You know you've seen a good acrobat show when a small Chinese man juggling flaming batons nearly falls 60 feet to his death, but such is the nature of a Chinese acrobat show. In a country of more than 1 billion people, and my assumption is that over half are qualified acrobats, gymnasts, or entertainers, what is the life of one juggler in the name of entertainment?

Obviously, this is not quite how we see things in the west, but to the magement of the show, this seems to be the nature of the game.

I'm not saying that this was not a well-run, professional production, I'm just saying that the overall lack of safety features for stunts performed many feet in the air added a whole new element of excitement to the show, giving it an overall quality which cannot be reached in a western production.

In case you didn't quite pick it up, our Thursday night was spent at "Era: An Intersection of Time"--a Chinese acrobat show at the Shanghai Circus World. A nifty video is available at www.era-shanghai.com if you're more than curious. This show was billed "If you miss this, you miss Shanghai" so we had to go! If you've ever been to Cirque de Soleil in the states, this show was very similar in the many fantastic stunts and contortions; however, the performers of "Era" demonstrated a quality of heart and genuineness that remains to be seen in the perfectly polished gloss of US performers.

We saw just about everything you could imagine at Era: plate-spinning, contortionist, mini-motorcycles in the cage of death, jumping through hoops, trampoline and balancing acts--you name it, they had it! Sabrina says her favorite part was not so much a particular act as how the multimedia and costumes told a story of the "old" and "new" Shanghai/China; positioning old fashion and styles with new and trendy. John liked that they didn't get it perfect every time. At one point the show broke into a West Side Story-esque "Sharks" vs "Jets" style fight scene--great! And when two male acrobats knocked a ring off the stage while trying to jump through it, the "referee" of the skit made them stop and do push-ups for interrupting the flow of things. Overall, we enjoyed how much fun the performers seemed to be having. This was not difficult to see since we had front row, floow level seats! Sabrina just prayed the whole time that nothing on fire was flung out into the audience and no one's guide wires broke!

If anyone was headed out to Shanghai, we would make "Era" a "you can't miss it" attraction. That may be rather unlikely, so we will keep our adulations to a minimum. It was just nice to see a show where the troupe took risks and trusted each other completely while having fun and engaging the crowd.

This is Sabrina's last weekend here, so we will wrap up our joint adventures soon. . .

"Attention passengers, please meet Turbulence,,,"
Hi Turbulence, very nice to meet you,,,
"Turbulence will be staying with us for a while,,,"
Well I hope not too long, you know what they say about house guests and fish, they both go bad after three days,,,
"So please stay seated while the Fasten Seat Belt Sign is on and refrain from going to the bathroom,,,"
Gee, I hope I can control myself!

Such is the experience on a Chinese airline flight, clean plane, pleasant crew, poor translation.

Before I finish the story about my one day Chinese airline adventure, I would like to welcome myself back to the "Koogler Goes Global" blog. For anyone who was wondering, my wonderful wife Sabrina has been ghost writing the last month of blogs while I rested my typing fingers (right index,,, left index,,, it's the point and shoot method of typing, takes longer, but the result is the same). While Sabrina is a Koogler and currently with me in China, thus entitled to everything that entails both "Koogler" and "Global", I didn't feel right about leaving everyone hanging for so long without my personal take on the uniqueness of China.

Anyway, back to the story, but first, a brief explanation on why I was flying. Work, had a meeting in north China in a city called Tanggu (very near Beijing) at noon, and had to be back that evening so I could make an early appointment the next day in the office. So up and to the airport at 7AM on Wednesday to catch my Shanghai Air flight up to Tianjin (closest airport to Tanggu). I will admit, travel with a Chinese air carrier did make me a little nervous, not necessarily because of safety, but because I was unsure of the comfort level maintained in the cabin for the passengers. I've spent enough time in China to know that comfort of passengers doesn't always rank real high on the list of priorities for anyone operating a bus, taxi or rickshaw, so why should a plane be any different? Well lucky for me I was wrong. Both the flight up and the flight back found me in new, clean, well apportioned aircraft with a friendly flight crew who made every effort to ensure the comfort of the passengers. Of course, that says nothing of the skills of the pilot himself.

While the cabin itself was clean and the stewardesses pleasant, I believe Wednesdays must be training days for new pilots. I am not a nervous flier, and I was never worried on this day, but I'm pretty sure landings aren't supposed to go like the two I sat through. Long of the short is the standard Chinese landing approach is much lower and faster than what we are used to in the States. This low, fast approach resulted in two very enjoyable landing which went something like this:

Landing A) Airplane has held too much speed, thus maintaining a certain amount of lift once the plane touches down on the runway. This results in the place bouncing back into the air on touchdown, to which the pilot responds by forcing down the nose of the plane . This causes the plane to touch down again, and since the plane is still carrying enough speed, bounces one more time before being forced to the ground.

Landing B) Airplane has held too much speed, and to avoid bouncing the aircraft upon touchdown, the pilot simply forces the plane to the ground in what only can be described as a very near crash.

So there you have it, if you have ever wondered what it was like to fly on a Chinese airline, you now know. For those of you who like nice lists to sum things up, here it is, in condensed list form:

- Nice new clean plane.
- Friendly cabin crew (hey, they introduced me to Turbulence)
- Crash landings

I will wrap up by saying I'm glad to be back to the Blog and much thanks to Sabrina who has done a great job the past few weeks of sharing our experiences here in China.

Saturday, July 15:
We started our adventures today at the Shanghai Museum. According to Frommer's, if we missed the museum we might as well not have come to Shanghai. The verdict is still out on that one.
The major attractions at the museum include ancient pottery, scultpure, bronze works, calligraphy, painting, and jade. There was no name-recognition of the artists like you experience in other museums since we are not students of Chinese art; however, the age of most items in the museum was mindboggling. Some of the jade pieces were dated between the 50-21st century BC. ??? !!! Just absolutely amazing! John's favorite room was the sculptures (that was tough because it was the first exhibit we visited and it went downhill from there for him). Most were Buddhist figures, hundreds and thousands of years old. My favorite room was the jade exhibit--beautiful carvings! We made the rounds and dutifully spent an hour perusing the exhibits. You know you've been here a long time when the sound of English voices is a complete shock!!! Many Americans and other tourists!
But that's how our day went--we spent the day in the Western tourist heaven!
We exited the museum and walked about the People's Square and People's Park behind the museum. John snapped this foto between throngs of Chinese who were also taking pictures in the same spot.

Across the street is the People's Park--a really nice green, shady space that many people were using and seemed generally safe. But watch out! You never know when your Pepsi might be in danger.
We got to one section that was unexplainably crowded. "Family reunion?" I suggested. A man came up and snatched John's half-consumed Pespi out of his hand and tried to give him a cigarette in return. He used some of his English words--Hallo! Very good!!! Generally nice and just thirsy!!! But we got away from him pretty quickly. Not sure if he would be allowed on a taxi without a guardian.. .
(Side note: There was a sign outside the People's Park that is similar to the signs in the taxis that reminds you not to piss or s*** in the park and that mental patients are not allowed without guardians. I cannot make this suff up!!!)
One thing we may not have done justice in describing is how child-friendly China is. At the zoo and here at the People's Park there was a mini-amusement park with rides and bumper cars and something different--fishing for goldfish. This was incredibly cute, so I snuck a pic:
The picture is small, but you get the idea! There was a lady in the little hut behind the pool selling little bamboo fishing pools and bait for the fish. One lady caught one--one way to stock your aquarium--but the little boy you see fishing was not too good at catching!
We meandered around for a while. Bought the aforementioned Pepsi and just enjoyed a slightly less steamy day in the park.
No park or garden would be complete without some sort of pond and rockery. This one had both. It was a rather large park.
As we were walking around a Chinese girl just started talking to us in English and she actually knew where Texas was. Yeah! She just wanted to practice her English--didn't try to sell us anything. And she wanted to know all about our adventures in Shanghai. Very nice! Excelent English!
My last stealth shot I took of a group of men playing cards in the park. This was really neat because there were so many tables of them and they were incredibly serious about the game!
After the park we walked along the pedestrian mall of Nanjing Lu, a major shopping street. It was really good people-watching but most of the stores were quite high-end and not the "touristy" stuff we have enjoyed bargaining for during our visit.
If I had a nickel for each time we were approached today to buy Rolex, Gucci, or Luis Vuitton I'd be a rich woman (this is Sabrina writing, by the way. . .) Lots of hawkers along the way trying to take you down a side street to see their fake goods.
We walked all the way down the the Bund and the waterfront to try to get some better pictures than we did last weekend when we were here, but it was so hazy that they were not any better. And crowded! Wow! Tons of people!
Our destination for the day was Pudong, the new section of Shanghai across the Huangpu River. There are many ways to cross it, including the Pedestrian Sightseeing Tunnel, which goes under the river. We were not sure what to expect--we thought maybe you would walk under the river or something--but what we got was the psychedellic boat ride from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. (Random survey: who was a better Wonka: Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp? I almost liked Depp more. . Good morning, starshine) Anyway, in the tunnel you get into a tiny little tram that might squeeze ten people into it and you are propelled down this crazy tunnel that felt like a Pink Floyd laser light show with crazy neon and strangely-scripted sayings in a weird voice. There's really no way to explain it! But we made it safely to Pudong, so we couldn't complain.
The new part of Shanghai was mostly deserted and just generally weird. We spent some time along the riverside promenade, declined to pay US$20 a plate at a German brauhaus for lunch, and sought refuge in the nearest mall for some food and air conditioning. We were sorely disappointed. We discovered where every single person in Pudong was on a Saturday at 12:30--on the 5th floor food court at the Best Brand Mall. Whew! Hot and steamy and stinky! We finally found a resonable place for dim sum (Cantonese) with a Hong Kong flavor. Not that I know what that means, but it's what the menu suggested. We sorted through many entrees featuring intestine, cartilege and ligament to find some dumplings that would appeal to our tastes. Overall the food was pretty good, but the place was hot and someone was smoking behind me. Bleh!
We headed back to Old Town Shanghai to wrap up a little more souvenir shopping for people and got some killer bargains. John is really getting good at this!
Our day is not over, but we needed a little time in the a/c to rest and regroup before heading out for an evening in our area. After today we really decided that we like our "quiet" and "uncrowded" street a whole lot. There really is no way to capture Shanghai in words or pictures, but we can tackle little slices at a time. It really is a wonderful place here if you ever get to visit. Just don't always follow Frommer's advice!
Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow. I know this week are are going to see "Era", an acrobat show that seems like our Cirque du Soleil. And the Lion King opens Tuesday here at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. . .we'll see if we can even get tickets! More adventures to come!

"No psychos or drunkards allowed in taxi cab without guardian",,, that is the number one rule written in all Shanghai taxi cabs for their passengers,,, no kidding,,, It's written right there for all to read and abide by. Of course rule number two is no spitting, smoking or dumping in the cab. All in all, I think I will be able to make it through my stay here in Shanghai without getting kicked out of a taxi for breaking the rules!

Anyway, I had never actually read the rules myself, Sabrina had pointed them out being the more astute of the two of us, but there they were, plain as day, as we rode in the taxi to our adventure for the day. Today's blog entry brings us to the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, where for 90 minutes one afternoon this week, we got to entertain and educate a classroom of Summer school students wishing to improve their English skills.

(Note from Sabrina: the reason I always read the taxi rules is because they are posted behind the driver's seat and that's where I always sit. Also, there are several variations on rule number one--some say "mental patients", others say "schizophrenics".)

We participated in an "informational interview" with a class of about 20 Chinese students ranging in English-speaking ability. Basically, they all had to ask us questions as part of their afternoon class. Mostly they quizzed John about interviewing, recruiting, and business etiquette; but they also were interested in more personal questions. Their teachers are from California so they wanted to know the difference between our states. Where to begin. . .since the English skills were somewhat limited, I'm not sure how much they got out of that part. But we did try to explain some key idioms such as "wine and dine", "wouldn't give me the time of day", "get your foot in the door". We also tried to explain "Howdy", "y'all", and the use of "folks". Overall it was a lot of fun for us and the students. We finished class with pictures of the group.

After class we headed back to our part of town for massages, shopping, and dinner. John got his first taste of Shanghai bargaining and now he's hungry for more! You'll have to ask him about the great deal he wagered sometime!

So one of the main activities here is watching DVDs. If you ask people in the office what they're doing over the weekend, chances are they'll be "watching DVDs." After work hours the street vendors set up their tables full of DVDs for 5RMB (about 60 cents US). After a massage yesterday, we picked up the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest DVD for 5RMB. We placed our bets on whether or not the thing would actually work--Sabrina won (it worked)--and we enjoyed watching an illegally pirated movie. (Pardon the pun, but I couldn't resist) So here's how it works that a movie that will not be released in China at all (the cannibalism references didn't pass the censors) makes it here less than a week after being released in US theatres: Some dude sets up a video camera in the movie theatre with really good audio capability and if a theatre row monitor or whatever comes too close, he covers up the whole device with a windbreaker. We only missed a couple of scenes due to the windbreaker, but it was surprisingly good quality! The actual movie could have been a lot better--glad we paid less than a dollar for our night's entertainment!

So tonight (Friday) we tried out a new restaurant--Frankie's--that is down the street from the apartment. It was Singaporean food, but we couldn't tell what made it different from "Chinese" food. It was cheap and relaxed with nice, English-proficient staff. The portions here are ust the right size. You order three or four items for two people and it's a ton of food, but not too much. We started with broccoli in garlic--YUM!!!--and then got this neat pork dish that would be too difficult to explain but it was tasty! We rounded it out with beef in oyster sause and some fried rice. Good stuff!! And we're both pretty good at eating rice with chopsticks!

What's interesting about our "neighborhood" is that it is not covered up in Westerners. While many restaurants can get by with some English, it's not a touristy as most of the city. That's pretty nice because we get more of the "local" feel. For instance, the restaurant where John had the frog incident is across the street from our apartment and one detail he never mentioned was that there is a waterfall and pond in front of the restaurant and this is where they keep the fish they cook until you order them. The net to catch your desired fish is just propped up on a rock. These are the little cultural differences that you just stop noticing after a while. Anyway, the sidestreet where Frankie's Singapore cafe is located is very "local" and there must be 20 jewelry shops with all of these crazy necklaces and pearls. Just interesting places on the first floor of tons of high-rise apartment buildings!

Tomorrow we'll explore the Shanghai Museum, the People's Park and the Orient Pearl TV tower (the crazy-shaped building in the picture behind us a few blogs ago). We should have some more good pictures soon!

But I guess that's enough rambling for now. . .we'll have more adventures soon!

Lessons in tea, etc.

So today (Wednesday) I puttered around the apartment a little while before heading out to the market behind us for a little shopping. I was in for an adventure! After some shopping at a silk shop, I headed over to a new tea and teapot shop. The proprietress immediatley asked if I like Chinese tea (she spoke English beautifully!!!!!!!!! oh, what a joy!) and when I told her that I didn't know much about it, she immediately sat me down for a lesson.

She asked me where I was from and started me with the kind of tea "Americans all like". Americans and Germans--but not Australians, apparently! She knew her customers! This kind of tea starts as an ugly-looking bud and when you pour hot water over it, it blooms into this beautiful flower thing. She showed me several types of this jasmine flower tea--with chrysanthemum, lotus, and other flowers--and brewed one bud for us to try. Oh what amazing tea!!!!!!! But the taste of the tea paled in comparison to the experience of the "traditional" service. I wish I had had my camera, but I'll try to explain with the picture below (yes, I ended up with a tea set, but it is so neat you'll understand!)

You may want to skip this paragraph if the intricate details of pouring Chinese tea is not interesting--for me it was really neat! First of all, all of the brewing and pouring takes place over this wooden, slatted board where excess water and tea leaves collect. (You know you're American when all you can think about is "Now, how would you clean that thing??") There are all of these bamboo wood implements for handling and cleaning the cups (tongs) and scooping tea out of the container, and many others I didn't see her use. So you put the tea in a tea pot and pour hot water over it. Then you put a strainer (the metal thing in front of the tea pot) on what looks like a pot for cream for your coffee and you pour the water from the tea pot over that. Once the tea water is in the new pot, you pour it into the tall, skinny cup. Then you invert the short, cup-looking cup over the top of the skinny cup and flip them. You remove the skinny cup--now empty--and this is what you smell to get the essence of the tea. There's a little wooden rectangle that you put your little tea cup on as you drink it, too. A whole lot of ceremony to have a little cup of tea!!!!

So we had a cup of the jasmine flower tea with chrysanthemum and lotus--it's so pretty when you pour water over it!--and enjoyed that for a while. She kept giving me snacks--a tea cookie, wasabi peanuts (hot!!!) and wasabi soy beans. She had me flip through an English book on tea, and I saw the earthen teapots we saw in Suzhou. Liu (her name--tired of calling her "she") told me that you have to use oolong tea for those kind of pots. So she put about cleaning up our cups and brewing some Chinese ginseng oolong tea so I could compare them. It was so fun!

This type of tea was not as fragrant as the jasmine tea (or just fragrant in a different way--I really like jasmine) but was so much nicer than the tea we have in the US. It was not bitter at all. The oolong was the kind of tea she preferred, and it was actually more expensive than the "fancy" tea. Go figure!!! You can see the two tins of tea in the background of the picture--one flower tea and the other oolong.

I decided to get a tea service and she thew in a strainer and a bag of wasabi something (I'm hoping for the soy beans) for free. Really nice!! It was just neat to sit with someone for an hour and have tea and learn about it!!! So I hope some of you can come over for some traditional Chinese tea (minus their weird serving board and implements!) soon!!!

But, wait, there's more. .. I'm moving backward a little bit, but since I'm 13 hours in the future, I guess that's okay!

Tuesday the cleaning service comes, so I wanted to be out of the apartment. I spent some time at Starbucks (I'm now known by the beggar dude with bad teeth who watches bikes there--nice guy) and had a great foot and body massage. Why don't we have foot massage parlors in the US? They are great! Anyway. . they kept serving me hot water to drink. Just plain, HOT water. Not warm, but almost boiling. Hot water is a big deal here --all of the water coolers heat the water. Surprisingly, it actually cools you down.

So after my massage I went to the grocery store down the street. Here's a picture of my bike ready to be loaded up with groceries. Watch out! She's super sassy!!!

I'm getting more adventurous with the local items. For example, I got some really great frozen dumplings and some dim sum that were really good. Fortunately, they have good pictures on the front. I decided to try the "dragon fruit" below because it looked cool and sweet and tasty and I'd never seen it before.

Okay, so we tried it and it was. . .not sweet at all. Actually it tasted like a rooty vegetable and had a nasty aftertaste. I'm not going to swear off being adventurous with the local vegetation--I'm just going to make better choices!

More adventures to come!

Shanghai wisdom from John. . .
Yesterday John was at work and his friend Eric (Chinese) was explaining how some parts of English are difficult to learn. For example, the difference between s***, bulls***, and holy s***!

John gave him some advice about appropriate uses: when you hurt yourself, when someone is lying, and when you're surprised. Later on Eric was excited to use "bulls***" appropriately with John when describing a recipe for fish that was just too hard to prepare.

I'm so glad he contributing to the appropriate acquisition of the English language. ..

So today he comes home and informs me that if the air conditioning in the building is not working appropriately, it is perfectly acceptable to remove your pants at the office! Apparently he walked by someone's desk today and the man's pants were draped over the back of his chair and he was working in his tighty-whities. The funny thing. . .we've been here long enough to not be that surprised. My first question was, "Did he still have his shoes on?" Underwear in public is pretty common--it's HOT!

And just so you know, today was the first day of the "hot and steamy" season. They've got to be kidding!

Obviously, we have no pictures to accompany this entry. Thank goodness!!!!!

Tomorrow we will visit with a group of Chinese college students practicing their English at a local business college. We met their Californian teachers on our weekend trip to Suzhou and they called John to have us come and speak so they can hear our "southern accents." (Like we have accents!!!!!!) They mentioned that their students have had a totally "Californian" viewpoint on the US, so we feel obligated to do our civic duty and tell them what it's really like back home!!!

More stories to follow from Sabrina's (my) adventures!

Whew! We have had a whirlwind of a weekend!!!
Friday after work we met up with Eric and headed over to the Shanghai Tour Bus company and bought tickets for a tour to Suzhou on Saturday (about 1 1/2 hours west of Shanghai). Then Eric brought us to an incredible restaurant where we had some of the best Chinese food yet--more like what we have in the States but better. Our favorite dish was beef and onions/bell peppers on a fajita-like plate. Actually, it was a whole lot like fajitas but with a Chinese food taste--lots of ginger and garlic flavor. Yumm!!!
After dinner we headed over to the Bund--an area on the Huangpu river that juxtaposes the old and new Shanghai. On one side are all of the old, European-inspired buildings, and on the other side are the tallest skyscrapers (and the building in Mission Impossible III that Tom Cruise jumps onto). We tried to take some pictures among the impressive crowds, but they were not the best.

Here we are in front of the Pearl of the Orient TV tower--the third-tallest tower in the world.

We took a river cruise for about an hour to take in all of the sights and then called it a night. By the way, people drive on the water just about how they drive on the street. Lots of cutting you off and honking. Just a neat experience!

So Saturday we made our way downtown to leave at 9AM for our tour of Suzhou--famous for its gardens and canals. Our tour was completely in Chinese, but the guides promised Eric they would take care of us. It was actually kind of nice because you didn't have to really pay attention since you didn't understand anything anyway!

It took about 1 1/2 hours on the bus (large air-conditioned tour bus) to get to the city. Along the way you get out of the city and see what the "real" China is like. Amazing! If there is land where something might grow, then it is farmed. Along the freeway, in front of industrial plants--everywhere--there were farmers using the land for anything and everything!

Suzhou itself was a typical tourist town--much smaller than Shanghai but still millions of people. The city was clogged with tour buses--worst traffic we'd seen yet! Once we arrived we split up into two groups on two smaller buses and started a busy day of sightseeing. We started with two different gardens. Here's a picture of Sabrina (not ready to take a picture) in the Couple's Garden. We took a better one, but this was more candid.

After this garden we hopped onto a small wooden boat and were ferried around a canal for a little while as a little man steered and sang a traditional Chinese song for us. He really got a kick out of us being on his boat and made sure to tell us "Hello"--using the extent of his English.

After the Couple's Garden was the Lingering Garden, where several Chinese families asked us to pose in pictures with them. That really made our day!

We stopped for lunch in a restaurant by a silk factory and had some great food! We had a beef dish that tasted just like Mr. Gatti's pizza sauce. Niether of us can explain why, but it was good!

We saw how silk is extracted from the silkworm coccoon--neat--and then were kind of stranded in an overpriced silk-product shopping center for about 30 minutes. Finally we were rounded up on the bus and headed over to a Bhuddist temple. It was really neat because it was a working temple with monks and everything. Here's a pic of one of the many Buddhas.

In another part of the temple, there was a massive 7-story pagoda that overlooked the city--very cool! And also very crowded! Everything was covered up in tourists--mostly Chinese.

After the temple we learned how traditional teapots are made in a teapot factory. They had a great demonstration and a hard sell--we thought we were at a timeshare presentation!--and the teapots were really neat. They are made from a certain material and in a way so that they float and have many other neat qualities. They are strong enough to support the weight of a large American man (insurance salesman from CA we met) they had stand on one. But overpriced, as were all the items along the tour. (We found a tea set we loved in the market behind the apartment for a quarter of the price!).

The last stop for the weary travelers was a very tall, leaning tower. There was no information in the guide book about it, and everything was in Chinese, so we took an obligatory picture from afar (almost $10US to go inside to get closer--highway robbery!!!) and retreated to the bus for some AC.

We arrived back home about 6:30 that night and were ready for some relaxing!!!

Sunday (today) we started out with Starbucks--Sabrina had not had coffee for almost 2 weeks and demanded it--and then explored and shopped a while. We looked around a local mall (Brilliance Mall) and on a whim got a traditional Chinese massage (less than $5 for one hour) that was incredible! The rest of the afternoon we're relaxing, journaling, staying in touch, and doing laundry. It's been an exhausting but fun weekend!!!

More adventures to come!

Title: Shanghai zoo and Shanghai tandem
(Sabrina writing) John promised tales from the zoo, and I did put together a little entry for my blog http://sabrinatravel.blogspot.com so you can check out pictures there.
Basically, this was no Houston zoo. All that safety stuff we are concerned about in the states--attacks by gorillas, etc--they don't seem so worried about here. You really can "become one with nature"--more than likely by becoming a snack. But check out my blog for details.

Mostly I was so excited to be riding around town on my sassy bike (no pictures yet) that we bought from the 5-story Carrefour store. It's like a Target/WalMart/Sam's/mall all rolled into one. It's a pretty neat place!

As for other adventures. . I went on my first solo trip to the grocery store today. I have a basket on the front of my bike and attached one on the back so I could stock up. If you have never tried to go to the grocery store on your bicycle, I strongly recommend it. It really makes you think about what you need and want to carry home. I've given up on bottles of wine--the last one almost leaped out of the basket onto the street and that would have been rather traumatic--I don't need any more help drawing attention to myself!

So I left the apartment at 8AM thinking I would be later than "rush hour". Not so! I turned on to the bike lane and it was a total sea of bikes and angry scooter drivers--they certainly are aggressive and like to use their horns! But I did make it to the grocery--was almost hit by a bus but I was paying attention and got out of the way!

Did my shopping and then there was the task of getting everything on the bike in a safe manner--you don't want your bananas to go flying! It was a tight fit, but everything found its place and I was off. And then it started to sprinkle. Argh! Of course, the only street between the apartment and the grocery that doesn't have a crosswalk (not that anyone really pays attention to the Walk/Don't Walk signs. . ) is the one by the grocery--so I waited forever for safe passage in the rain. By the time I got home it was dry again. Whew! A fun adventure.

I've noticed that the more I'm here and doing "local" things--like riding a bike--I get more stares. Nothing unfriendly--just people a little suprised to see a westerner not in a cab or touristy spot.

But nothing compares to the stares we got on the "Shanghai tandem". . . . while this deserves and entry to itself, I'll include it here. Every bike here has a rack on the back for books, your lock, etc. Well, the thing to do here is to give your friend a ride around town on this rack. Some sit "side-saddle" and some just straddle the rack and let their feet hang.

When John and I set out for the Carrefour (maybe 2 miles away??) to buy me a bike, we employed the Shanghai tandem and got the best, open-mouthed stares yet! It was great! First I tried the side saddle approach but my American hips are a little too wide, so I sat straight on. The only hitch--my feet more than drug the ground, so I struggled to hug the wheel hub bolts with my feet. (What this country really needs are some sweet pegs). After a shaky start we were on our way and cruisin' to the bike store. I mentioned this in my e-mail to the group, but it is not a cushioned ride and not all that comfortable!!! But we made it and I got my bike and rode myself home on my nice and cushioned seat!

Well, I think I've blogged enough for one day. We're hoping to book a day trip this weekend to see another town known for its canals and silk. Hoping to have more adventures soon!

So here's part II. Just to be fair, this is Sabrina typing this one, but I did dictate from John's description to keep it authentic.

Okay, so after lunch and pictures with the goldfish, we toured the famous garden. It was built during the Ming dynasty in the 16th century. The five-acre park features many pavilions, ponds, and “rockeries” with strangely-shaped rock.It's ’s pretty easy to get turned around. The park is enclosed with a “dragon wall” featuring neat carvings of , well, dragons intermittently along the top.
This picture starts to give you an idea of what "garden" means here.






After a very enjoyable and sweaty stroll, we ducked into the famous Huxingting Tea house. The prices were exorbitant, even by American standards, but we didn’t mind one bit because the atmosphere and air conditioning was thoroughly enjoyable. Imagine sitting in a traditional Chinese tea house overlooking beautiful gardens as a light rain fell outside. It was truly one of those lifetime experiences you will never forget. Despite the wonderful surroundings, the highlight of this tea experience was when Sabrina decided to try one of the hardboiled pigeon eggs that were served with the tea. To my amazement, she deftly removed the shell, popped it in her mouth, and ate it. All the while showing a slight smile, like it was actually enjoyable. I, on the other hand, had the convenient excuse of eating too much at lunchtime, which our tour guide easily acknowledged.
See picture below.

( Just a quick note about tea here--there's a lot of histortraditionalitiona with tea here. Our guide said he didn't know a whole lot about it, but what I did notice in the tea room is that there is the "cheap" tea like we had--green tea leaves put at the bottom of a cup and you pour hot water over them for each new cup (a challenge to not ingest leaves until you get the hang of straining it with your teeth against the cup) and there was "fancy" tea where a sort of tea bag is placed in a clear tea pot and it "blooms" into a flowery-looking thing and you pour tea into these itsy-bitsy cups and drink out of those. Did I mention we got the non-fancy stuff?)

After an enjoyable hour and a half in the tea house waiting for the rain to stop, we decided to go for one more stroll around the area. We wrapped up our shopping and headed back to our side of town to the restaurant our host had reserved for us—authentic Sichuan cuisine.
We arrived around 5PM, and had some time to kill before the dinner show later that evening. When our guide asked us if we were okay with spicy hot food, we should have known what we were in for! Sichuan-style food is prepared with lots of garlic, red chilis, and peppercorns. Good and spicy!!! We started with a cucumber and pork appetizer in sauce and a gelatinous-noodle with spicy sauce. Then we were served fried chicken pieces (bone in) in a sea of chilis and a beef stew. The last two items were cubed tofu in a spicy sauce—my favorite—and a fish cooked and served in oil. For dessert we were served watermelon and cherry tomatoes. We went through a lot of Tsing Tao beer as the food was hot!

Then came the moment we were waiting for: the magic show. I don’t have a really good way to describe it that makes it sounds a neat as it is, but basically this actor is dressed in a traditional costume and does this “dance”? were she changes her mask without you being able to tell she changed it. Doesn’t sound as neat as it really is. Oh, yeah, and then there was the fire-breathing part and that was really cool.

After a full day of shopping, eating, and more eating, we were exhausted and returned home. We postponed our trip to the Bund until later in the week. More details to come!

Okay. . .Finally made it out to some of the tourist destinations in Shanghai now that my lovely wife Sabrina is here in town.

Giving even more credit to the Chinese for their remarkable hospitality, I will have to say that our first sight seeing outing was made much more enjoyable thanks to the efforts of one of my Chinese co-workers. This guy really went out of his way to make sure we had an enjoyable day! An itinerary for the day was planned, he met us at our hotel for the cab ride to the days first destination, dinner reservations had been made for that evening, it really was a remarkable show of hospitality.

Anyway, back to the sights. The agenda for the day was to go to Old Town Shanghai (left picture) to see the temple and eat some local Chinese food. Little did we know that along the way, Sabrina would be transformed into a crafty haggler for touristy wares. Thank goodness, because I would have paid full price for anything. To me, it’s not worth the extra hour it requires to talk someone out of an extra four dollars. But I could tell that Sabrina was enjoying it, and it made our Chinese tour guide very happy to see Sabrina haggle down the price. But I digress. . .
We’ll get to more of the shopping later in the story. . .

Here we are outside of the temple. Upon arriving at our destination, we were informed that this
was the Old Town center of Shanghai. It is located around the Temple of the Town God, which had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution but was rebuilt more recently and is surrounded by a marketplace.

History aside, this was all quite a site, but what it really came down to was a crowded market place with all sorts of items being sold frotraditionalal Chinese art, to fake Rolex watches.




Here is a view from "inside" of the temple, meaning inside the outer walls of the compound.

We started off with some shopping (mentioned above). Once again, I will have to thank our guide, Eric, for teaching us the ins and outs of Chinese bargaining. I'll also mention again that bargaining is not my thing. Nevertheless, it's a part of the Asian experience.

Well after some hearty shopping in the marketplace, we went and had a traditional Shanghai lunch, consisting mainly of dumpling-type food items. I made a complete pig of myself by loading up my tray with more food than I could eat, but it was all very tasty and it’s hard when there are so many new and unusual foods and you want to give everything a try. The entire Chinese cafeteria experience is one you have to see to believe, as I’ve never seen such a crowded eating establishment in my life.
The below picture is one Sabrina snapped to give everyone an idea of where we were eating today. One might call it a food court on steroids.

After lunch, we visited the famous Yu Yuan garden, but not before we had a chance to snap a few quick pictures of the famous Chinese goldfish at the Bridge of Seven Turnings.

Seriously, if you fell in the wwouldn'tI wouldn’t like your odds for getting out alive. But they do make a nice picture, and I’m considering putting a pond full of them in my back yard.

Okay, I've just made a decision to post this adventure as a two part event (you just finished part I). It will give everyone a chance to absorb a few more pictures (see below) and it will give me a chance to get off the computer for at least a few minutes this evening, maybe I'll even get a chance to shower and sleep before it's time to back to work in the morning! Anyway, you will all have part two of Saturday's adventure to look forward to tomorrow. The picbetter are beter in part to if that helps serve as motivation.

Later this week we will also have some amazing photos from Sabrina's visit to the Shanghai Zoo when I was at work on Monday. I really have to give her credit, she is fearlessly taking on this town with her new bike. It's not easy to come to a strange city like this, but Sabrina has been amazing in her ability to jump right, venture out on her own, and have a good time.

Well enough bragging on the wife, just be sure to check back tomorrow for part II from Saturdays adventure (like I mentioned, it's the interesting part), and later this week for Sabrina's Zoo adventure.

And for anyone wondering, we're doing great here!

(And don't forget the rest of the pictures from part I below)

Okay, promised it on Saturday, delivered on Sunday, 6-10 of my "Best Of" from the first three weeks.

With that, I will make one side noted, Saturday was a very exciting and full day as we actually got to get out and do some sightseeing. As soon as I finish this post, I'll begin work on the first true "Sight seeing" blog from the trip. As Sabrina was with me, MANY pictures were taken. It was a full day and we saw a lot, so everyone really has something to look forward to. I hope to have that post up by this evening.

Anyway, on with the finally of the 10 best things from the first 3 weeks.

6. The weather,,, it reminds me of Houston in the Summer. Okay, it maybe a little warmer and a little more muggy here, but it keeps me from being too homesick for Houston.

7. The 8:1 conversion rate. It's not often you get to carry around a fat roll 100's in your pocket, but when that roll of 1000 RMB only equals about $120 US, its reasonable.

8. The traffic. It's crazy, but somehow they keep it flowing in a way that probably wouldn't be possible in the US. Traffic rules are regarded more as "suggestions" here. If there is no oncoming traffic, and your stuck in traffic going one way, Chinese drivers automatically jump into empty oncoming lanes in order to ease gridlock. Traffic lights are only paid attention to when there is traffic, if there is no other traffic, what is the point of doing anything more that slowing down slightly for that red light. You really just have to see it to believe it.

9. Blackout curtains. As it gets light here at 4AM, all bedrooms are outfitted with blackout curtains to allow you to sleep to a normal time. Pull those tight and you've got no worries after a long night of karaoke.

10. For the final item of my "Top Ten from the First Three Weeks" I have to give credit to the Chinese people. I've done a little bit of traveling this year from Canada, to England to Holland to Poland, and the Chinese are definitely the most tolerant and hospitable towards foreigners. It really makes a pleasant experience out of what could be a terrifying one. I just can't say enough to describe the hospitality I have been shown here in my first three weeks, it has been amazing. Even random shop owners and people on the street are very tolerant of Westerners, once again, making the whole experience a little easier.

Well that's it for my first top ten. The official 1st months wrap up will come out in the next week or so. As I am actually now getting out and around town now, that may include a little more of the local culture and "things to see." I also haven't covered Chinese food as of yet, that will take a whole blog, there really is a lot to it!

Well I hope everyone is enjoying the blog. I was short on photos this week, so you got the top 10 instead, but as mentioned, with Sabrina now here, expect many more photographs!

Okay, I'll cover the "Coming Attractions" one more time. Keep checking back for the latest.

Due up in the following days are:

Saturdays big adventure around town - LOTS of pictures, this will be a good one and may include inserts from a guest author.

Chinese food in review. A short lesson on the culinary adventure that is China.

First month in Review - More thoughts and goings on from the East.