October 20th - Shanghai, China

Got off the ship this morning and headed over to the Pudong area of
Shanghai. This area is across the river, so went via the Bund Sightseeing
Tunnel and was entertained with a "groovy" light show while traveling
beneath the Huangpu River.

Walked over to the Shanghai World Financial Center Observatory and got
tickets for all three observation decks. Although this is not the worlds'
tallest building, it has the highest observatory. The building is shaped
like a bottle opener at the top. The first skywalk was on the 100th floor,
located 474 meters above ground. At the top of the "bottle opener" you walk
on a transparent glass floor walkway. Amazing views in every direction.
After taking way too many pictures, I headed down to the 97th floor, where
when weather permits, the glass roof opens. The last stop was to the 94th
floor for more views.

Had originally planned on making it an observation tower marathon, and
visiting many of these fabulous buildings in Shanghai, but as the famous
Chinese pollution was finally catching up with us, decided to take another
psychedelic journey through the tunnel and walk along the Bund, take in the
scenery and do some people watching before heading back to the ship.

After some long days touring, I am looking forward to a couple of sea days
before arriving in Hong Kong. Fingers crossed, that the situation there will
not prevent us from docking in Hong Kong.

October 19th - Shanghai, China

Started the day with my first Bullet Train ride, reaching speeds of 296 km,
smoothest train ride I have ever taken. The train station was teeming with
people, headed in all directions from the city.

Arrived in Hangzhou and was picked up by a driver who added some color to
the journey today, let's just say he will probably not be working for the
tour company again anytime soon.

Hangzhou was known as an earthly paradise in medieval China and looked quite
prosperous. The first stop was to Lingyin Si, a temple founded in 326 AD. At
one time there were over 3,000 monks worshipping in more than 70 halls. It
is still one of China's largest temples. I stopped to light my "morality
incense", pray to the gods, and make my wishes before climbing to the top of
the hill. As you walked out of each temple, you would look up, and there
was another one, I finally made it to the last temple and was glad I could
start downhill again.

Stopped at a local restaurant for a "farmer's lunch". I decided I am
definitely not a farmer - or farmer's daughter - the chicken was served
intact, including the head and feet. After checking out the local dishes I
went with the noodles and some spiced greens.

What was supposed to be the last adventure of the day was a visit to West
Lake, considered one of the scenic wonders of China. Based on the traffic,
I think a large portion of the population had the same idea. Once there we
took a boat ride over to Xiaoying Island, getting a glimpse of the three
reflecting pagodas that are on the Chinese Yuan $1 bill. Spent time walking
around the island taking in the magnificent scenery.

When it was time to head back, we boarded a boat and met some wonderful
Tibetan monks, who even though we did not speak a common language, enjoyed
taking pictures of each other and trading emails. Was surprised when
reviewing my photos, that these were the same three monks I had photographed
earlier in the day at Lingyin Si.

The real adventure began when we arrived back at the van and our driver was
missing. He finally made an appearance and proceeded to "race" to the train
station for our return trip to Shanghai. We missed our scheduled train and
had to go to another train station to get a train back to Shanghai leaving
three hours later.

Luckily, our guide kept her cool and got us safely back to the city.

A big shout out to our guide, Lorraine - and to our wonderful Shanghai
driver for waiting over three hours for our late arrival at the train
station.

Arrived back to the ship tired, but thrilled to have had the opportunity to
visit this beautiful part of China.