Shanghai

Hi All! I'm on a two-week tour of SW China - starting in Shanghai. It's an amazing city- over 23  million people, the largest city in the world by population. Wikipedia says:
"It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center^[9] and the busiest container port in the world.
Here's some of the fantastic buildings:

This is the view looking out over the Yangtze River into the financial district.
 

Beautiful old buildings, not all new skyscrapers

 Some views as I walk along The Bund, a broad walkway by the river.

The Chinese do beautiful things with flowers.

Cute little panda baby

Notice the easy access open crotch - 

 

a common sight in China. Sometimes with diaper, often without.

Now walking into the tourist section:

Cool buildings and masses of motorcycles

View from our restaurant

Zigzag bridge

Masses of people and not even the regular tourist season

Adventure #4

This is for my granddaughters when they think they're having a bad hair day.
This adventure was not planned. Joan and I both needed haircuts, so we went together. I demonstrated the hairstyle I wanted to the Chinese guy in the shop.They only speak Chinese, but I'd had good luck the last time I was in there. From the front it looked like it was coming along fine. Even when he got out the shears, I thought he was just going after the annoying neck hairs. But no! He shaved 3 1/2" above my hairline! What! I was horrified!

I look like a bald mannequin with a wig on it! If I keep my chin up, and wear turtleneck sweaters & a wide scarf, I can leave the building. But I'm not going to leave the building! I don't want any more adventures for awhile!

Adventure #3

Adventure #3 has to be coming home from the previous adventure, opening my door, and having smoke come billowing out. I had left a pot of chicken/stock cooking for chicken soup. And I was so sure I had turned it off! Oh, dear! Joan and Dale smelled the smoke and came to check on me. They took the pot out onto their balcony. I opened all my windows for a few hours. Another neighbor loaned me a fan. By 11:00 most of the smoke was gone, tho the smell remained and is still there after 2 days. I left everything open for the four hours we were at Church on Sunday, too. It was so cold (20-25 F), it took the rest of the day to warm the place up. The smell is getting better.  Too bad I didn't think to get a picture. But at that point I was so mad I didn't think I'd be sharing this event. Now it's just a funny story.
My brother Scott just sent me a quote: Humor is just emotional chaos remembered from a safe distance.

Adventure #2

My friend and next-door neighbor, and me. The metal basket in front of us is a brazier burning indoor charcoal.

Not sure about the bird cages. They didn't have birds in them, altho birds are a very popular hobby here.

So fancy!

In our effort to see the sights of Qingdao, Joan and I got in a taxi and showed the driver the address of a restaurant we had heard of. As he sped off we realized that we really didn't know where or how far we were going - hence, how much it would cost us. Qingdao includes out-lying towns like LA, so it could have been quite a distance. Also cab drivers sometimes take advantage of foreigners and take the l o n g  way. But before too long, we got to the supposed street, but couldn't see the restaurant. But the guy made us get out anyway. We were going to ask in some other businesses, but just then a group of young Chinese people passed by and we ask for their help. They looked at our directions and one of them said "Follow me please" Oh good, he speaks English and he is being so kind. He took us half way down the block and into a restaurant. He took off his coat and took us to a table. That's when we saw his name tag and realized he was dressed the same way as the other waiters.  He worked there, had just got off work and was meeting some friends to go out for the evening. After he got us settled, he put his coat back on and went out to find his friends. We were so grateful that we ran into that particular group of young people with that young man in their midst, and so grateful for his kind assistance. The place was beautiful! Can you see the multi layers? I love the upper level cubicles. We were on the main floor. We had a great meal for under $15 - 2 meat dishes, dumplings and tofu/egg/cabbage soup. It was supposed to include entertainment, a foot massage, shoe shine, and a puppet show. Wow! Interesting combination!  That's what attracted us to the place, but unfortunately we were too early and we missed out on the show. Maybe we can go again.

Adventure #1

"While six of our group are preparing to go on a 2-wk cruise, my next door neighbor and I decided we would go see the sights of Qingdao. Our first excursion was to an old Lutheran church built in 1910, when this town was occupied by the Germans. The whole area has German architecture. I wish we could have been here for a Christmas service or concert.
Here we are bundled up  against the -10C temp.

The grand metal doors

Large hall seats 1000











We climbed up many steps into the bell tower

And saw the bells and clock works

A very nice first day!