Winning Strategies

Wednesday- shopping in Shanghai

Today is a shopping day.  Today I emailed my boss to ensure that my job was still there (before I went and spent any money).  Laugh out loud.  It is, he says I'm secure.  So a shopping we will go.  Laugh laugh.

We walk down Nanjing Road spotted with shops on either side of us.  We've walked this way before, a couple days ago, but decide we liked it enough to do it twice.  We found some t-shirts for the boys with chinese writing on them that cost about 35 RMBs.

In the afternoon we hire a car and driver for about 4 hours for 400 RMBs (which equates to about $45 US dollars).  I'd love to be able to hire a car and driver in Dallas to drive me around for $50 for an afternoon.  I could get use to this.  We start out at the Taylor to pick up the suits they made for us.  We tried them on and they had to make a few alterations on mine, which took only an hour.

Today is our last day in Shanghai.  We are ready to leave the hustle and bustle of this city of 18 Million people.  It is like living in an ant farm, people people everywhere.

Tuesday in Shanghai cont- Communism

We are taken to a grand room for lunch and are fed beef and chicken and rice.  It is a government sanctioned 'lunch'.  We get our first taste of communism today.  All of the tour ghuides work for the government.  The places they take us are pre-set by the government.  When we tried to eat at Canal Village, the guide discouraged us. 

All tours are set prices from the government and the places guests are taken are all pre-set by the government.  There is very little crime here, as no one is allowed guns.  The news is controlled by the government.  It is strange to know that the activities years ago of TianAnMen Square were not on the news in China.  It is not in the history books in China.  It is erased from existence.

Their news is censored.  Their speech is censored.  Their newspapers only print what the government wants them to print.  Their religion is chosen for them, as are their leaders.  The people here are restricted to one child.  If they have a second, then they get a large fine.  Everyone we met was sisterless and brotherless.  Wouldn't it be strange to live ina  culture with no brothers and sisters?  It is very interesting here in China.

Our guide, Pamela, takes us from lunch to Confuscious' Temple.  This is where they pay their respects and make requests of Confuscious.  This quiet building hidden admidst the busy city streets is well kept up and in immaculate shape.  It was destroyed by the younger gerneration in 1976 and was rebuilt form 1988-1998.  It re-opened in 1999.  All of Confuscious' sayings are written in ancient chinese on the wall here.  In the olden days, this was a school.  Now it is only a temple. 

After the Confuscious Temple, we are driven to the Jade Buddha Temle.  People are lighting incense and praying to Buddha for blessing and prosperity.  The side walls are lined with wooden statues of Buddha suppoerters.  The Jade Buddha was lying on his side.  An entire wall is carved with faces.  The faces all look mean and very angry.  The tour guide describes that his belly is big because he hides all the worlds' pain and suffering in his belly.

Tuesday in Shanghai

Up early today, up at 7:30 AM.  We skip the gym today since we have a tour guide picking us up for an all day tour.  A car picks us up at 9:30 AM.  Pamela is our english speaking tour guide.  The driver speaks only Chinese.  We drive for about 45 minutes outside of Shanghai to the town of Zhujiajiao  (try to pronounce that one) (laugh) (pronounced Jo- Ju- Ou- I think).  This water town is home to 6,000 chinese farmers and fisherman.  They supply fish and prawn to the city of Shanghai.  We meandered through the streets, peering into the workshops and homes of the people that call this place home.  The homes are simple structures, with wooden floors.  Their furniture is made of wood.  Old chinese women sit wrapping glutinous rice and pork with lotus leaves.  They tie theh outside with a string.  These little packets of food sit piled up in a bowl for passerbyers to purchase.

We board a tiny wooden boat to tour the Grand Canal.  They call this the Venice of the East.  We pass 2 bridges.  One was called 'Set the Fish Free'.  It is a 100 year old bridge.  The next bridge we cross is called "Peace and Wealthy".  This bridge is 500 years old.  This part of town is sirene and quiet.  We have escaped the hustle and bustle of city life and found a peaceful little village in this small water town.  I could stay here for days.  This quiet and peaceful existence suits me just fine.  We pass by several other boats filled with tourists, each absorbing the culture and views of canal life.

Our ride lasts about 20 minutes and seems to whiz by way too quickly.  From the boat ride, we disembark and take a walking tour of the canal city. 

The alleys are think little walkways made of pebbles.  Their is no glass in the windows, only bars.  The doors are made of wood.  The buildings are white and the roofs black.  The beams, doors, and archways are all dark red.  It makes for an interesting look of old world china.  We walked for 20-30 minutes, exploring the back alleys of town and seeing how the locals live.  I would have liked to stay here all day, but typical of a tour, she had way too many things on her 'list' for us to do today.

We re-board the car and find ourselves back in the city, in a traffic jam with horns blaring and smog and congestion much sooner than we'd have liked. 

Monday in Shanghai

We are up early and hit the gym as has become our morning ritual.  After our workout, we go the restaurant in the hotel for breakfast.  We haven't ventured out of the hotel for breakfast becasue after Michael works out, he wants to eat immediately.

Today we set off int he direction of the 'Bund', walking down Nanjing Road.  Sections of Nanjing Road are closed to traffic and the street is filled with pedestrians.  I'm beginning to tire of all the people everywhere.  18 million people live in the city of Shanghai.  In one city, can you believe it?  Stores dot either side of Nanjing road and peddlers come out and beg you to come back to their stores, tucked away in little alleyways off the beaten path.  The peddlers are everywhere.  Everyone seems to have something to sell.

We walk all the way down Nanjing Road to the waterway, stopping only twice.  One stop was for Costa Coffee for an iced latte and another stop was an outlet store to buy a couple shirts that were $5 US dollars a piece. 

When we reach the Bund, the clear sky shows the beautiful skyline of Pudong off well.  The pearl tower glistens in the sunlight.  Today there were too many tourists walking the Bund.  Maybe it was this way because the weather was warm and the sky clear.

We taxi'd over the waterway, well actually we went in a tunnel under the waterway and went to the Pearl Tower.  We paid 120 RMBs a piece and headed for the elevator.

UP 350 Floors
We jet up 350 floors into the air.  These buildings are amazingly tall.  I felt a little nauseous just thinking about how many stories lay between me and the ground.  The tower of Babel also comes to mind.  This building makes the tower in Dallas seem short.  I think the Dallas tower is 60 stories.

We take an elevator to the mid point of the needle and walk up a flight of stairs to have a cup of coffee in the revolving restaurant.  After a full day of exploring, we were exhausted.  Back to the hotel for a rest.

Sunday in Shanghai

We awake to rain and clouds and cold weather today.  Definitely a jacket day.  We decide to hire an Audi and a driver for a few hours today to take us around town.

We start our day at the gym for a workout.  We slept in today, so it is already late morning.  After our workout, we have the breakfast buffet at the Marriott Cafe' on the 38th floor of the hotel.  The buffet is delicious with foods from around the world.  We dine on baked cod, omelettes, rice, fresh fruit, oatmeal and hot coffee.

We sneak over past the Ferrari dealership to Costa for a cup of coffee as we wait for our car and driver to arrive.  We hire the driver for 4 hours which comes to 400 RMBs (which is about 50 bucks).  The driver gets a list of places we want to go (since he doesn't speak English, only chinese) from the concierce' at the hotel and drives us to our first stop- The Tailor.  What better use for a rainy day!

He takes us to a complex filled with tailors.  Each tailor has a little 4 foot by 8 foot space with material and a small desk.  The building is multi levela nd appears to have hundreds of tailors in one bulding.  I pick three cute little chinese ladies at a  shop called the 'Hong Kong Hua lai Dress Tailor Made'.  It is Room 144 of the open complex and is located on Lu JiaBang Road.  I order a black suit and a pinstriped suit.  They will be done in 3 1/2 days.  They cost about $75 US dollars a piece.

Michael walks over to 'New World Fashion Design' and orders a brown pinstriped suit to be made.  His suit was about $80 US dollars.  From this place I order 3 tailor made shirts with embroidered initials.  My shirts are 600 RMBs and I leave a 400 RMBs deposit.  This tailor was at space #130.

We have someone call our car for us, since he speaks only Chinese, and he drives around and we jump in.  The next stop is the Shang Hai Xiang Yang Clothing Gift Market.  All the names here are LONG, nothing short.  This market is on Nanchang Road.  A man meets us at the car and swalks us down the rainy sidewalk through a back alley, into an unmarked door and finally into a store of designer purses and clothes.  In the clothing room we pick out several shirts for Michael that are D & G, and I pick out 3 Christian Dior shirts and a gorgeous Dior jacket.  Michael picks out a Prada suede jacket.  The shirts are about $15 a piece US and the jackets about $40 US dollars. 

In the next room over we view a showcase of designer purses.  We buy 5 designer purses for 1000 RMBs and I buy a Dior purse I've wanted for some time that retails in the US for about $1400.  I splurge on the purse and pay $150 US for it.  It is a saddlebag design and ivory in color.  I love it.

We stop at a noodle court/food court on the way back to the hotel, but don't order anything here.  It looked a little too authentic (laugh).  The driver returned us to the hotel and we dined at the Marriott Cafe again.  Michael had curry fish and white rice and I had fried rice.  It came to 360 RMBs. 

The weather today is about 55 degrees and it is still raining pretty hard.  We decide against going to the acrobatic show tonight and cuddle up in the room to watch an old movie and fall asleep.

All for now.

Shanghai Saturday continued

After launching off Saturday, we went to the waterway to explore.  'The Bund' is the section of land that is the hubbub of activity by the water that stands between Pudong and the city of Shanghai.  We decide to go to the waterfront and enjoy the view.

It is sunny and 75 degrees.  We walk along the Bund and look over to the Pearl Tower.  It looks like a needle with a bubble in the middle.  It is obvious that it is a Saturday, there are people everywhere.  We buy tickets to a 3 hour river cruise that departs at 2PM and board the boat.  We sit on the top level as the boat sets sail.

Shanghai is a BIG city.  The boat meanders down the river and we see building after building.  The city seems never ending.  The skyline is incredible.  This harbor is the life of the city.  Boat after boat passes us by with loads of goods either coming or going.

After the boat ride, we happened into 'Old Town'.  It is like leaving the big city and walking into a land of the past.  It is here that we found the old gentleman pulling the cart (see picture in the album).  It was like watching a movie, walking through old town.  We dined at a chinese diner.  We had fried rice, eel, and hot milk tea.  It came to about $12 US dollars.  Once outside the megaplex hotels, the prices are very reasonable.

Old Town has many pearl jewelry stores.  Unknown to us before we came, China is well known for its pearls.  We walk past store after store peddling their pearls.

After walking about 8 miles during the day, we rested up for a night on the town.   The club scene was hectic.  Saturday night is a popular night out for the locals.  We taxi back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

Shanghai Saturday Exploration

We got up this morning and headed off to the gym.  I've decided to get thin and buff on this trip (laugh out loud).  Well, at least we will work on getting in shape.  I began writing this at 10:30 AM Saturday morning, which was 9:30 PM Friday night in the states (but I couldn't upload the post- so am re-trying now).

After our workout, we meandered up to the lobby on the 38th floor for the breakfast buffet.  We enjoy a breakfast of omelettes, baked cod, white rice, fried noodles, and fresh fruit.  We list out the places that we want to see while in Shanghai so that we can plan our days of adventure.  There are several places that we add to our 'To Do' list to include Jin Mao Tower, Zhouzhang, Temple to the city gods, Peoples Square, and Bund, just to name a few.

The pool on the 7th floor is outdoors and has a 360 degree view of the city.  We walked around and surveyed the amazing view.  Shanghai is a modern city.  The buildings have a unique architecture unlike any we've ever seen.  It feels like we have left the 21st century and entered into the 24th century.

Our bodies are still confused, thinking it is nighttime even though it is in the day.  It will take a few days to orient us to the new time schedule.

Well, we are off to explore Shanghai.  I feel like Christopher Columbus or Jacque Cousteau.  All for now.  You will hear from us later.

Welcome to Shanghai China! Day 1 & 2

Nothing teaches you to appreciate quick flights more than a 13 hour filght.  We boarded an American 777 in Chicago and set sail for a long oceanic journey.

Our filght departed Chicago at 10:40 AM in the morning, and was set to arrive Shanghai THE NEXT DAY at 2 PM.  HOLY COW!  It is a much shorter flight than Thailand, which took us about 23 hours when we went last year.

We arrived in Shanghai, on schedule, at 2:02 PM Friday, April 20th.  Funny to think that we boarded a flight in Dallas early Thursday morning, and when we step out into the sunshine- - it is already Friday afternoon.  We have lost a day and a half.  We jumped aboard a taxi and took a very long ride to the JW Marriott in Shanghai.

The city of Shanghai looks a little like a bee hive to me.  There are layers and layers of highways and roadways.  The buildings look modern and remind me of watching the Jetsons cartoons as a kid.  The tops of the modern buildings have what appears to be George Jetson's parking garage. 

Our hotel room is on the 49th floor and there are still several floors above us.  We drag into our rooms, bloodshot and tired eyes, and put our tired bodies to bed for a few hours to nap.  The time difference is 13 hours.  When we arrived in Shanghai it was 2PM in Shanghai time on Friday, and it was 1 AM Thursday night back in Dallas.

We slept for four hours until 9PM Shanghai time.  My body clock knows that this is 8 AM, and is saying, "ready to go".  Laugh.  It is difficult to switch days and nights when your body clock is involved.

All for now, I will write later. We are safe at our hotel in Shanghai, China on day 2 of our journey.

Chinese Dollars

Today I went to Chase Bank and picked up the Chinese currency that I ordered yesterday.  Wow, this is convenient.  You can order ANY foreign currency and they have it for you the next day.

Our credit card company suggested we carry cash to use as many places as possible.  The exchange rate is 7.728 dollars for every 1 US dollar.  That makes for a big pile of cash when you cash in US dollars for Chinese dollars.  Funny, I don't think I've ever held a stack of money that tall.   (Laugh out loud).

With debit cards and checks, I almost never carry cash. 

Work was busy today.  I'm trying to catch up on as much work as possible before I leave the country.  All for now....talk to you later.