I'm in Shanghai.

And I'm not coming back. Don't tell them I said that. They might deport me. I'd better hide.




The bar on the 86th floor (?) of the Hyatt overlooking the bund. I can't remember the name.

Ice bar. Now this is why I can't remember much. Vodka for dinner did it. Strangely, no one noticed that we skipped dinner........ Yes, I have video and better pics, but they have our faces in them, sorry.
Sunset on the bund.

Sunset on the bund.

Subway station.

Train station. Looks more like an airport.

Hangzhou Tea

I loved this place. We visited a tea farm and learned that good quality organic green tea should look and smell like little spinach leaves; the second cup brewed with the same tea leaves is the best; you can eat the tea leaves, or use them to make a facial mask. Interesting.

Mmmmmm.... I didn't eat it though. This is Grade A Dragon Well tea, which is not exported. It's like no green tea I've ever tasted, even though I've had countless cups of green tea all month.

One part of the drying process.


Little tea bushes.

TungXi, Yellow Mountain City

I love this city! It's so rustic and pretty on "Old Road", I got a 2-hour body massage for what works out to be $20, and the masseuse showed us to the coolest restaurant ever. You get a table, then scoot down to the kitchen where there's demos of every food available. You write down numbers of the dishes you want, then go back to your table and the waitresses bring your food to you. Dim sum a la carte without a cart. So it's dim sum a la get-up-and-find-it-yourself, punk. I love it!

The yellowest mountain ever!

Yellow because you chicken out when you see the stairs. On the cable car ride up (yes, my lazy behind took the cable car up half way - but that was a group decision, honestly!) I looked out the window and saw these horribly steep, almost straight-up vertical stairs. I looked at those poor wretched souls climbing the stairs and thought - good for you. Then the cable car ride ended and I realized that the stairs only got worse. Five hours of hiking, not much stopping - I didn't think I could make it, but I did!

The view, as you can see, is gorgeous, and the hike itself is the most demanding man-made trail I've ever seen. But what's really amazing is the people that work there every day, carrying tired hikers up or down the mountain on chairs, and ferrying supplies in and garbage out. After a certain point (maybe 4 hours up) there are no more roads, and the workers do not use cable cars. They walk. And there isn't much of a difference between "down" and "up" - the stairs go up and down and up and down...... Today I got a 2-hour massage for my sore muscles. I know that if you work there, you get used to climbing those stairs every day, but it still looks like a tough job. So hats off to them :)
Who doesn't like a little torture in the morning?! These steps were wet, too, because there's a tiny spring on the top that runs down them.




What a job. And they're fast, too.









This is a garbage bin. I know what it looks like, but it's a bin. This is a great way to keep the trails clean without unsightly garbage cans.



I know I mentioned this before, but I didn't post a pic. Now you know you've accepted the culture when you start calling American toilets "Western", as in "Have you been to the bathroom? Is it Western or is it a hole? Is it a unisex hole? Is it a clean hole? Ok, thanks" and it didn't really matter to you what the answers to those questions were. It takes some getting used to, and some finesse to use it, but some of us have come to believe that this version is more sanitary, provided you don't touch anything or fall in. haha. Anyway, this is one of the cleanest I've seen, Western or Eastern :D Between this and chopsticks, I'm perfecting my motor skills over here. Heheh.

No English, please!

Camel at the zoo. I thought that I was getting a camel ride, but this camel is for pictures only.

A long day deserves a long post. I visited a nearby zoo, which was great for the people and bad for the animals (see previous post for video of hungry bear). OK, so everywhere, there are trees, and even hiking trails. In fact, the zoo is called the Hongshan Forest zoo. So I expected to see animals up in trees, animals under trees and animals inside tree hollows. Somehow, someone had a bright idea to cut down tress and replace them with concrete animal habitats. And where are the people? Why, they're standing in the shade of trees outside the habitat, of course, while the poor red panda is panting in the sun. And I suppose it would be too much to ask to give the animals fresh water. Noooo..... now about a shallow concrete pool of what looks like rainwater+bird droppings+leaves+garbage. Actually, the zoo was the first place in China that I've seen litter. There is no litter on the streets. Something is very wrong with that.
Poor little red panda!

Inside the rad panda "habitat". At least there's shade.... but why not a real tree...

The black-and-white panda didn't fare any better. I don't blame him for being antisocial.


Does this look right?

A tree or two would really come in handy here....

Anywho....

Take a look at this:


It's a pot of "soyed eggs", seen everywhere. It looks really gross, but they're really yummy. I wouldn't buy them from this vendor, but the hotel restaurant serves them for breakfast.

Then, I skipped on over to Confucius Temple, where, naturally, I focused on the shopping. You have to speak Mandarin, or forget it. I found out that my Mandarin's not so bad, after all! (pats self on back). The same went for the zoo. No English, please!


The boats at Confucius Temple. I'm going to go back.



Hmmmm.... One of these things just doesn't belong.......

Mmmmm..... Beggar's Chicken. It comes wrapped in the leaves and plastic wrap that you can see, and then encased in a mud (yes, mud) shell. So you have to smash it on the floor to break the mud. Stays fresh for days, too. I ate a two-day old one the night before. It's clearly a very small or very young bird, full head and beak attached.
It smells like tea, and is stuffed with spices. And no, it's not salty.