October 16th, 2009
I feel a little bit jilted. I was all excited to ride on my first double decker airplane. So here I am, siting on Row 57 of an Airbus A330-300. Same airline as the trip in, but because it is not intended for over-seas flights, it does not have all of the same convenience features (no movies or video games). We are flying south, over the shore line of the Yellow see. I tried to look down and see why it might be called the Yellow Sea, but it looks the same blueish as most other parts of the Ocean. Once we hit the southern tip of South Korea, we veer westward toward Shanhai. And Lunch is served. Rice with vegetable and shrimp. Airplane food is not too bad in the Orient; in fact, I kind of like it.
When we arrived near the shores of Shanghai, I noticed that the sea, from the air, looked brown. If it is that way all the time, I can kind of see where the Yellow Sea got its name.
We got to our hotel in Shanghai. It is a quaint little dive in a residential / blue collar business area. The room smelled of ammonia, like cat pee, but I was able to open the window and air it out a little. The food, however, was wonderful. We at lunch at the hotel, family style, with the dishes being brought out and set on a large lazy Susan. We owe our lunch to the City of Shanghai, as it was generously provided to us as a gift from the City that invited the Choir to perform.
Driving around Shanghai is very interesting. Old, small homes are being demolished left and right to make way for HUGE multi-family units. And I do mean HUGE (see photo below, if I can get it down loaded). And they are everywhere. One thing they don’t have is a clothes dryer. Everyone uses an accordion type close line bars outside of their apartment window to dry their clothes. Apparently people buy their apartments, like condominiums in the US.
We went into the business district (which is really in Pudong), and I really like it. Huge sky scrapers fill the sky line, including one of the tallest buildings in the world (it is said to have been the tallest until the Trump towers in Malaysia were built). Next to the business district is the Huan Pu River, which has constant commercial traffic, moving dirt, coal and who knows what else. The river is very muddy or silty, which I suspect is the reason the ocean looks so brown (or even Yellow). On the Shanghai side of the river are a couple of magnificent looking, sky scraper hotels; the Radisson and the J.W. Marriott. In this area, there are a huge number of stores, and also many street vendors who want to sell you five knock-off Rolex watches for only $15.00. I did not partake, as I have hopefully learned my lesson about buying cheap Chinese made merchandise.
The 2010 World Expo will apparently be held in Shanghai, and there are ads for it everywhere. The mascot is kind of a cross between a caricature tooth and a blue Gumby. It would certainly be interesting to come back for that, and maybe stay in that fancy looking J.W. Marriot.
There is a subway system, which, if I try it out, will not be at rush hour. Tomorrow the Choir will be in rehearsal all day long until their performance at around 7 at night. I, along with the other choir “groupies” get the day to explore the city.
There are a lot of cars on the streets. If, however, more than a small percentage of the people owned a car, first there would be no where to park them at the huge apartment complexes, and second, the streets would be so clogged that it would be physically impossible to driver around. There are a lot of bicycles and motor scooters (I think a lot of the motor scooters might be electric). I already got clipped by a motor scooter. I brushed my arm and knocked my new cell phone out of its case on my hip and onto the ground. AND I WAS WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK. The St. George residents thinking there is a lot of honking, but it all reality, considering the traffic here, the honking is really minimal. They have never been to Mexico City or Iran. Well, I have never been to Iran, but I’ve been told...
When we got into town, we found that the dining room had been double booked, so the tour guides found a place for our large group to eat. It was a Brazilian style restaurant. Lets just say that the airplane food was better.
So tired now that I can hardly keep my eyes open. It’s 9:30 at night, time to get some shut eye.
I feel a little bit jilted. I was all excited to ride on my first double decker airplane. So here I am, siting on Row 57 of an Airbus A330-300. Same airline as the trip in, but because it is not intended for over-seas flights, it does not have all of the same convenience features (no movies or video games). We are flying south, over the shore line of the Yellow see. I tried to look down and see why it might be called the Yellow Sea, but it looks the same blueish as most other parts of the Ocean. Once we hit the southern tip of South Korea, we veer westward toward Shanhai. And Lunch is served. Rice with vegetable and shrimp. Airplane food is not too bad in the Orient; in fact, I kind of like it.
When we arrived near the shores of Shanghai, I noticed that the sea, from the air, looked brown. If it is that way all the time, I can kind of see where the Yellow Sea got its name.
We got to our hotel in Shanghai. It is a quaint little dive in a residential / blue collar business area. The room smelled of ammonia, like cat pee, but I was able to open the window and air it out a little. The food, however, was wonderful. We at lunch at the hotel, family style, with the dishes being brought out and set on a large lazy Susan. We owe our lunch to the City of Shanghai, as it was generously provided to us as a gift from the City that invited the Choir to perform.
Driving around Shanghai is very interesting. Old, small homes are being demolished left and right to make way for HUGE multi-family units. And I do mean HUGE (see photo below, if I can get it down loaded). And they are everywhere. One thing they don’t have is a clothes dryer. Everyone uses an accordion type close line bars outside of their apartment window to dry their clothes. Apparently people buy their apartments, like condominiums in the US.
We went into the business district (which is really in Pudong), and I really like it. Huge sky scrapers fill the sky line, including one of the tallest buildings in the world (it is said to have been the tallest until the Trump towers in Malaysia were built). Next to the business district is the Huan Pu River, which has constant commercial traffic, moving dirt, coal and who knows what else. The river is very muddy or silty, which I suspect is the reason the ocean looks so brown (or even Yellow). On the Shanghai side of the river are a couple of magnificent looking, sky scraper hotels; the Radisson and the J.W. Marriott. In this area, there are a huge number of stores, and also many street vendors who want to sell you five knock-off Rolex watches for only $15.00. I did not partake, as I have hopefully learned my lesson about buying cheap Chinese made merchandise.
The 2010 World Expo will apparently be held in Shanghai, and there are ads for it everywhere. The mascot is kind of a cross between a caricature tooth and a blue Gumby. It would certainly be interesting to come back for that, and maybe stay in that fancy looking J.W. Marriot.
There is a subway system, which, if I try it out, will not be at rush hour. Tomorrow the Choir will be in rehearsal all day long until their performance at around 7 at night. I, along with the other choir “groupies” get the day to explore the city.
There are a lot of cars on the streets. If, however, more than a small percentage of the people owned a car, first there would be no where to park them at the huge apartment complexes, and second, the streets would be so clogged that it would be physically impossible to driver around. There are a lot of bicycles and motor scooters (I think a lot of the motor scooters might be electric). I already got clipped by a motor scooter. I brushed my arm and knocked my new cell phone out of its case on my hip and onto the ground. AND I WAS WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK. The St. George residents thinking there is a lot of honking, but it all reality, considering the traffic here, the honking is really minimal. They have never been to Mexico City or Iran. Well, I have never been to Iran, but I’ve been told...
When we got into town, we found that the dining room had been double booked, so the tour guides found a place for our large group to eat. It was a Brazilian style restaurant. Lets just say that the airplane food was better.
So tired now that I can hardly keep my eyes open. It’s 9:30 at night, time to get some shut eye.
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