Day 8 - Shanghai

This morning - Saturday, November 15, 2008 - was our last morning in China. So Terri, Caroline, Todd and I made the most of it. We got up this morning, ate breakfast, then took our life in our own hands by taking a taxi to the Shanghai Museum. It was well worth the risk as the Shanghai Museum was incredible.

Unfortunately we were under such time constraints so we were only able to check out one and half of the four floors that contained exhibits. We started with stone carvings - mostly Buddhas - then went to bronze pieces (anything from bells, to water dishes to spears and daggers). It is difficult for me to wrap my mind around the fact that many of the artifacts on display date as far back as 700 BC. It really is phenomenal when you stop to contemplate that fact.

Then Terri and I wandered up to the fourth floor with the hopes of working our way down. However we only made it through the clothing (pretty awesome stuff) and furniture. There were also exhibits showcasing currency and jade on that floor but time flies in a great museum and that is exactly what happened to us.

We made it back to the hotel to in time to catch our bus to the Shanghai Airport. Except our wonderful tour guide arranged for us to take a trip on the Maglev Train. It is incredible. I took a video of it so I'll try to post later. The train is super fast and instead of running on rails it uses magnetic levitation to propel the train at higher speeds. Needless to say it us longer to drive to the train station than it did to take the train to the airport.

So now, here I am at the Shanghai Airport updating my blog. It won't be the last time I'll update as I want to put some more pictures and other information on it. Mainly for me ... I want to keep record of my experiences. But I also enjoy sharing them with you. I've really enjoyed writing again, even though I'm a little rusty and usually sat down to write when I was completely exhausted. Oh, and this type of writing was never my thing - I was much better at straight news. So really, this was fun to do something different.

And I do have to recommend this trip to others. China is truly a fascinating country and I feel like I have only touch a small part of it. I found the people here to be open, warm, and friendly. The food was actually pretty good (don't know what it is, but its good). I really like the vegetables including bok choy (which I don't recall ever having before) and, of course, cabbage, sweet potatoes and corn. I have eaten my fair share of rice - sticky rice - and I hope I recall how to use a fork and knife since I've used chopsticks for every meal for the past seven days. I really didn't eat anything totally crazy which may be good since I am about to go on a two hour plane flight to Beijing, then another 12 hour flight to Los Angeles.

OH, and I learned something new today. Our tour guide - Jimmy - taught me how to count to 10 in Chinese. I would type it out, but I'm not sure on the spelling.

Perhaps the skill I learned the most in China is the art of haggling ... And I did brush up on my division/multiplication skills as I had to continually convert yuan to dollars and dollars to yuan. Divide by seven, multiply by seven.

I also have a greater appreciation for people who come to our country who do not speak, read or write the language. It is very difficult to communicate. I think I can now beat anyone at the game of charade after all this practice!

It is now 1:44 a.m. in McKinney, Texas - Saturday, November 15th. Thanks to our massive time difference I will be back in the U.S. tonight - I'm now calculating closer to 9 p.m. - but not sure - need to check my flight information.

See you all very soon.