Shanghai Here we Come - April 2 - 4



Can you believe it is a mango from Shanghai

 I was complaining a bit about getting up so early Saturday morning…Jeff and Jennifer were coming to eat breakfast with us before we left and go to the airport with us and we just wanted extra time to be ready.  At 6 AM Roger said he had double checked the time of our flight and it was not 9:20 AM but actually 8:20 AM so we needed to LEAVE for the airport at 7…not 8!  So we hurried out and met them just in time to leave.  Hate it when that happens…but it does happen and we were glad Roger caught it in time. 

We had an uneventful flight and found Eileen at the airport in Shanghai after finding out we were in different terminals.  A little walk between terminals but this exercise is always welcome.  So nice to see her and be with her and give her a big hug!!

Shanghai…Saturday

View from our room

So now we are in an apartment overlooking the historic district of the city.  On one side of the apt are old buildings with tile roofs and narrow streets….on the other side…a modern skyline of Shanghai.

We got to the apartment about noon and we were happy to see an Element Fresh restaurant here.  We had a wonderful lunch there and then got settled in our new home…bed #21!!  I was relieved that it was not a typical Chinese bed that is like board hard.  The last one was that way which really is not so awful but my old body did complain in the mornings.  But after some stretches…that I should be doing every day anyway ….I managed to get moving at a regular pace!  So this bed here is very comfy and we were all happy about that.  The apt. is on the 22^nd floor so we can see a lot out of the large windows.  It is really a nice place with a kitchen and washer and dryer!!  Oh the luxury of being able to wash our clothes when we want…not that we have not had laundry done…but its actually nice to do it ourselves…and we are fixing some simple meals here as well. 




Some vegatables for sale

Saturday afternoon we went to a grocery store to get a few items.  The people at the desk directed us to it and it was a fancy place with foreign products…fun stuff but not really what we were looking for.  We got a few things and then later Eileen and I went out exploring to find somewhere else to get some things….it did not take long in the older side of our building to find local fruits and veggies for sale on the street.  We were determined to find ingredients to make cold cucumber salad that I had the recipe for.  It’s a common Chinese dish.  We found a roasted chicken for dinner and had fruit with it for our first dinner…then the next nite…scrambled eggs, rice, cucumber salad, and fruit salad….all yummy of course.

 

Flowering tree??? on way to Pearl Market

Saturday night we were all tired and went to bed really early.  But Sunday was another day and we were up and ready to go by 9.  We took bus 911 to the pearl market.  It took about 30 minutes to get there and was nice to see Shanghai as we rode through it.  It is a large building full of small shops selling things such as scarfs, tee shirts, toys, jewelry, electronic gadgets, purses, curios, and many other things..  Lots of fun to look through.  We bought some things too but mostly looked.  Eileen was able to find a place to taylor make a dress for a Chinese wedding she will be in later this month.  They said it would take 2 days to make.  She is actually the bridesmaid in a Chinese wedding…I can’t wait to hear about that J!  She does not have to wear a certain style but it is supposed to be white…not easy to find a white ready made dress so she was excited to find a place that would make it while we are here.

Street view on way to Pearl Market

We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch.  Roger and I ate there when we came to Shanghai in December 2009.  It was next to the Pearl Market and one of the best Indian restaurants we have eaten at.  So we took Eileen there and all enjoyed it and it energized us to go back and shop some more!! We finally puttered out about 3:30 PM and headed back home.  It was a fun day.  We bought a DVD and watched it in the evening…”The King’s Speech”.  Very interesting movie.



Wide range of fabric

Today is Monday…after a very cloudy drizzly Sunday we were glad to see the blue sky and sunshine.  We decided to walk today to the Bund that is the area along the River that flows thru the city.  We started out walking thru the old district that has a very typical Chinese feel to it.   We got side tracked looking in the many different shops we found there.  Then we found the three-story building full of fabric we had originally set out for!  I was able to get a few different pieces for my quilt. 

 

Looking over the Yangtze River towards Shanghai skyline

Then we finally headed to see Yangtze River.  It was a nice walking park area along the river where we could have walked for miles but we were tired and only walked one!  Or maybe more?  The skyline is quite impressive and the water traffic interesting.  There were barges and many full of ore…one right after the other.  It makes you wonder where it was coming from and where it was going.  (Roger takes over)  We then got a taxi and went to Xintaindi which is a more modern shopping area hear our hotel.  There is a Starbucks and a lot of other restaurants and shops that are from different countries.  We ate in a Thai restaurant and had a very good meal.  We t 2han visited the Gap to see if they had anything that Eileen would be interested in and then visited Cold Stone to make sure we had something to walk off.



Blooming Tea

We walked back towards our hotel and enjoyed a walk in a beautiful park.  The sun was shining with limited smog and the flowers were blooming so it was a nice walk.  Today is a holiday here so there were a lot of people out walking around.  On the way back we ended up walking into a street that is full of antique shops.  We looked in a few shops and then Jan and Eileen decided they would rather go to the street market we had seen earlier to get some fruit and vegetables.  While they did that I enjoyed walking through the antique shops and learning about how to tell which pottery is older.  The darker the inks, the older the vases are (so they say).  I could spend all day here.



 We got back to the hotel about 3 PM and took a short rest, had some blooming tea and then played a game of 5 crowns.  Blooming tea starts out looking like a flower bud and after it is the hot water for a few minutes it starts to bloom.  We had a light supper of popcorn, boiled eggs and a lot of different fruit.