Wuhan, China
Sunday, July 13th

These two Chinese characters say, "Confucius say"


"When there are three people walking, my teacher is bound to be among them. I select their good points and follow them. I take their bad points and change them in myself."

There is no day of rest when comes to learning in China. Actually, as much as I would love a day to just sleep, it would be a momentous waste of the opportunity. Si after breakfast at our dorm/hotel we headed over to class.

Our hotel/dorm during our time at Hubei University

This morning’s class was a continuation of yesterday’s History lesson; we began the day after the fall of Zhou Dynasty and went on from there. It is a little difficult to cram five thousand years of history into three of four lessons. Class is great. The chairs are a little hard but all else is great. I made my morning green tea and sipped it thru out the Dr. Gu Ya’s lecture.

I slipped lunch today to give my stomach a rest, not going to elaborate here, and grab some extra sleep. The nap and rest was a very good call. I woke up feeling great. The afternoon class was a continuation of the morning session and it focused on the Tang dynasty which is one of two golden age’s in Chinese history. The Tang dynasty is the greater of the two. During the period that the Tang ruled, @600AD to 900AD, they were arguably the most culture in the world. Lots of advances and inventions in multiple areas of society, science, and technology.

After dinner I pretty much called it a night. I know very boring day, but you have to know your body and mine was calling for an easy day. This experience is a marathon and not a sprint. Despite feeling as my Dad says, “puny”, I am having the time of my life. No matter where I go or what I do I learn and see something amazing.

Fried roots of the lotus flower. Very good.

Wuhan, China
July 12th

Today was the first day of an actual regular schedule and our first “normal” day of school. It was nice not to have to pack up and head some other place. And yes, I realize complaining about traveling around China is a bit on the whinny side but it is true none the less.

Our classes are in the International School building and are quite nice. They are well air conditioned and they have cool water and the fixing’s for green tea and what passes for coffee. I have jumped on the green tea band wagon and am not getting off anytime soon.

The first lecture we had was a “Brief Introduction to Chinese History and Culture” done by Dr. Gu Ya. She has written over five books on Chinese history and received her PhD. from Hubei University. She will give five lessons about Chinese history and culture over the course of the next few weeks. The session was quite informative. There were a lot of areas of history that I recognized but so much else I had no clue of. The initial session focused on ancient history. I learned so much. Her English is admittedly not great but she had one of her students translate for her. That took some getting used to but still worked well.

We had our usual huge lunch. I am eating less over here but it is not out of lack of good food. There are always lots of veggies in ridiculously good sauces, with rice in some manner, and a meat, and because city of Wuhan which is in Hubei province is described as a land of “a thousand lakes” there is always at least one fish dish. We ate family style with a lazy Susan in the middle. We have a lot more food at out meals than a normal Chinese group would but we are generally finishing everything.

This afternoon was our first Chinese language lesson. It was led by Dr. Wang Ruoxuan. She is an excellent teacher and very patient because we all stink at Chinese. We learned the basic sounds of beginnings (initials) and the endings (finals). We also learned how to read the accents for the tones. As a matter of clarification the tones are accents over vowels that let one know how to say the vowel. The tone is of utmost importance because you could have a word spelled the exact same way and depending on the four tones mean four absolutely different things! I totally understand how to read them now. I have little idea how to say them. It is the first lesson. We are not learning Chinese script but how to read Pinyin. An oversimplified explanation of Pinyin is this. Imagine that you started spelling things not as they we taught but only as how they sound. This was one of Communist party’s reforms to help increase literacy in China. I shudder to think what the Chinese people who happened by our classroom thought of our butchering of their language.

On the walk to Wal-Mart

After dinner we walked to the Wal-Mart, yes you read correctly, which is about a 25 minute walk from the campus. I did not need anything but I heard it was a site to behold. Paul, Sharon, Deb, and myself al made the trek. It was well worth it. The place was a sea of people. It was organized chaos. All of sat with our mouths gaped open from the sights and sounds. Capitalism is alive and well in China. Different workers demonstrated and hawked various goods and products. One of the most fun activities was the classic game, “Americans who don’t speak the language are trying to buy something.” We were looking for the schnapps like drink that we had had the previous night called “White Cloud”. By that I mean it is what the Chinese name for the product translates into. So we play this combination pictionary/charades game with the ladies in the liquor department. Finally we were aided by a five year old Chinese boy in the crowd; we had drawn a substantial crowd about three people deep around us. When Paul put his hands above his head, the little boy yelled, “Sky and Cloud!” in English. From there the workers figured out what we wanted. As a note; once we found the item in question the attendant immediately attempted to up sell us to much more expensive brand. Raw capitalism.

Every 7 Yuan is 1 dollar, you do the math.

The demonstration

White Cloud?

We left the shopping complex and crossed the street using the Frogger method and caught the “811” bus back to campus. The first public transportation you use in a foreign country is always watershed moment. We were stared at, of course. Especially me. Hey how often do you see a chubby American in the flesh? We even saw one of the ladies who waited on us in Wal-Mart. At first she was excited to see us then I think a bit embarrassed after all four of us pointed at her and yelled we know you.

Enough said

Once we returned to campus we had a few drinks from the spoils of our journey. It was not exactly Marco Polo on the silk route but still quite fun.

Link to more photos from journey to Wal-Mart

Wuhan
July 11th

By the time arrived in Wuhan and checked into our Hotel at Hubei University last night is was past midnight. Although we will take some day and short overnight trips in the next three weeks, the heavy touring portion of our trip is now over. Although I loved EVERYTHING I saw I am anxious to get to one place, unpack my bag, and establish some semblance of a routine. Anyways, I heard that Hubei University has a great Fraternity/Sorority scene and I want to see if they have PIKE chapter there…, joke!

Pete in front of our big welcome sign

The place we are staying is really quite nice. It is not as fancy as the four star hotels that we have been staying at but is still very comfortable. It is much nicer than most of the dorm rooms that I have seen. It has the best air conditioner we have had in China by far; it is great by American standards. I know that seems needy but having good sleep is huge. I could have made due without the air but thank good we have it, and good air at that.

Our accomadations

After a late breakfast that allowed us to sleep in, thank you Dr. Kung, we left for the a welcoming reception hosted by the president of Hubei University, Dr. Wu. The reception was held at the brand new library and conference center at Hubei U. The whole scene reminded me of scene from the United Nations, everyone around a huge neutrally shaped table with translators. Every administrator made remarks from both delegations. After general remarks then both groups, the teachers from Hubei U. and the US delegation, us, began introducing ourselves. Although formal is quite fun. I have to admit there was a little buzz to be taken from the whole experience.

The delegations take their seats

President of Hubei University, Dr. Wu

After the reception we were taken on a tour of the new library and its museum. The collection was quite extensive. It had lots of information about the city of Wuhan and Hubei the province (state) and their roll in both ancient and modern history.

The new library at Hubei University

After a short tour led by students, who are students from Hubei and are studying to become translators, we went to the opening lunch. We all sat down with healthy balance of American teachers, Hubei professors, and thankfully, aspiring translators. I think my table lucked out because we had the to art professors at our table, who were quite fun. Wine flowed freely, which loosed up conversation. Then there was the presentation of gifts, which turned out to be a shirt exchange, we received very nice Hubei University knit shirts and they received University of Memphis, Final Four T-shirts (The U of M is administering the Fulbright grant money. Every one had a blast.

T - I - G - E - R - S.., TIGERS!

After lunch we changed out of our formal clothes and went for tour of the campus led by the students I previously mentioned. The campus layout and feel was like that of almost any college campus in the states; new and old buildings, students playing basketball (a lot of them), boys and girls hanging on each other, and students just hanging out. The significant difference is the number of families you see on campus. Universities, like most other employers, house the faculty and staff and their families on or near where they work, in this case on campus. That makes workers loyal and commutes quite short. When you think about the scenario it makes sense. There are some drawbacks in terms of individual choice but it certainly gave the campus a very family feeling.

Hooping, Chinese style
Hanging on the quad

We then proceed to out first class which was led by the Vice President of the University and Dean Lee who spoke about the history of Wuhan in general and Hubei University specifically. They were both extremely informative and I learned a lot. It is obvious they are proud of not only their university, extolling its scores and accomplishments, but their city and province as well.

After class we had another group meal with most of the deans from earlier in the day. The food was great. Wuhan, because it is located in the middle of China, more on that later, has more variety of different types of Chinese food so we saw some dishes tonight that we had not seen before. There were several “Gan bei”, or cheers. We did some cheers with schnapps like drink that translates to, “White Cloud”. Vice President Lee told me it has this name because after you drink it feels like you are floating on the edge of a white cloud. I did not want to be rude so I indulged in some “White Cloud”, only for the purpose of cultural understanding.

This is a fish dish. Blooming fish?
After dinner we walked around a bit and then we went to bed early for some much needed sleep. If the first day is any indication it is going to be fun in Wuhan at good ole Hubei U.

Links to more photos of Hubei University

Xian, China
July 10th

We started the day with a leisurely bicycle rickshaw ride on the 600 year old city wall of Xian. Our driver spoke excellent English and we had a blast with him. He was able to give us a lot of facts about the history of wall and the city of Xian. We were a small guy but were able to pull the rickshaw with two people inside it. He even let me drive the rickshaw a little bit. At the end of the ride he challenged my roommate Paul to an arm wrestling match and kind of killed him. The guy was small but strong as hell; his job is to pull people on a bike all day. We taught him what a “high five” and we are pretty sure he liked it because as we walking to our group’s meeting place we heard him yell, “High Five!” to a passing American and saw him slap him some skin. What have we done?

Paul and I on our Rickshaw ride on the city wall of Xian

My new buddy

Afterwards we went to a Lacquer factory and shop in Xian. It is one of the art specialties of the Chinese and seeing the skilled work of the artisans was quite impressive. One of the more “interesting” art works I saw was inside a jewelry box. It had people engaged in various coital positions. Having the maturity of a thirteen year old, I took a picture of it. There is a poem, supposedly quite famous among the Chinese, about a guy who wrote a poem about missing his friends, who gets very drunk while sitting alongside a lake. During his bender he sees the reflection of the moon in the water and is afraid it drowning so he dives in after it and subsequently drowns. It is an interesting take on the story of Narcissus; the Chinese story is much older.

Chinese poem about missed friends and a few too many drinks

From there we went to the Shaanxi History Museum, which is hailed as one of China’s best museums and after visiting the place I whole heartedly concur. The museum had artifacts from all periods of China’s 5,000 year old history. Everything from pottery to paintings to weapons. One of my favorites was a leopard piece that came into halves. The piece was used to pass on orders from generals to lower ranking officers. The interesting thing is that it had two pieces which were delivered separately on the orders could only be authenticated when both pieces were put together. Kind of like to missile launch keys. Very cool.

Leopard piece with military oders

One of the highlights of the trip for me so far was the Wild Goose Pagoda which is a Buddhist monastery in Xian. The place was very relaxing, despite the numerous tourists (mostly Chinese). We even saw a few monks at the place. In fact I caught one monk on his cell phone. Talk about a clash of culture. The grounds had birds in cages everywhere. I even wrote a Buddhist “wish card” for the health of family and friends. Not only does the Chinese government not discourage this they assist with repairs and upkeep. Our tour guide basically said that when most Chinese visit a monastery, no matter the philosophy, they always say a prayer. I would hedge my bets also. I was even able to enjoy a leisurely Tsingtao beer with Deb, one of fellow teachers, on the grounds.

Which one is the true Budhha?

Can you ear me now?

After the visit to the temple we left for the airport to catch another domestic flight to Wuhan, home of Hubei University, where we be living and studying for the next three weeks.

Link to more photos of Day 2 in Xian

Xian, China
July 9th

Today was a rather wild day. We started the day at 5am so we could catch a flight from Beijing to Wuhan. We were taking a domestic airline, China Eastern. The Beijing airport was much less chaotic than the Train station. The airplane was completely uneventful. Before I arrived here I would have not have expected that. Since I have been here the last week I have been nothing impressed by the work ethic and kindness of the Chinese people.

The terracotta army of Qin Shihuang

Once we arrived left directly for site of the Terra Cotta Warriors. These warriors were found by a farmer in 1974 who was digging on his farm for a well and found the over 2000 year old remains of a massive burial site. The burial tomb was for the Han Emperor who united China’s different dynasties of the time, Qin Shi Haung. Qin Shi Huang employed the Legalist philosophy to unite the seven kingdoms of ancient China. Legalism boils down to this; you must reward good behavior and punish bad behavior in people because humanity is inherently bad. That is a bit harsh but he in his very short reign he standardized writing, coinage, wagon gauge, and united the seven kingdoms. So it worked for something. His tomb contained thousands of life sized, EXACT terra cotta (clay) replicas of his imperial court, advisors, and army. When I say exact I mean that everyone had to sit for modeling or they were killed. What can I say the man had a mission. The expanse and attention to detail is amazing. I have studied and taught about this “8th wonder of the world” before but seeing the actual thing is beyond description.

Some of the highlights of lunch were the drinking of sea serpent and snake wine and noodle making. I will have to download the photos when I get a chance. Too many “you had to be there stories” with lunch, I will not bore you them.

Snake wine

After going through the rest of the excavation site after lunch we negotiated through crazy rush hour traffic to a dinner theater in Xian. Traffic in China is nuts! There seems to be no formal rules. Bicycles, mopeds, and walking people compete with and against cars and jam packed buses for a sort of street cage match for traffic survival. With every turn it seems that we are going to kill somebody or vice versa. Thank god I am not driving.

Sleeve dance from the Tang Dynasty

When I first heard about a dinner/theater in China I was more than a bit skeptical to say the least. I was dead wrong. First off the meal was excellent from both a gastronomical and esthetic perspective. The meal consisted of numerous helpings of dumplings filled with every kind of meat and vegetable imaginable. We tasted several different kinds of pork, chicken, leak, chestnut, and shark’s fin. The dumpling was rolled so that it looked like what was inside it. For instance the shark’s fin dumpling looked exactly like a shark’s fin. The pork looked both a whole pig and another looked like a pig’s snout.

Another dance form from the Tang Dyanasty

The meal was excellent. After the meal we were treated to an outstanding performance of music and dance from the Tang Dynasty, one of the golden ages of China. The music and dancers were phenomenal. The dancers performed several sleeve dances which consisted of women in, you guessed it, extra long sleeves. The dance movements with the long sleeves, several yards long gave a dramatic visual image. The musicians were amazing with simple but well played instruments from the Tang Dynasty in China. I was thoroughly impressed by the whole dinner/theater.

It was even better in person

After dinner my roommate and I wandered around the city taking pictures and simply watching people. After taking life into our own hands with several street crossings we made our way near a small city park that surrounds a statue commemorating the Xi’an role as the founder of and starting point of the Silk Road. We had to cross a roundabout to get to the park, imagine a chubby Pete doing his best Frogger impersonation and you get a glimpse of the hilarity of the scene. Once we got to the park we watched a large group of people, young and old, singing and dancing. As we started taking pictures from the periphery the people noticed us and invited us into the action. We had a blast. We took pictures of and with all the people who got a kick out of seeing themselves on camera. We stayed a little over an hour till we had to get back to the hotel. It was one of the more enjoyable experiences that I have had so far. The people were hospitable, generous, and fun. Even though no one spoke English we were able to communicate with gestures and charades. Another great day.

My and some people that we hung out with for a while, the giy in the hat behind was a wild guy.

Photos of Day 1 in Xian, Chian

Beijing, China
July 8th

“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true Man”
Mao Zedong

After a great sleep and wonderful breakfast we left for a full day that included a visit to the Great Wall of China. After spending about an hour in morning traffic, where the massive scale of Beijing grows with each drive, we were off to a shape museum/shop. Along the way we watched as brand new buses and cars shared streets and highways with older, well worn bicycles and other more inventive and interesting modes of transportation.

Not sure what to call this vehicle

Upon arrival were given an information session on the history, quality, and workmanship of jade by Linda our tour guide. She was a turn task master and I was reprimanded a few times. Afterwards we were “allowed” to shop in the State owned jade store. For communists the Chinese are quite good at capitalism!

Jade craftsman at work.

After stimulating the Chinese economy we went to the burial tomb of the Ming Emperors. It is located a short drive from Beijing. It was located in a valley that was chosen for its Feng Shui. The person chose the location due the fact that valley protect one from winds that “take away good spirits and bring bad ones”. The location was also chosen because it had a couple of rivers flow through the valley and rivers bring good things to an area. The tomb was beautiful.

On the way out of the tomb and on to the bus we were met by the usual throng of Chinese wanting to sell us bobbles, trinkets, and commemorative crap. As I walked to the line of kiosks a woman wanted to sell my some I heart China T-Shirt. I pointed to my belly and stated, “Too big, too big.” I disregard and keep moving on thinking my ploy of no correct size is going to dissuade her. Well as soon as I say this she tear off behind her kiosk screaming something in Chinese to her merry band of T-shirt hawkers. Well she then pulls out a XXXXXL-Shirt, no exaggeration. She had obviously dealt with Americans before. So the she grabs my arm starts pulling me towards her stand. I am trying to walk back to the bus which she interprets as ploy to drive down the price of this mammoth T-shirt. So as I walk up the steps on our bus the old lady rears up her hand and spanks my ass. Well this scene sent our group into hysterics. I had not laughed that hard in a long time. They lady herself was not all that mad because she was smiling and laughing also. Odd story but a good time.

After touring the grounds of the tomb we convinced the tour guide to allowed us to walk a one mile stretch along the way to the burial palace but slightly off the road. The walk way is known as the Sacred Way. It is a fantastic one mile promenade that is lined on both sides by massive stone statues that are around 450 years old. The whole group did not go because it began to pour rain. As for me I of course went. Rain never hurt anyone and really I did not come to China to stay dry. Ironically enough the rain and its accompanying mist gave the walk a rather ethereal quality. The rain also made the venue quite desolate besides our reduced group. The stone structures comprised of warriors and animals. For example as you walk down the path you pass directly between two elephants standing up. A few yards down you pass between two elephants again, only this time they are kneeling. This effect is done to give the effect of animals bowing to the emperor as he passes by them. A little wet; but well worth short walk.

Ming Tombs

After our stroll along the Sacred Way we went to lunch. We enjoyed a couple of toasts with 112 proof sorghum “schnapps”. It was not smooth as hoped. Maybe it was wrong to take a couple of shots before heading to climb the Great Wall. We shall see. The group had fun. All of us are an odd and fun group; I count myself as one of the typical characters.

You want me on that wall; you need me on that wall. Ever since we studied China in K-Dog’s(Mr. De Marco) Honors World History class my sophomore year at Erie Prep I wanted to see and climb the Great Wall of China. (For those scoring at home it took four days in China to use a Prep reference) The rainy day subsided and although quite misty it made for a much cooler hike. The temperature drop was much appreciated by this chubby guy. The Great Wall is even more impressive in person. The fog and mist greatly reduced visibility but did nothing to diminish accomplishment. It was an extremely hard hike up the Wall. The portion of the Great Wall that we visited offers two hiking options. The majority of our group, me included, took the harder but more rewarding choice. Foggy mist literally rolled past us on the higher portions of the wall. After a short pause to rest my legs and curse my lack of healthy choices the last fifteen years we began our descent which was different but no less difficult than the climb up. Once I reached the bottom I enjoyed a well deserved Tsingtao beer. The experience of hiking the Great Wall deadened the aching pains in my knees and calves.

That is quite steep

Pete Down! Pete Down! Give me wings and beer, STAT!

The group then took in a performance that was described to us as the Chinese version of Riverdance. It was called the Legend of Kung Fu performance. It was part martial arts, part ballet, part Broadway, and part folk tale. It was entertaining all the way around.

After the performance we enjoyed a Peking Duck dinner and then fell asleep moments after returning to the hotel. Tomorrow we leave Beijing behind as we take a flight on China Express Airlines to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang Di.

Link to photos from Day 2 in Beijing

Beijing, China, July 7th

The train ride was extremely uneventful, which is a good thing. Jet lag is still a slight problem. Went to bed at 8:45pm and woke up at 4am, with only waking up once in the night. Once I woke up I watched the countryside roll by. It was rural and lush. In a weird way it reminds of the Polish countryside. Green fields with simple structures and people working their tails off. The train was delayed into Beijing so we had to grab breakfast at a KFC. Yes, you read that correctly, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ironically it is right across the street from Tiananmen Square. Breakfast was not “a bucket of yard bird” but chicken patty somewhat akin to Chick Fil-A.

Walking through Tiananmen Square I was awestruck by the fact that I was walking where all the protests and protest backlash occurred twenty years ago. Wow, twenty years ago, I am getting old. Second, the size and scale of the actual square is hard to describe. Everything in China is so massive and beyond the scale of anything I am used to. Driving through the city all you see is huge apartment buildings. We drove around the city for almost an hour and a half in total at different time during the day and the amount of high rise apartment buildings is staggering. The city is in total preparation mode for the Olympics which are about a month away. It reminds me of when I was getting ready for finals in college. Everything is going to get done, not sure how, but it always did. Same thing for Beijing. In the last year they have added over 17,000 public buses and 70,000 new cabs. Another observation riding around in the bus is the fact that although bikes still play a prominent role automobiles have exploded over here n the last few years. They say that 1,000 cars are purchased in China…, EVERY DAY! You do not really see any old cars on the road. I am not sure how the roads will handle it.

Anyway back to Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen translates to “Gate of Heavenly Peace”. The gate itself is what I took so many pictures of. The Forbidden City is massive; it is the world's largest surviving palace complex and covers 72 ha. It is a rectangle 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west. It consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms. We walking over three miles and really did not see the whole place. Dragons are everywhere. Dragons enjoy a distinct role for the Chinese. If a dragon is shown with claws only an emperor can have one that displays five claws. Think of it like generals, the more claws the higher the rank. I also took a lot pictures of rooftops with a string of animals on them. The more animals the more important the building is, with nine being the most animals that can be shown.

On the way out of the palace we ran into some school kids who were on the way in. They asked to take pictures of us so we returned the favor. They were thrilled to take pictures with guys like me, read chubby, and the African-American teachers in our group. It was fun. Everyone is so nice and receptive. The west has made their mark here. I saw hundreds of NBA t-shirts and only half were Houston Rocket/Yao Ming related.

I will post more later. I have to run.

Here is link to even more photos.

I will try to indentify the pictures once we get dd the road.

Beijing, China
July 7th continued

After lunch we went to see the Olympic Village. I guess I should first talk a bit about the food and lodging. For anyone worried that I am roughing it here, do not. The food has been excellent, all Chinese style which varies by region. We are staying at some freakishly nice places. The two hotels thus far have been four and five star places. So despite some hot days and lots of walking we are treated vary nice. In fact we have a baggage service to transport our main luggage to and fro so that all we really have to carry is a backpack. The two most famous and impressive venues are the Olympic Stadium or Bird’s Nest and the Aquatics center, the Water Cube. Both are impressive but the Water Cube got more of my attention. It was built with no pillars and the structure gets it form from the “water cells”. The whole Olympic Village is a massive work center. The Bird’s Nest was only finished two weeks ago.

The Bird's Nest
The Water Cube

After seeing all of that, the group went to visit the Emperor’s Summer Palace. It is actually larger in square acres than the Forbidden City but most of it is a lake. The whole grounds are quite lush. There are trees and flowers everywhere. Which is stark contrast to the treeless Forbidden City, due to the fact that the Emperors literally did not want anyplace for attackers to hide behind. After strolling through the gardens amongst the flowers and trees we took a cruise in a dragon’s ship around the lake. It was great to be on the water, sitting, and getting a seaside view of the Summer Palace. One of the more ridiculous things we saw was the marble ship that the Dowager Empress Cixi commissioned to have built. The money was supposed to go to build a navy so that China could defend itself, whoops.

Lilly pond near the lake at the Summer Palace.

Another view of the lake and "part" of the Palace Grounds

After the Summer Palace but before dinner we went to Longtan Park, or Dragon Park in Beijing. Longtan Park is a public park which has walking paths, several playgrounds, and a lake. The park was relaxing and beautiful. We walked around for a while and generally watched people, many of whom watched us. They were preparing for a dragon festival which comes from an old folk custom that commemorates the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. Numbers such as nine and five play such a huge role in the cultural psyche of the Chinese people. I got to watch this older couple either play this game or do a dance, maybe both at the same time. Here is link to the video of it. It looks like table tennis meets tai chi.

At the end of the night we went to our very swanky hotel the Plaza Royale Hotel for a sorely needed shower and much needed sleep.

Shanghai, China, July 6th

First full day in China. Jet lag stung a little but for I almost slept through the entire night. Since we were both up early my roommate and I went for an early morning walk around the hotel this morning before breakfast. The dichotomy of Shanghai is astounding. The pictures you see in the on the link at the bottom of the page are from a walk basically around the block. We went from a four star hotel at the main intersection to people cooking in the streets in about thirty feet. Everyone we saw was extremely nice and had smiles on their faces. Yet, when you turn onto the next main street you see nothing but skyscrapers with Starbucks on the ground floor. You can contrast the pictures of the side streets to the pictures along Nanjing Road which makes the Manhattan and the Miracle mile in Chicago a bit envious.

One of the most funny, brilliant, and enjoyable things Paul, my roommate, and I saw was the UPS …... fan fest, for lack of a better description. To escape the heat, more on that later, we ducked into a mall and saw throngs of Chinese, mostly young packed around demonstrations being done at a UPS booth in the main part of the mall. You could have your picture taken, play a delivery video game, and watch UPS toys load and transport other toys all while dance and techno music cranked in the background. By the way we did all of the things and attracted a rather large crowd, apparently a chubby American is fun to watch.

We spent the day mostly walking around the modern sights of Shanghai. There is not much left of the old stuff and what is left is going to going away soon. This is troubling but understandable considering the a lot of the old stuff was put there by foreign powers who had forced there way into China ports by getting them addicted to Opium. So know the former concessions are now areas where foreigners spend tons a money in China. In fact a few of us decided to forgo shopping for a beer at the Paulaner Pub in the Old French Concession of China. I realize that the previous makes little sense but it is none the less true. That’s where the picture of me and the decidedly ungermanic beer girls came from.

The Yu Garden was also beautiful as advertised but still quite crowded. After the Yu Garden we watched a demonstration of silk making. (I got a few videos so check them out on my Picasa Photo site. After a great lunch, the food is great; we went to a Confucius Temple. It was awesome. The temple had the Analects of Confucius carved on the temple walls. The phrase I took a picture of reads, “Confucius says.” A pretty common phrase.

After dinner we slid over to the over to the train station to take the over night train to Beijing. I can not describe the amount of people at the train station. The massive scene of humanity was unlike anything I had ever seen at a train station, ever. The sleeper train was very nice. It is a non-stop train and only comes to about $75 dollars. I think I was in bed for about ten minutes before I fell asleep.

A couple observations. One, I was totally impressed by cosmopolitan Shanghai. Its development is unlike anything I have ever seen. I am not sure what I expected to see but Shanghai makes New York City look like …, Memphis. I also wonder will happen to the people in the side streets. They seem like their time in the city is running out. Second, Shanghai reached 38.5 degrees Celsius which is about 102 degrees Fahrenheit which incidentally broke a one hundred and fifteen year record for the city. And lastly…, thank god for Gold Bond. Enough said.

Link to photos of Day 2 in Shanghai.