Monday, October 6

Another quiet sea day with calm seas but gray weather. At one point I was filled with wonder at the fact that here I am, sailing on the Yellow Sea en route to Shanghai! Wow!

Tuesday, October 7

We are docked right next to downtown Shanghai, completely surrounded by skyscrapers. I took a half day tour in the morning. The most spectacular thing was the view from the 88th floor observation deck of the Jinmao Tower on the east side of the river. The Oriental Bright Pearl TV Tower dominates the place as you can see. This tour was mostly for photo ops on a rather hazy day, but we had an excellent guide, and an even more excellent bus driver!

And thank God for the latter as the traffic here is a close second to that of Mexico City (or at least the Mexico City of 40 years ago). Any markings on the roads bear no relationship to where the cars and buses actually position themselves, and cutting other vehicles off by the width of a coat of paint appears to be the national sport. While traffic signals are generally obeyed, the motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians do NOT have any degree of right of way other than what they dare to attempt! Whew! A couple of times I thought the lady across the aisle from me was going to have a heart attack when some mini-car zipped in front of us.

Everywhere old buildings are being torn down to make way for more skyscrapers and “5-star hotels” in preparation for the World Expo to be held here in Shanghai in 2010. According to J.C. Chu, our guide, some efforts are being made to preserve a few older “heritage architecture” buildings, but mostly people are being paid to relocate to the suburbs whether or not they really want to move. Of course, many of the old dwellings in the center city do not have plumbing nor any room to install any, so often a new house in the suburbs plus money is incentive enough for a move.

This evening I went to see a Chinese Acrobat Show featuring the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe. DOUBLE WOW! As you may know I love circuses and have seen many, but this show was beyond absolutely fabulous! Acrobatics, tumbling, dancing, juggling and even a bit of stage magic. Incredibly high energy all the way through. And the stage and lighting effects were phenomenal! I just wish I could have taken some photos to share with you...especially the first number. It was a complex pond scene with several things going on, but the most amazing thing was a person (never could decide if it was male or female) dressed as a dragonfly with golden wings who emerged from a large pink lotus bud and, balanced on one hand so that he/she appeared to hover over the flower, did the most amazing acrobatic moves for almost five minutes! Just stunning!

Above the lotus
golden-winged dragonfly.
Insect or human?

Our evening guide, Ping (which means “safe”), talked about getting married next year. Since she and her husband-to-be are both of the “one child” era, when they marry they will be allowed to have two children, but they must be five years apart. She was born on the east side of the river when it was still farmland before all the development there began in 1990. Now that whole area is skyscrapers to the horizon.


Back on board, I went out on deck to admire the night lights of Shanghai and got this photo of the Oriental Bright Pearl TV Tower lit up.

The Galley Golems are at it again this evening. I’m not sure what part pf the galley is above my cabin, but there are often heavy-footed walking noises back and forth as well as something heavy on wheels being rolled around. By now I’m used to it like one gets used to living near the railroad tracks, but I still notice it on occasion. No complaints, though, since room service will deliver a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk 24/7 at the mere touch of a phone button!

Wednesday, October 8


Took another half day tour this morning. We rode the Maglev train out to the airport and back. And I thought the bullet train was fast! 30 kilometers in 8 minutes on this one with a top speed of 431 kph! Back at the station where we boarded there was a large group of school children who had just come off the train also. If I just had half the energy of just one of them...!

We then went back to Jinmao Tower which I had seen yesterday. The elevator to the observation deck is another wonder...88 floors in 45 seconds! I mailed some postcards up there. It’s probably the highest post office in China, if not the world.

I now have a good bit of expertise in getting my “chariot” up and down escalators. I am also fairly surprised at the number of passengers who have come up to me and said they think I am brave or courageous to do all these tours. I don’t feel brave. I just can’t imagine coming on a trip like this and not doing everything I can manage. There are others on board who appear to be worse off than I am who manage just as well if not better than I do.

I was planning to take a free shuttle downtown for some shopping this afternoon, but have decided to sit around with my feet up instead. All aboard is at 6:00 p.m. so that the ship can be cleared in time to catch the tide back down the river by 9:00 p.m.