanese, Korean, Chinese. We walked around as most were not enclosed, but next to each other and they had their own seating areas. We saw some fried, doughy balls at a Japanese restaurant that looked good, so Doug decided we should try them. You ate them with a toothpick and they were about the size of a golf ball. Doug tried one first and they were steaming hot and he burnt his mouth. We poked holes in the remaining balls (we got 4 for $1.50) to let the steam out. We then realized they were octopus wrapped in a delicious dough ball. They really were good and we have had octopus before, in Greece. Another interesting area at the mall was two floors of shops selling computers-all the brands-Lenovo, Acer, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Vaio. There were multiple shops and hundreds of sales people. However, the prices are not as good as in the US because many computers are imported to China and not made in China. They have to pay a high import tax. Acer is made in China, so their prices are more reasonable. Needless, to say, shopping in big centers is always and adventure.

Tonight, we attended a modern dance performance at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. It was called “Tales of Two Cities” and was a “dance therater.” It told the story of a famous female author from Shanghai who had lived in Hong Kong and also wrote some famous movies. She died a recluse in Los Angeles. The dancing was very free-form and the costuming was fabulous. Also, they used props like shoes, silk robes, newspapers, and lamps to make the performance interesting. We think the New York audiences would really like this show. We spoke to the artistic director after the show as they had a Q&A with the choreographer and he said the dance troupe would be performing in the USA next April. The best part of the evening was that a guy gave us his tickets since we tried to scalp tickets and couldn’t get any. The show was sold out. This guy was so generous to give us his tickets. Chinese people are very nice to us and friendly. Often, they say “hello” to us in English while we are trying to say “Nee How” to them in Chinese, which is “hello.”

This trip has been such fun. But, the way we have been traveling by bus, subway, train, carrying backpacks makes me feel like we should be in our 20’s instead of our 60’s. Just glad we still have our health and mobility and can travel in this fashion. We need to make trips that require hard walking and hiking while we still can!

June 26. Today, we found a neat shopping area where all the cheap stores are located. Walking through small shops with lots of cheap stuff kept us busy most of the afternoon. We found a store in which everything was 2 Yuen, which is about 40 cents. Kind of like a Dollar Store in the USA, only cheaper. All of our friends and family will get some fun, inexpensive gifts.

In the evening, we went to the Expo to try and get into some of the bigger pavilions. We were lucky to get into the Belgium, Mexico, Belarus, Czech Republic, and USA pavilions. Getting into the USA pavilion was most interesting. Doug approached the entrance for VIP and disabled and asked if we could get in as we are Americans. He said “no.” Doug asked if we could get in for being old and he said “no.” Doug then told him he had served in the military and was a veteran. The man asked for a document proving it. Doug pulled out his Veteran’s Benefit card and the guy said “thank you for your service” and let us in. The USA pavilion had three movies. The first showed different scenes from major cities in the USA. The next had speakers from various companies who sponsored the USA pavilion-GE, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsico to name a few. And, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke as well as President Obama. We were pleasantly surprised to see many women speakers of high status in the video. The third movie was on a huge screen and told the story of a young girl who tried to create a garden in her tenant neighborhood. It promoted the idea that it takes a whole neighborhood and teamwork to get things done. Unlike the other parvillions, the US did not promore its qualities or products but chose to talk about inproving the WORLD. We had dinner at a nice restaurant in the Belgium pavilion. They served Belgian fries with the meal and they were good, but not as good as you get in Belgium. Leaving the Expo when it closes is quite an experience as thousands of people descend upon the subway and buses. We tried to take an alternate route than most people, but the bus we took didn’t go exactly where we thought it might and it took us 1 ½ hours to get home. After a long evening at the Expo we were ready to put our feet up and rest!

June 27. We slept in today and rested our feet from all the walking yesterday. In the afternoon, we went grocery shopping one last time at Carrefour. We attended a classical music concert at the Shanghai Oriental Theater in Pudong in the evening. It was very good. The Qingdao Symphony Orchestra played and a very good female violinist played one of the pieces. Afterwards, we found a new grocery store that we had not seen before. I would call it the “Whole Foods” of Shanghai as they had organic products and many selections of the very best items in meats, sauces, cheeses, and teas. We didn’t buy anything as we are leaving on Wednesday and can only eat so much. We did see Ritz crackers for $4 a box and Saltines for $5 a box. If you want basic American food, you have to pay for it! We stopped at a local Asian restaurant in our neighborhood and had a late dinner-stir-fried green beans, beef fried rice, and a chicken dish that was more like an appetizer than a main dish. It was all delicious with a good Chinese beer. The Chinese beer is very good.

June 28. We slept in again today and started to think about packing our stuff. We have bought several small gifts and we need to organize our bags so we can get everything consolidated. In the afternoon, we went back to a shopping area near Yuyuen Gardens which has several streets of shops with inexpensive trinkets. As we were walking along the streets there were small apartments that house several families and people were out hand washing their clothes and cooking in the street, I had a moment where I thought “this feels like China” and then I realized “I really am IN China.” Sometimes it feels surreal to actually be in China and see scenes that you have only seen in movies or books.

We went back to the Expo tonight and got into the India and Nepal pavilions. Also, we got into the big pavilion that houses separate exhibitions for all the 61 provinces in China. It was quite interesting to see the diversity of the people and geography of China. China is as large as the US, but has many more people. There are about 61 provinces in China and we have only seen a very small portion of the country,. Seeing all the exhibits from the different provinces made us realize how much more there is to see and how diverse the people and geography actually are.

I forgot a story from the other day about buying some coffee at Starbucks. Doug had run out of coffee at the apartment. We bought a small French press and have been making coffee at home. We asked the Starbucks clerk if we could buy about 100 grams of coffee instead of the whole bag, which cost $11. We wanted the 100 grams ground since the bag was whole coffee beans. She ground the 100 grams and put it in a bag. However, she also put the rest of the un-ground coffee beans in the bag and charged us $11. We didn’t realize that we had just bought the whole bag until after we left the store. Doug was trying to save money and not buy a whole bag, but trying to explain to the sales clerk that we only wanted a portion of the bag of coffee was just too difficult. We has not converted the price she charged us into dollars at the time we paid, so we didn’t realize we had bought the whole bag until after we left the store and realized we had all the coffee!

June 29. We rested at the apartment during the morning and I fixed a stir-fry dish for lunch. We have been buying stew beef at Carrefour and fresh veggies. I mixed sliced potatoes, green beans, and carrots with the beef and stir-fried it in soy sauce and a sesame dressing we found at Carrefour. We have enjoyed eating out, but cooking at the apartment has been fun too. The Chinese don’t seem to use salt in their dishes or even provide it in the restaurants. When we go to McDonalds, we ask for salt and they give it to us in a small cup as they don’t have salt packets like we get in the US. Of course, their diet is no doubt healthier without salt!

We went to a wonderful performance by the Shanghai Ballet Company in the evening. It was a “dance therater” performance with lots of costume changes and scenery. It was a love story that took place in the 1930’s and 1940’s in Shanghai. It was a mixture of traditional ballet and more modern dancing using the ballet form. It was the best dance performance we have gone to in China and it could easily transfer to New York City, where I think folks would find it very interesting. They did not provide programs at the dance and we hated it that the performers and those who worked on the production did not get credit in writing. We did clap heartily for them as they deserved it.

June 30. We got up and finished packing. Doug had started packing yesterday and somehow managed to get all the trinkets we bought (a whole lot) into our bags. We ended up with two large backpacks and two smaller ones. In addition, Doug and I each had a carry-on and I had a large purse and we had the computer bag. We thought we had packed light when we left on the trip, but realized when we had to pack to go home that we had too much stuff! We took a local bus to the subway and the subway to the Meglev train which took us to the airport. The Meglev train travels at over 200 miles per hour and is the only MEGLEV train in the world that is commercially managed. Japan has many fast trains, but they are run by the government. The train actually lifts off the ground a few inches and there were several twists and turns during the trip. It took eight minutes to get to the airport whereas if we had taken the subway all the way it would have taken around 45 minutes. The cost to ride the train was 50 RMB each or about $7. We arrived at the airport and checked in and went through security. We didn’t have to wait long to board the plane and we had timed our trip to the airport just about right-not too early and not too late. The plane was full headed back to Los Angeles and there were several small children on the plane with their parents. But, we had a good flight and landed about one hour late.

We picked up a rental car at LAX and drove to Las Vegas to pick up the VW Beetle at our condo and headed out for North Carolina. The month in China was a fantastic trip and we would recommend a visit to China. The people are very friendly and appreciate Westerners coming to their country. There is lots more to see so we may have to come back to China in the future!

2010 - China

Friday, July 16, 2010

Trip Cost

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The trip 6-1 through 6-30

Friday, May 28, 2010

Los Angeles Apartment and Doings

Leaving Las Vegas

Friday, May 21, 2010

Finding an Apartment in Shanghai

Saturday, May 8, 2010

pre-trip

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