May 7, Friday, Shanghai Bund Skyline, Yu Gardens

May 7, Friday, Shanghai Bund Skyline, Yu Gardens

Beautiful, clear sky outside the window - 30 stories up - looking out over Shanghai. I won't say that the air is pollution-free, but it is much better than the rest of our trip so far and it feels bright and cheery rather than overcast.

As we ride the elevators down to the lobby for breakfast - and back up - and such - we have "incidents" where various elevator-sharers with us don't pay close attention and just step out the door - when it isn't their floor - then have to leap back in before the door closes. After a few of these happen, someone suggest that "there ought to be a word for that - for leaving an elevator before you actually get to your floor".

So I chew on that idea a bit and proudly come up with: "Premature Elevacuation". Learn it. Use it twice in a sentence today and it will become yours. I have no idea how it would translate to Chinese.

Down to the bus and a quick tour about town - tantalizingly whisking past what is usually considered THE skyline of Shanghai: the view from the Bund. We're in "Old Shanghai", but our bus whisks past the waterfront and across the river is the section with the new huge skyscrapers including the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and "the bottle opener" building - the SWFC: Shanghai World Financial Center. We'll get a much-better view of these later this afternoon, but have to just have our appetites whetted - for now. I do really love the look of the Pearl TV Tower: SO distinctive - and we hear that it lights up in different colors at night. I'm getting used to seeing and hearing about very-tall buildings and these are in the general category of the World Trade Center in New York - which means that they are "tall, but not world-class anymore". A little Google work shows that Dubai has just creamed all of the competition here: they have a building which is over 2700 feet high - as compared to these which are in the 1000-1300-foot range. So. Yes, these are "noteworthy" buildings, but while each city's guide tells us that *their* city's buildings are "the tallest in the world", Dubai has firmly taken that crown. At least for now.

But. We whisk past and I'm disappointed to hear that we're heading, instead, to Yu Gardens: "a charming shopping area recreated in the old style for tourists". Sigh. Sounds really cheesy and dumb.

But we pull in, park, and run a small gauntlet of vendors hawking actually-surprisingly-cute tourist stuff - and step through an archway - into - well - into a lot of fun. OK. I understand that this whole area was specifically *built* as a tourist trap, but they did a great job of making something that is fun for tourists. And most of the tourists are *Chinese* tourists.

WHAT is that? Dumplings on a stick? It isn't until I get back *home* that I watch Anthony Bourdain on FoodTV - who shows that these are more-traditional dumplings. They are huge (relative to the ones we'd been having) and they are carefully constructed so that only when they are steamed super-hot - do they "melt" inside and create a yummy broth. So the straw isn't to *carry* the dumpling with - it is to slurp out the broth - with. Basically, you *drink* your dumpling before eating the outsides. But I don't know that right now, so I don't try one. Pity.

It's a whole little city of shopping: T-shirts, chopsticks, trinkets, gobs of different smells and tastes - and the skyline of New Shanghai is periodically visible over the old.

Shortly, we emerge onto a beautiful small pond in the middle of it all - with a cool walkway zig-zagging itself across. In the middle of it all, 2 workmen quietly repaint a planter - between the inlaid stones - and we emerge at the entrance to YuYuan Gardens - smack in the middle of all of this.

Next: YuYuan Gardens: More Blood-pressure medication

May 6, Thursday, Shanghai Arrival

May 6, Thursday, Shanghai Arrival

New airport, new city, new local guide (though, of course, Chen is still with us and doing a great job of keeping things running smoothly). We quickly collect our bags and load onto the bus for the half-hour drive into the city. It seems that more and more airports are being built far from city center - worldwide - just in order to get enough free land to do so.

It's still overcast and kind of dreary. The scenery outside the bus slowly changes from farmland to old-style decrepit low houses - then slowly gives way to brand-new Western-looking condos, then higher-and-higher-rise buildings.

As we drive, Chen offers to tell us what animal we are - from the Chinese zodiac. I'm a Sheep. Kathy is a Monkey. They are determined in a 12-year cycle - so your year of birth determines your "sign". In the process, everyone on the bus eventually yells out their year of birth - and Kathy and I firmly confirm that we're the youngest there - by almost a decade. This group is getting around quite well, but it is another reminder to me to "do while you're still young enough to be ABLE to do - and enjoy": we're glad that we're getting this experience so "young".

We finally approach The City as sun sets. And Shanghai, like other Chinese cities we see - has been lit. Beautiful colored strips of light adorn all of the tall buildings and even the highways - and flash light shows for a few hours each evening. Really cool. The sky line is very tall - and wide. Shanghai has more than 19 Million people - which is more than double the "greater New York City" population.

We thread our way past the site of "Shangai Expo" - the World's Fair opening up *this week*. The fair grounds are huge and we drive over and past it for maybe 10 minutes - peering out the windows of the bus then back into a stand of highrises. The architectures of the buildings are specifically designed to be striking - and we're told that over 300 high rise skyscrapers have been created there in just the last decade or so. A fevered pace of building and construction. But tucked in around the city are collections of old-style houses and parks, too, so the view is always-changing. The highway is a true *high* way - elevated perhaps 50 feet above ground level so I get a feeling of "flying low" through the city. The blue lights are the *bottom* of the highway.

It is beautiful. It is huge. It is NEW. It is *clean*. It is definitely cosmopolitan. It feels like a new, clean, hip, New York City.

We pull up to our pre-arranged dinner spot lit and beautiful - and ride the escalator to the 2nd floor to our familiar group of tables with lazy-susan's in the middle. As we take our seats, one of our co-travellers who has been - well - getting a reputation for being a bit grumpy - leans in and confides "I don't like Chinese (food)".

I nearly burst out laughing. And it gives me a good reminder to "find the good where you are instead of focussing on the bad". WHY would you pay to go on a trip where you know you "don't like the food"? Of course, that wasn't the only thing he didn't like. Seemed like he was constantly grumbling to himself - in this amazing, colorful, surprising country. I just have to smile in memory and remind myself to NOT become that guy - regardless of *what* I'm doing.

A short trip to the Shanghai Hilton. Elegant. Beautiful. Very high-rise (maybe 75 stories?). We wind up on the 30th floor and get familiar with the elevator and sharing it for plenty of traffic. Beautiful view.

I hook up my laptop and find FACEBOOK!!! and Blogspot!!! The hotel is charging double the "usual" rate to hookup to the internet ($15 per day), but they apparently have their own un-filtered access - perhaps their own satellite link - so the content-blocking of the Chinese government - has been circumvented. Nice to be able to get to whatever I want again. And a reminder of how - well - silly - it is for the Chinese government to *try* to censor information: it's available anyway. I get to catch up on my "internet fix" for a bit.

Then we decide to explore just a bit on our own. Down the elevator and out onto the street. Up onto a nice pedestrian walkway - elevated under the highway - and over to Nanjing Road: the "shopping mecca" - or so we've been told.

The intersection starts with an old monastery right there in the center of town - right next to an 8-story high shopping Mall - look to the right of the monastery to see the mall.

Nanjing Road has been decorated with lights in the trees which all change color together - slowly cycling between 4 or 5 different colors. Quite pretty - as we walk hand-in-hand down the street - passing big-name Western-brand stores that are too high-end for *us* to ever shop in - all of the places that spend more on advertising than on merchandise - the places where you don't buy things unless you're just trying to impress someone with the label.

But it is a nice walk for a half-hour or so and a nice romantic introduction to Shanghai.

Back up and over the pedestrian walkway and to the Hilton. And to bed. Here we are in *Shanghai* at the end of our 6th day.

Xian Farm Community - Part 2

May 6, Thursday, Xian Farm Community - Part 2

We're lead thru an entryway to a smaller courtyard where there is a display of manual farm implements. Our host joins me and Art in demonstrating the grinding wheel (NOT easy to turn), then we enter a "typical farm house" next to it. Some of the implements and ways are still used, but they also use mechanization (tractors, etc) to multiply productivity. I have to keep reminding myself that, for the most part, this isn't a museum reconstruction of "how things were" - but is "how things ARE" - the melding, as before, of old ways with big-screen TV's and cellphones. It really is a different mindset. I'm used to looking at log cabins or museum rooms which are entirely artificial - and, in contrast, this is *real*. No need for a curator to certify the authenticity.

We're struck by the arrangement of stove and bed. That's the kitchen stove to the left (where the pot is). There are tunnels from under the stove - right out under the bed - to heat the bed. Double-duty on the stove. Note also the *hard* "pillows". Yes. The black enameled box and the marble pedestal - are *pillows*. The belief is to always seek *balance*. Yin and Yang. So if your mattress is soft (though it doesn't look that soft to *me*), you are supposed to have a *hard* pillow. Balance. Chi. And though it seems quite undesirable to me, well, it seems to work for *them*.

A spinning wheel and loom are in the corner of the "living room" and I can't resist giving a couple of twists to the Spinning Wheel. You can see that the mechanical advantage is huge: each spin of the big wheel causes maybe 100 revolutions of the little white spindle.

We're lead back out of the house and into - well - a studio. Upstairs to the 2nd floor and we arrive at a large room just *covered* with the original artwork of our host. It seems that he is quite multi-talented. He was playing the cymbal during the dragon dance - and now he sits and plays his simple bamboo flute. Just a short, simple tune, but very appropriate.
Then he lifts a brush and with deceptively-simple strokes, beautiful flowers begin to emerge. In less than 5 minutes a beautiful original piece of art - has flowed from his hand, through the brush, and onto the paper. He adds his red stamps (lower left and middle right) - THE way that Chinese paintings are signed - and I'm just amazed at how quickly it all just emerged.

Of course, when we entered, we quietly conferred with each other and agreed that we certainly didn't need to be trying to safely transport original art all the way back to Florida. But. Kathy finds a pair of paintings that would just go *so* well in our Guest room - and our host shows us that purchases include a nice box which will easily allow transport. Annnd before we know it, we have spent a *very* modest amount of money - for *3* original paintings. You'll just have to come visit us to see them. It just feels good to carry something halfway around the world and have something so "real" to hang on our walls. I don't think that many of our group resisted the temptation to own a piece - or two or three.

Back outside and I have to try another implement. Nope. I have NO idea what this does. Still don't. If you can tell me, please do.

We say our goodbye's and troop back out onto the street and get to peek into a courtyard with some women playing MahJong then on down the street flanked by old brick buildings then into an old Buddhist temple which had to be hidden during the Cultural Revolution while religion was totally outlawed. I just *loved* the carving of the happy Buddah face. Reminds me of Dom DeLuise.

Back outside and on down the road to the fields of flowers Kiwi fruit and that beautiful, lush, green, heavy-headed wheat that I mentioned earlier. We are told that it should be golden and ripe in about another month. Wish I could see that. A field of ripe wheat is just beautiful: an "inland sea" with the "amber waves of grain".

There is absolutely no feeling of rushing. Of performing. We just stand in the hot Xian sun and absorb the atmosphere - literally - of the lifestyle. Hard work. Smiling people.

We amble back toward the bus and are captured by a litter of puppies.

A little further and, painting in hand, I stop to scratch behind the ears of another tiny little dog, tail between his legs - looking SO much like he just wanted some friendly attention. OK, OK...after I petted him Betsy nicely offers me some hand sanitizer and I gratefully accept it - but he was *such* a little cutie.

We pack up our memories and get back onto the bus - and are whisked off to the airport. Good bye Xian!!

Except that our flite is delayed by a couple of hours, so we sit in the airport, comfortably talking and *then* board the plane to Shanghai!

Next: Shanghai

Xian Farm Community: Dragon Dance

May 6, Thursday, Xian Farm Community

Start the day getting our bags packed again and outside the door: we're flying to Shanghai today, then down to the lobby for another huge spread of choices in our buffet breakfast, then onto the bus to head for a farming community. While we're still in downtown Xian, I'm reminded that this is a weekday and the morning traffic is rather chaotic: I'm glad that *I* am not trying to drive a bus here but I'm again reminded of "the Asian way of driving" - the cooperative method where "everybody just finds a way to flow together WITHOUT honking and cursing and flipping others off". RULES, per se, aren't the guide. This is a case where "can't we all just get along" really *does* work - if everybody cooperates and pays attention to their fellow drivers.

Kathy looks out the window and notices a couple of women doing their morning exercises in the plaza in front of a business. We see people exercising everywhere in China: people doing their Tai Chi or yoga - right out on the streets. Perhaps these women work in one of these buildings. Perhaps they just enjoy the large open space.

Finally we clear the city traffic and the scenery changes back to the green farmland. We transition back to a 2-lane road and suddenly the bus screeches to a halt: our guide for the day is sitting beside the road waiting for us - in an unexpected spot. He directs the bus driver to use "the back entrance" to the farm community we'll be visiting. The fields around us are *packed* with green wheat - soaking up the warm sun. Just beautiful.

We bounce over the road and pull to a stop and pile out onto the street as we follow our guides down to... whatever they have planned for us.

Another reminder of "the blending of old and new": I notice that our Xian guide, Jing, has on an IZOD shirt and logo - as we walk down the street of this farming village which seems totally removed from the modern world.

We troop into a small courtyard and immediately are "taken" with the cute Chinese babies. Again.

Then the people of the village give us a show: A dragon dance! The "music" is much like the Chinese Opera music - percussion with the "boing-y" cymbal, but here, it is appropriate and fun as the dragon bounces and weaves his way around. Loads of fun!

We applaud, then are invited to take a spot and *be* the dragon! I'm never shy, so I jump right in and wind up as the *head* of the dragon while other brave souls from our group fill out the necessary cadre. COOOL! My initial reticence at being able to handle the job
quickly gives way to pure silliness, excitement, and joy. I'm running around like a total fool - bouncing the dragon head (which makes it's mouth swing open and shut), "licking" people with the mouth - and then being reminded to "tie him in a knot" - so I double back and under and in circles - and note that the rest of the dragon is too smart to get in trouble: they keep managing to stay untangled. I am having *way* too much fun with this and they just keep playing, so we just keep running around being a dragon. It is a *blast*. Remember that we're *all*, well - over 50 - and I feel like a 5-yr-old and I'm LOVING it.

Finally the music ends and we laugh and smile and relinquish the dragon - and I find myself PANTING: it's a lot more *physical activity* than I'd thought: crouching and standing, running around, hefting the dragon up and down. I'm giddy - but that may be as much the "high" as the physical activity. Great fun!

We begin to resume normal breathing while the villagers continue with the show: first the men, then the ladies. I am struck by how this entire experience is one that Kathy and I would *never* have had if we had toured by ourselves - outside of a group. We never would have thought to look for such a village and I'm sure that they don't do their performances for "groups of 2". Another feather in Odyssey's cap.

My heart rate is returning to normal as Kathy uses the opportunity to capture more of the beautiful *faces* around us. A real "connection" with the *people* of China - without having to use any words. Our favorite memories of the whole trip always wind up being the ones of individual *people*.

Next: Farm Life and Art